Lyman Turn-Down Peep Feature

vandj1318

Hello All,

In Nick Stroebels 1850-1965 book on earlier sights it mentions a turn-down peep feature offered for the second generation of Lyman Model 48 sights but no detail about it. They're an adjustable aperture that has the multiple shutters like a Merit target aperture has. Does anyone have info on them or their value? Thank you.

Jim

charliemeyer007

I like my Merit iris. http://www.meritcorporation.com/products.html

Herschel

The Lyman 48 that you describe was used on the 1903 NRA Sporters and better custom rifles in the 1920's and 1930's. It consisted of a hinged peep in the front of the threaded hole that the screw in disc fitted into. The windage scale on these was in the back and was obscured by the screw in disc if one was used. When hunting the screw in disc could be removed and you could aim through the hinged peep or turn it down and aim through the threaded hole. A noted gun writer back in the day said the hinged peep should be removed from the site as it was possible to have it turned half way down when you needed to make a quick shot. I thought there was a slight risk of that but in the 3 years I hunted with an NRA Sporter I experienced one time that I bought the rifle up to take a shot and the hinged peep was turned half way down. A merit disc could be screwed into sight aperture hole but I have not seen one used except on target rifles. I think the 48S will sell for a little more than the 48C in similar condition. Maybe $175.00 with lots of blue and showing minor wear.

vandj1318

I'm not referring to a 48 sight at all. It's the adjustable aperture offered for the 2nd gen. of 48 sights that I'm asking about. When mentioned, they call it the, "turn-down peep feature", and was considered standard though a screw-in disc was available. This was from 1919 - 1947.

Herschel

The sight I am talking about is the one described and pictured on page 36, right hand column, of the book Old Gunsights by Nick Stroebel. I am no expert on Lyman 48 sights but I do know that the "turn down peep" is not an adjustable aperture. It has a hinged peep that only has an up or down position. When up you aim through the small hole and when it is down you aim through the threaded hole. I am familiar with Lyman 48 sights and have 25 rifles with the Lyman 48 on them.

Added after babun's post: The changeable aperture described and pictured in babun's post works just like the one I attempted to describe in my two posts. It does not work like a aperture adjustment in a camera nor in the similar adjustment in a Merit disc. It simply a hinged aperture that has a smaller hole that is turned down to get it out of the way when you want to aim through a larger hole.

babun

Originally posted by babun
I think you are looking at the #1 and #1A lyman sites. The DO have a
small and large peep hole built in.
This is from 1922 page 1, Read the fine print under the 3 bottom
lyman peep sites.

https://books.google.com/books?id=XQQ-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA566&lpg=PA566&dq=Lyman+Turn-Down+Peep&source=bl&ots=4l3LDF-nnX&sig=cWdh9ZLtzyWJdkMDAo2byy0z-QA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZimJVeb-NcKdygTO86HADw&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Lyman Turn-Down Peep&f=false


Here is a pic with the little disc to change the size of hole.

vandj1318

Well, in the first variation they call it a "fold down". In the second variation they call it a "turn down", when apparently it's the same style, built in, peep. I guess when I saw the word "turn", I started thinking adjustable, like a Merit. Ha, a bad guess on my part.

One question remaining though is, who else made shutter style adjustable target apertures beside Merit?