1901 rear sight - to open the peep or not to open the peep

[Maggie Drawers]

Friends,
I have old eyes. When I look through the tiny (at least to me) peep of my 1901 rear sight it's full of fur and there's not enough light to see the target unless the target is well lit. Frustrating.
Anyone know of any problems in opening the hole to say .10 ?
I'd really like to hear from some shooters who have opened the peep and found that it was a good idea or a bad idea. Hard to "undrill" the hole!
Thanks!

[madsenshooter]

.10 works, I had no problem doing it, helps a bunch, and for CMP competition .10 was the limit. Collectors might cringe at the thought, but I have no such qualms. You could always say, "It was that way when I got it".

[Mark Daiute]

Go ahead and mar the artifact that has survived all these years!

I've been contemplating the same move. I say, get a wild, on the loose, 1901 sight and modify it, save the one indigenous to the rifle in it's natural state.

Who knows... maybe S+S has slides? I think there was a "parts" 1901 sight on Ebay recently.

[Maggie Drawers]

This rifle isn't a museum piece. I don't have museum pieces - if I can't shoot it I don't want it. But, at the same time I am sensitive to not hacking up a piece of history.....I actually am a historian. However, all that being said I wonder if an infantryman in 1900 would have enlarged the peep hole if he'd had the opportunity. He may not have had great eyes....or, he may have wanted to shoot in low light situations. Much the same could be said for buffalo hunters....would they have stuck with black powder if smokeless had been available?
Thanks to both of you for your responses. I will drill this morning - with reverence - and shoot this afternoon.
Thank you gentlemen. Hope to see you both at the range some day.

[dave]

A peep sight so far from the eye is almost useless anyway. They should be mounted close to the eye, the way they were designed to be used. Just stick with the open sight.

[70ish]

Do you know which 1901 you have? If it's a first type the hole is smaller than the second type. Maybe you could find a second type to see if the larger hole is sufficient for you. You could, at least, then make an historically correct alteration to your sight.

[mhb]

If you want to shoot it, and to make full use of the adjustments to windage and elevation possible with the 1901 sight, while achieving the best accuracy possible to aging eyes... open the aperture to the full .100".
I've done this myself, for just those reasons, and would not have it any other way. Having said that, I do have unaltered slides to use in restoring the sights to original condition, should that be necessary.
The Krag rifles are capable of excellent acuracy, but you can't realize the potential if you can't achieve a good, clear sight picture and still see the target with reasonable definition, too.
FWIW, a small, tapered reamer is preferrable for the operation, working from the back side of the slide. This keeps the hole round and centered in the slide, while giving sharper definition due to the sharper front edge and larger rear of the hole. Such reamers are sometimes difficult to find (Parker-Hale made the perfect one for many years, and I treasure mine), but are available in suitable sizes for such purposes as reaming the pivot holes in clock movements, etc.
Go for it!

mhb - Mike

[5MadFarmers]

I haven't indexed it yet for handy reference but one of the General Orders directed that the sights could be altered for marksmanship competition so it was also done by the troops at the time. The G.O. was somewhere from 1880 to 1910 - after I finish indexing I'll have bumped into that again. I noticed it during a preview of them.

[Maggie Drawers]

Friends,
Just back from the range. This morning I opened the peep to .100. If I'd been able to see the sights decently I wouldn't have opened up the peep. Anyhow,....great day at the range. I can see! Thanks to all you guys who responded; I appreciate your help and advice very much. I now have a "new" rifle!