Henry Rifle Forums

HI, I'M GOING TO PUT SKINNER SIGHTS ON MY 13 YEAR OLD'S HENRY GOLDEN BOY .22 LR. HOW DO YOU REMOVE THE EXISTING FRONT AND REAR SIGTHTS? THANKS

Welcome to the forum, Lawrence!

I'm sure Andy at Skinner sights, who is also one of this forum's sponsors, will be along soon to answer that question, if not some of the others who have already done it. There are a lot of knowledgeable and helpful folks here.

I second contacing Andy at Skinner for the expert advice.

Now, for the amateur version, it is recommended to use a brass punch so you don't mar the finish on the sight or rifle. However, I use a homemade brass punch. I could not find a brass punch anywher locally and being too impatient to order one online and wait on delivery, I took a spent brass .22LR case, found a cheap punch at the hardware store that was the same diameter as the inside of the brass .22 LR case, and glued the brass .22LR case onto the end of the punch. And there you have the impatient tightwads brass punch!

Now, there is some advice out there about which direction to drive out the sights and insert the new ones. Looking down the barrel, I THINK you are supposed to punch it out from left to right and insert the new one from right to left. That is the part I wasn't sure about, but that is how I have done it and it worked okay. On the other hand, that advice could be totally backwards!

With all of that, if I were you, I would still ask an expert rather than depend on the advice of a fool like me.

One thing I do know, I think you will like that Skinner sight, so good luck and have fun.

Welcome to the Forums from the Show-Me-State!

There are instructs under "Technical Information" on the Skinner Sights web site for install of a barrel-mount dovetail sight, and/or a front sight. http://www.skinnersights.com/technical_info_17.html

Yes, as Skinner notes, a small hammer and brass punch should be used to remove and replace dovetails. Generally, drift from left to right to remove and reinstall in reverse. If you have a padded vice, it would be helpful to clamp your rifle down.

Before you try to drift out a sight, always check if there is a set screw holding it secure. Remove or loosen that first. What else I found is really helpful is to always cover the area surrounding the dovetail with a few layers of masking tape whenever removing and/or installing the sight. That's just in case you slip with the punch or hammer. I've scratched one rifle barrel before I learned to do this.

I'll bet you'll get other really good suggestions to help doing this. Not a tough project at all, but one that needs care to not mar/scratch your rifle.
Enjoy!

P.S. I have Skinner peep sights on my two Henrys, and really like using them!

Lawrence, Welcome to the forum.
Glad you joined us please make yourself at home.
Here is a link to the Henry Repeating Arms Sight and Scope video. https://www.henryrifles.com/henry-instr ... h001-22lr/

As stated above remove the sights from left to right. And install from right to left. IT may take a bit more force than you expect to remove the originals. Just be careful not to slip and scratch the barrel. I put a strip of Black electricians tape on the end of a punch and a strip in the barrel and edge of the sight where it is dovetailed. It helps to keep the punch from slipping off the sight. There is a set screw on the rear sight loosen it or remove it. No set screw on the front post but it will take a fairly good whack to break it free. A bench vise with a padded jaw helps, wrapping the barrel in a cloth will work if you don't have a way to pad the jaws of the vice.

I thin everyone answered your question so I'll jus say welcome to the forum.