Break Barrel v. Under Lever

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I have decided to buy an R7. I want to put a rear aperture sight on it that will work with the factory front sight. The Chat guys at PA said to go with the Williams sight but it is not one I like. I would rather have a diopter like the Daisy Avanti rear sight. 

Anyone know of a rear aperture that will work on the current factory rifle?

C.M. Shooter, what did you mount on your R7?
Click to expand...

The advantage of a sporting aperture sight like the Williams is that they are small, light, and both greatly improve your sighting precision, while allowing a great view of the area around the target. Good for working in low light, trying to follow a moving target, etc.

Match-type "diopter" sights are physically bigger and take up more of your field-of-view, but are another level up in precision, plus will take all kinds of nifty accessories like adjustable-opening eyepieces. You can use the classic design that Weihrauch put on their HW 55 target rifle and offered as an option back in the day (the three holes on top of the HW 30's receiver are actually for the stop bolt on this sight, it's just happenstance that they also work for scope mounts LOL!), but as mentioned it's a clunky design. It's a bit heavy and makes it hard to reach around to the side-button safety with your right thumb. 

My personal favorites are the vintage Anschutz sights, which are easy to find used. More compact and more precise than the HW sight, fit the 11mm grooves perfectly, and leave a lot more room for the thumb. They don't have the stop bolt but have so much clamping power they don't need it. My avatar pic is an HW 55 (exact same grooves as the HW 30) with an old Anschutz sight and Gehmann magnifying adjustable iris.
 
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I have decided to buy an R7. I want to put a rear aperture sight on it that will work with the factory front sight. The Chat guys at PA said to go with the Williams sight but it is not one I like. I would rather have a diopter like the Daisy Avanti rear sight. 

Anyone know of a rear aperture that will work on the current factory rifle?

C.M. Shooter, what did you mount on your R7?
Click to expand...

The advantage of a sporting aperture sight like the Williams is that they are small, light, and both greatly improve your sighting precision, while allowing a great view of the area around the target.

Match-type "diopter" sights are physically bigger and take up more of your field-of-view, but are another level up in precision, plus will take all kinds of nifty accessories like adjustable-opening eyepieces. You can use the classic design that Weihrauch put on their HW 55 target rifle and offered as an option back in the day (the three holes on top of the HW 30's receiver are actually for the stop bolt on this sight), but as mentioned it's a bit of a clunky design that makes it hard to reach around to the side-button safety with your right thumb. 

My personal favorites are the vintage Anschutz sights, which are easy to find used. More compact and more precise than the HW sight, and leave a lot more room for the thumb. They don't have the stop bolt but have so much clamping power they don't need it.
Click to expand...

Interesting where would one find the anschutz sights? 
 
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Ebay, gun shows, gun shops, classified and auction sites, etc., etc. It may take a bit of time and patience to find what you want. Expect to pay $100 or so for a nice one (not cheap but hey a new Williams is over $70).

Back in the day, there were two levels of these sights. Anschutz's less pricey guns came with an alloy-bodied sight, while their top-level ones came with a steel-bodied "Universal" sight. Both are nice, but when they were new, the Universals cost about twice as much. Nowadays most Ebay-er's don't seem to know the difference. though, so sometimes you can find a bargain.

Beware when searching Ebay, etc. A lot of sellers put "Anschutz" in the heading because they know that's what people search for (or because they just don't know what it is), and you will see the name applied to sights that won't work on your R7.
 
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Ebay, gun shows, gun shops, classified and auction sites, etc., etc. It may take a bit of time and patience to find what you want. Expect to pay $100 or so for a nice one (not cheap but hey a new Williams is over $70).

Back in the day, there were two levels of these sights. Anschutz's less pricey guns came with an alloy-bodied sight, while their top-level ones came with a steel-bodied "Universal" sight. Both are nice, but when they were new, the Universals cost about twice as much. Nowadays most Ebay-er's don't seem to know the difference. though, so sometimes you can find a bargain.

Beware when searching Ebay, etc. A lot of sellers put "Anschutz" in the heading because they know that's what people search for (or because they just don't know what it is), and you will see the name applied to sights that won't work on your R7.
Click to expand...

Thank you 
 
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One advantage that break-barrels will always have, is less bulk and weight for a given piston diameter. Almost all fixed-barrel springer rifles today use a sliding breech sleeve. So the piston is housed in two concentric “sleeves” of metal, whereas a break-barrel piston fits directly into the receiver tube. Multiplying that fatter fixed-barrel receiver tube diameter by its length, equals a lot of extra metal.

(An aside...the classic old tap-loading underlevers - and the modern HW 57 - don’t have that issue, but bring others of their own, LOL…)

Break-barrels are easier to load, but the age-old whine is with the breech latch: barrel droop, a lockup that in theory can vary that angle over time, or allow microscopic movement when firing, a breech seal that can go bad. IMHO those are not really issues for a modern well-engineered auto-latching break-barrel, but on paper at least the fixed barrel would give better accuracy, measured at a micro level over time.

I fully agree that the break-barrel with manually-locked breech is a great compromise. Some new and vintage guns with that feature Include: the HW 35 sporter; HW 55 target rifle; Diana 65 and 66 match rifles; Walther LGV (both the vintage target rifle and the current sporter); Anschutz 335; and Haenel model 3 (both pre- and post-war versions).
 
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