Diopter sight on 880

[oldnamvet]

I replaced the CMP 853 aperture sights with an Avanti set of sights.  Then, since I now had a spare set of aperture sights tried putting them on an 880.  the sight picture is really nice with that fiber optic front sight.  BUT the front sight is not high enough.  With the rear sight set as low as possible I still hit about 2 inches high at 30 ft with only 3 pumps.  The front sight looks like it it part of the shroud or the front part where the straw barrel slides in.  I thought about cutting it off, and boring out the extra barrel weight/front sight from the 853 and sliding it onto the barrel assembly (shroud).  That seemed rather drastic so wondered if anyone had an idea how to raise the front sight?  I really like the aperture  sight on the 880 and shoot really tight groups with it so would like to make it hit lower to POA.

[Fatman]

Hi oldnamvet:

Two things come to mind.  If you like the 880 front sight but it sits too low, use a razor saw to make a horizontal cut and remove the top part of the sight base.   Make the cut so that about half of the base remains with the blade. Make a plastic shim to raise it to the desired height and crazy glue it back on.  To get the best and most consistent operation from the 853 rear sight, set it in the middle of its range in both the vertical and horizontal positions and fiddle with the front sight shim to get your POI dead center on target (or near enough) before gluing it in place. 

If you are wanting a target front sight, you can order the 753 front sight and sight inserts from Daisy.  As it designed to clamp on to a dovetail, you may be able trim off the 880 front sight blade and groove the base with a triangular file to form a dovetail to attach it that way.  If that doesn't get you to the right height go to plan B and trim both the 880 and 753 sights to get the right height and glue it in place.

The 753 sight inserts are miles better than the ones for the 853 so you'll be all to the good there.   

Hope this helps.

Fatman