Daisy Avanti 853 sight fix

[Fatman]

Hi, saw the old Daisy Avanti 753 sight fix reappear and decided to post the fix for the Daisy Avanti 853 front and rear sights as well. Hope this will be of some help to those Daisy fans out there.

The 853 rear sight (5899) is a decent, very inexpensive item that has problems that are fixable as well.

The 5899 sight is made almost entirely of plastic and is therefore prone to flex. Given that, it seems to spring back to its original position and holds its zero very well.

Due to its construction, it is at its most stable in the lower half of its adjustment range. It's best paired with the 853 front sight, (which although very poorly made, is functional). When paired with the higher and much better 753 front sight, the 5899 must be adjusted way too high and is very prone to flex and damage from any rough handling.

The fix:
Remove the small phillips head screw and the plastic back plate you will see a small white plastic strip on the left hand side of the sight body. Its purpose is to align the carrier block against the rear face of the sight body and to stabalize it vertically.

The block rides on this strip which acts as a guide, keeping the block in alignment. On all of the 853 rear sights that I have examined the white plastic strip is poorly formed of soft plastic and is often damaged and loose. This allows the aperature to rock, both side to side (foreward and back) and up and down.

The solution to the problem is to remove the white plastic strip (it's not permanently attached) and replace it with the same length piece of a small hard nylon zip tie (white nylon wire tie).

The zip tie is a bit too thick to fit properly and must be sanded down to fit. Use 600 wet or dry paper on a flat surface and switch end to end while sanding to keep it even throught its length. Sand the raised edges not the flat side. The flat side goes toward the movable aperature block.

Proper fit is determined by trial and error. It needs to be thick enough to prevent rocking throught the entire vertical adjustment stroke but not so tight that it binds. Zip ties are cheap and readily available so if you go too far you aren't out much. You can get 3 or 4 out of a single tie.

Lubricate all mating surfaces with white lithium grease. It lubricates very well, doesn't seem to affect the plastics I've tried it on and it is cheap and readily available. This is what I use on the 853 rear sights with no ill effect after years of use.

The only problem I've encountered on the 853 front sight other than poorly stamped inserts is that the spring retaining mechanism does not hold the inserts securly. The cure is simple, bend the retaining tabs on the inserts slightly so the retaining ring will clamp them firmly. If the inserts on your sight are very poorly stamped you might try ordering another set from Daisy(Part#163912-000). They only cost $2.00 for a set of four and you might get lucky.

If you find that your rear sight must be adjusted way to the left or right to get you on the ten ring, that's easily fixed as well. Center the rear sight in its range and adjust the front sight by loosening the set screws on the barrel weight and rotating it until you get on or near the ten ring with the rear sight centered (on the front sight you go opposite the direction you want to move the POI i.e. clockwise to shift the POI left and counter clockwise to shift the POI right). This is a rough adjustment and the final fine adjustment should be made with the rear sight.

Hope this helps some of the many 853 users out there.

Cheers,
Fatman

[wisley]

It's beautiful and wonderful information already,
thanks for the post and the additive.
_____________
Android apps developer
Android apps developers
Android apps developer