Hey Art,
How about producing some apertures that are to USGI spec, except with a NM-type wide rack that folks can fit to their USGI base?
And maybe a fitting service that machines the rack square and parallel and snug in customer-supplied base? DI5
I'm having similar thoughts - sort of/kind of.
I don't make racks. I have a bunch of USGI NOS that I modify to make my 'as issued' legal reduced apertures, but they have to be USGI width to be allowed.
I buy NM racks that are oversized, but they are already drilled and machined to take the hoods.
There are several options I can think of, and this is not all sequential thinking, but rather random thoughts:
1. I could put these racks on a surface grinder sideways, and take them down to a specific thickness. If you could either measure your base width, I could send you something that fit, or else I could send you a dozen, you pick out the best fit, and send the other 11 back. The latter would obviously require a security deposit.
As an aside, I wonder if I could make a tool that has two curved pieces of metal in it, like an aperture rack that was split in half lengthwise, and had several screws and springs in it, so you could squeeze it, slide it into your base, let it expend, and lock the screws, so you can pull it out and get a caliper on it.
2. I could use NM racks, but solder in a reduced round aperture to make them into non-hooded, non 1/2 MOA apertures. Not sure what good this would do. You would not be exactly USGI aperture, so not 'as issued' legal, nor would you have the hooded sight. Meh, does not seem to be a benefit.
3. I could use NM racks, but tap the hole and screw in an AR sight hood. You would lose the 1/2MOAhood rotation, but would gain the ability to use reduced apertures. I already make reduced aperture NM hoods, so the only thing you would gain is a reduced outside diameter hood, so this could fit into a USGI sight base, rather than having to use a NM sight base (The OD of the NM hood is bigger than the scallop size in the USGI sight bases, so you cannot run the sight all the way down if you just put a NM hood in a USGI base).
Again, all of this in the context of a NM rack that I put in a surface grinder... if we had a good way to match your sight base up to the right width aperture.
At the end of the day, I am a designer, not a gunsmith, so I would not undertake a business model where people send me sight bases and want me to measure and make these parts on a custom basis, one at a time. It would have to be something where I could get a bunch of racks prepped, and people just order what they need.
No conclusions here, but hopefully some ideas for others to build on. I like the idea of a set of calipers with arc-shaped tips that could get in and measure the base width.
