Hello all I recently bought a 1963 grade 1 and went to the range to adjust the sights, if needed. Installed on the gun is the original flip-up style rear and solid gold bead front sights. I found it's shooting like 8 inches too high at 50 yards, even with the rear sight adjusted all the way down. "Huh, now what?" I got the idea to flip the sights down and pictured the gold bead right above the flat line that the flipped down rear sight created. This actually worked and seemed to shoot reasonably well. Something tells me this isn't how the sights/gun was intended to be set up.. or was it. "I've seen old iron sights set up like that in cowboy movies" says my friend who knows little about guns or cows. Was my gun modified by the previous owner? Or is this actually how these sights come set up? Thanks everybody
Normally, a fold down rear sight will be two sights in one, a fixed sight when folded and an adjustable when flipped up. I expected to find that when I looked at some pictures, but evidently the rear sight folds for some other reason. If I were you, I’d see how the rifle does at a more realistic 25 yards. I think that’s plenty for a .22. If you’re committed to longer ranges, you could do like we did in the Army and remember your “Adjusted Point of Aim”. It’ll be dead on at two ranges, one fairly close and another out past 50 yards. Other solutions include installing a taller front sight or mounting a scope or red dot. I found the Service Manual on the Midwest Gun Works website: https://www.midwestgunworks.com/field_service_manual/browning_autoloading_22_fsm.pdf
