Adjusting non adjustable sights

[Smokerr]

The farther back I move the farther off it gets gets.

First cap and ball pistol I ever fired had sites that were way off and with the Colt style it's always been very difficult to figure a way to adjust these so they will hit the nail on the head.

So, anybody , that has dealt with this issue before . . .

It would help to know what Colt style you have though agreed they all are alike for a fix.

We would need to know what the front sight attachment method is and that does vary. A let and right dovetail and you can use various means to drift it and secure it and get the windage corrected.

To high and you are talking about a taller front sight or filing the rear hammer notch down.

You do know that double the distance and you double the offset its hitting at?

So you can get it spot on at 10 yards and then out at 15 yards its going to be off one way or the other left and right and high or low. Where I would disagree with Blackie is you need to shoot more rounds (certainly 10 yards and further) as you need to find the average not where a single round hits.

You just work your way out to whatever your desired shooting distance is.

I am not into pistol bullet trajectory like I am rifles, but you more or less can't have perfect due to Point of Aim, sight difference above the barrel and any drop the bullet makes (probably out past 20 yards but that is a guess)

I have shot 22 at 100 yards and its a good 6 inches off from a 50 yards sight which a 22 is more in line with pistols (lot of drop though bullet doing 3000 fps, a rifle starts to drop lots out past 250 yards).

 

[Smokerr]

3-4 gold bars on the back of the front blade

I don't keep gold bars laying around, actually I don't have much gold anything laying around.

 

[Bad Karma]

I always start with replacing the front sight on the Army models. The sight made for the Open Top Uberti fits perfectly into the slot on the 1860/61’s. Vtigunparts has them.

 

[M. De Land]

I don't keep gold bars laying around, actually I don't have much gold anything laying around.

Gold color, brass works fine !

 

[M. De Land]

It would help to know what Colt style you have though agreed they all are alike for a fix.

We would need to know what the front sight attachment method is and that does vary. A let and right dovetail and you can use various means to drift it and secure it and get the windage corrected.

To high and you are talking about a taller front sight or filing the rear hammer notch down.

You do know that double the distance and you double the offset its hitting at?

So you can get it spot on at 10 yards and then out at 15 yards its going to be off one way or the other left and right and high or low. Where I would disagree with Blackie is you need to shoot more rounds (certainly 10 yards and further) as you need to find the average not where a single round hits.

You just work your way out to whatever your desired shooting distance is.

I am not into pistol bullet trajectory like I am rifles, but you more or less can't have perfect due to Point of Aim, sight difference above the barrel and any drop the bullet makes (probably out past 20 yards but that is a guess)

I have shot 22 at 100 yards and its a good 6 inches off from a 50 yards sight which a 22 is more in line with pistols (lot of drop though bullet doing 3000 fps, a rifle starts to drop lots out past 250 yards).

It will be off for trajectory as distance increases after correction but not windage .

 

[sethwyo]

when a piece is hitin off to the right, move the rear sight to the left, and that brings it in line.
I know that folks in the 1800s, and in the 1900s and even nowadays have had to deal with this,
I don't want to start cutting the hammer notch out because it'll make it look Goofy.
the front sight is such a dainty little thing I don't want to start messing with it

 

[M. De Land]

when a piece is hitin off to the right, move the rear sight to the left, and that brings it in line.
I know that folks in the 1800s, and in the 1900s and even nowadays have had to deal with this,
I don't want to start cutting the hammer notch out because it'll make it look Goofy.
the front sight is such a dainty little thing I don't want to start messing with it

I guess you can always put a bend in the barrel to regulate windage but I'd rather cut a dovetail and mill a new front blade. Here is one I did on my 62 Police.

 

[sethwyo]

That looks like the only way to go.

 

[sethwyo]

I like bladed front sights, I don't like the little Spike front sights like on the remington 1858 and the 1851 navies they tend to hang up in a holster and sometimes they come off.

 

[sethwyo]

I always start with replacing the front sight on the Army models. The sight made for the Open Top Uberti fits perfectly into the slot on the 1860/61’s. Vtigunparts has them.

So when I think of open top I'm thinking of the model 1872 open top conversion or factory cartridge revolver.

But I think you're referring to something different than what I'm thinking .
can you post a few pictures of what you've done with yours?

 

[Smokerr]

I guess you can always put a bend in the barrel to regulate windage but I'd rather cut a dovetail and mill a new front blade. Here is one I did on my 62 Police.

A friend asked me to check out his Remington 740. I get down to the range and looking down the barrel and you can see a bend., Hmnm, this is not going to go well.

Lined up the scope on target at 50 yards and it was centered and even. 100 yards centered and our normal 2 inches high. Well as long its consistent it can be a pretzel. I did not mess with his mind, you got it sighted in perfecly and it shoot a bit over an inch group at 100 yards.

 

[Bad Karma]

So when I think of open top I'm thinking of the model 1872 open top conversion or factory cartridge revolver.

But I think you're referring to something different than what I'm thinking .
can you post a few pictures of what you've done with yours?

Yes. The 1872, any of the conversion guns have the taller sight. You can just pop the sight out with a brass punch. It slides right out of the groove in the barrel, new one is popped in place with a small hammer and I finish with a bit of Force44 solder from brownells.

 

[M. De Land]

A friend asked me to check out his Remington 740. I get down to the range and looking down the barrel and you can see a bend., Hmnm, this is not going to go well.

Lined up the scope on target at 50 yards and it was centered and even. 100 yards centered and our normal 2 inches high. Well as long its consistent it can be a pretzel. I did not mess with his mind, you got it sighted in perfecly and it shoot a bit over an inch group at 100 yards.

Barrel bending is as old as boring and rifling and is usually for rifle length tubes . Factories used to do it routinely in over head bending vices viewed through the bore at a bright light and hanging wire.
No barrel is deep hole bored perfectly straight but they do get them pretty close now days. I still have to orientate any barrel I mount vertically or they will shoot off to one side or the other making open sight set over necessary which looks goofy to me.
I just had to straighten a high end Badger .30 cal barrel that was so bent I could only see half a hole when viewing through it. I think some one drove over it with a truck or something as I have never seen one that crooked before.
These hand guns made for the military only had very rudimentary sights designed for close range body hits not precision shooting although they are capable of fine accuracy with good sight picture.

 

[M. De Land]

I guess you can always put a bend in the barrel to regulate windage but I'd rather cut a dovetail and mill a new front blade. Here is one I did on my 62 Police.

This milled brass sight was installed (sweat soldered) in the original barrel cut as all it needed was elevation not windage.

 

[snakebit]

Buy a new hammer when trying this. Don't ask me why.

 

[sethwyo]

Went to unthread the front sight and found as I turned it it actually changed positions, it seems to be bent a little bit and as I turned it it was bent the other way.

At a distance of 20 ft it seems to be doing the quite a bit better

 

[sethwyo]

 

[Bad Karma]

when a piece is hitin off to the right, move the rear sight to the left, and that brings it in line.
I know that folks in the 1800s, and in the 1900s and even nowadays have had to deal with this,
I don't want to start cutting the hammer notch out because it'll make it look Goofy.
the front sight is such a dainty little thing I don't want to start messing with it

You’re going to have to do one, the other, or both…

 

[M. De Land]

I've seen this done but it shortens the sight radius by 2.5 -3 inches and usually has to be set so far off center it becomes impractical for looks or holstering.
Another option I have used on rifle barrels for a front sight set over without a dovetail is to cut the front blade off set. I recently did this to a new Douglas barrel I had to contour to original profile in a Springfield cadet rifle . I turned the front sight band and base integral with the barrel and made an offset front blade that worked out perfectly for windage adjustment.
No reason at all the same cannot be done on a fixed sighted revolver.
The set over was .050 on a sight blade of .100 wide but still looks centered.
It works perfectly with a Lolly pop rear tang aperture sight.

 

[M. De Land]

I've seen this done but it shortens the sight radius by 2.5 -3 inches and usually has to be set so far off center it becomes impractical for looks or holstering.
Another option I have used on rifle barrels for a front sight set over without a dovetail is to cut the front blade off set. I recently did this to a new Douglas barrel I had to contour to original profile in a Springfield cadet rifle . I turned the front sight band and base integral with the barrel and made an offset front blade that worked out perfectly for windage adjustment.
No reason at all the same cannot be done on a fixed sighted revolver.
The set over was .050 on a sight blade of .100 wide but still looks centered.
It works perfectly with a Lolly pop rear tang aperture sight.

Remember that the shorter the sight radius the less the rear sight has to move to effect the same amount of change as a longer sight radius does but the down side is one also looses the definition of finer sighting mechanics of longer sight radius.
There is always a trade off to one degree or another so one has to adjust to the best compromise for the type of shooting they will be experiencing.