Dovetailing Front Sight On Pietta Revolver

[4deer]

My 1858 Pietta shoots to the left very consistently. The other day I was shooting at 10 yards and got a 6 shot grouping, with all bullets touching but one, all about 4" to the left. From what I have read the front sight on a Pietta is silver soldered on. Some Uberti revolvers on the other hand have the front sight in a dovetail. So, I bought a replacement dovetailed sight from Dixie Gun Works.

I want to make a dovetail in my barrel, but first what about the old sight. Should I try to heat up my barrel tip with a torch :stir: until the sight falls off? Or, should I take a hacksaw and just cut it off flush then when I do the dovetail just cut right into it as if it were the barrel.

I read someone's thread a while back about doing dovetails with a hacksaw and triangle file with a safe edge and it does not sound to hard. The only thing I am a little worried about is going to deep. I am guessing though the height of the dovetail on the replacement height will be a safe distance to cut into the barrel.

Thanks for the input.

 

[rabjr]

Before you do that you might want to look into giving the barrel a good smack. I've read thats how pistols were regulated but I'd find out for sure first and exactly how to do it before attempting it. :hmm:

 

[44-henry]

You might be able to bend the blade over a bit to compensate, but there is a good chance the post will fall off when you do that. I used to refinish some of the Pietta revolvers to remove the markings and give them more authentic finishes. If you grip it with a pair of pliers and twist it should come off alright. From there it is a relatively simple job to dovetail the barrel and install your new site. It is not something to attempt without practice however. Alternately you can find a gunsmith, or someone with a decent mill and have them dovetail it on the machine.

 

[crockett]

Have someone else fire the gun to see where the shots group. If you curl your finger too far around the trigger when you squeeze you are actually putting a little angled pressure on the trigger that can pull shots to the left, tight group- just all to the left.
The reason I state this is twofold: first, the manufacturers usually get things pretty right so the sights ought to be on. Second, I myself was a bad finger curler. This was my logic- "if I pull to the left- I'll just adjust the sights instead of changing the way I shoot." So that's what I did. At first all was well but then the shots started drifting to the left again. In any event I shot off a bench to get all back to the original and then made an effort to just use the pad/tip of my finger. In any event I had that problem so maybe that's something to check.

 

[baer19d]

Wheeler engineering sales a simple dovetail jig that uses a couple of files to cut the dovetail instead of a hacksaw or a mill.

 

[4deer]

Wheeler engineering sales a simple dovetail jig that uses a couple of files to cut the dovetail instead of a hacksaw or a mill.

Do you have a link to one? I'm having trouble finding one online.

 

[brubincam]

the 1858 barrel screws into the frame--give the barrel a slight nudge to the left

 

[44-henry]

In my experience Pietta barrels are socked down pretty tight, without the proper tools it would be easy to mar the barrel or frame doing that.

If you can do it the dovetail sight looks a lot better than the post variety (in my opinion) and was used on some original Remingtons. I have one of the dovetail jigs that you mention but it is setup for a 3/8" dovetail. It would need to be shimmed above the barrel to prevent it from cutting too deep and also moved halfway through the process to cut a narrower slot. For just one dovetail there are better ways to go than the jig.

 

[longcruise]

My pietta also shoots to the side. A good two feet on the fifty yard berm and high to boot. My only concern would be the thickness of the barrel.