Sighting a Navy 1851, pictures please?

[doublesnider]

Hi,
I received some advise of what to do to sight in my Navy as it is shooting too high. somel ike to deepen the hammer notch and others like to put a higher front sight.
I would like to see some pictures of the way you use do do it.
Thank you very much.
Martin

 

[DanChamberlain]

Martin

I'm packing for a camping trip and will address this when I get back on Sunday if you still haven't gotten any replies. Catch you later.

Dan

 

[Leatherbark]

Dont have any pics, but I've plucked out the front sight with pliers and replaced it with a piece of brazing rod and filed her down to fit...........Just pressed it back in along with a little "JB" weld.

On the other hand I've deepened and widened the rear notch until I was almost aiming straight down the barrel..................Bob

 

[CoyoteJoe]

Well here is a couple of ways I've done it. The '51 Navy just has a taller pin, .168" above the barrel flat. That's the easy way if you don't also need windage adjustment. My 1860 Army did need some windage correction so I dovetailed the barrel and modified an old sight from my junk box.

The tall pin on the Navy may look troublesome but I pack it in a Slim Jim holster with no problems.
I got along with a shorter sight on the Army before I added a .45 Colt conversion cylinder.

 

[DanChamberlain]

First, you shoot the gun enough to know if windage needs adjusting. If you don't want to put in a taller front sight, you can deepen the notch with a very small file. If you want your ball to strike more to the right, you deepen the notch and open it a tad on the right side of the notch. Or, to move the ball strike to the left, you open the notch a tad to the left. This is best done at the range.

I deepen the notch to the point where I settle the front sight at the bottom of the "V" as opposed to the normal way of sighting a revolver. It works very well and takes about 30 minutes at the range, including loading time!

The idea of putting a taller front sight works well too and based on what I see from the other posters, it's probably as viable a way of adjusting the sights as any.

Dan

 

[CoyoteJoe]

The idea of cutting the hammer notch deeper and holding the front bead down it the bottom of that deep notch just doesn't work for me. I like to see the whole front bead and a sight picture as near as possible to modern revolver sights gives me more consistent accuracy. I do cut the hammer notch both deeper and wider but I want to be able to keep the top of the front bead or blade level with the top of the hammer notch.
Here is another one I just did a few minutes ago. It's on an 1862 Police .36 for my pal greenmountainboy. He will have to shoot and file the blade down to correct elevation and will no doubt round off the sharp corners but at least he now has something to work with. I don't know how anyone ever shot with the knife edge thin front sights and little scratch of a rear notch as most old time handguns carried.

 

[doublesnider]

Thank you very much for helping.
I will try the higher front sight first and let you know.
Thanks for the pictures, sometime I need to see it. :grin:

Thanks
Martin