Gun Question?

[The Arapaho Kid]

Ok!  I shot my Colt Lightning today and it shot high and right.  We fixed the "right" by sliding the front sight a little to the right, then the rounds started hitting on center target, but still high.  The shot patterns at 50 yards were about an inch above the bull if I took a proper sight picture.  If I did a 6 low with some white showing between the top of the sight and the bull that brought them down.  If I put a lotta white between the top of the sight and the bull they went into the black.  This means I gotta raise my front sight, but how the heck do you do that?  It's your standard "old gun" sight.  One piece slides across the barrel and it holds the main sight. I gotta put a taller sight on, but I dunno how!
Am I looking at a trip to a gunsmith, or what?

[Big John Denny]

Kid, no big problem. We have to do this all the time with muzzle loaders to get them to shoot right. Cut a piece of brass taller then your current front sight blade, take the old blade off and silver solder on the new blade. Then you can shoot the gun and file down the sight to bring it to point of aim.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Rap, is that rear sight adjustable for elevation? If it is, where is it set now?............Buck

[plainolddave]

Here's what you need:

-Electrical tape
-Sharp knife, whether X-Acto, box cuttter, or pocketknife.

Here's what you do:

- Put tape across top surface of front sight
- Carefully trim with knife so tape does not make foresight wider; all the tape should be on the top flat surface of the foresight ONLY
- Fire for effect, five rounds minimum
- Repeat process until rifle hits where you want it to

That's the low-buck, totally reversible way to bring your Point of Impact down on an arm that sights of differing heights might not be readily available for.

Sounds like it might be dead on at 100 yards to me, where does it hit at 25 yards? You might be right on at 25 and again at 75 and high only at 50....

[The Arapaho Kid]

Rap, is that rear sight adjustable for elevation? If it is, where is it set now?............Buck

Buck:  The rear sight is adjustable and it's set as low as it'll go.

[The Arapaho Kid]

Here's what you need:

-Electrical tape
-Sharp knife, whether X-Acto, box cuttter, or pocketknife.

Here's what you do:

- Put tape across top surface of front sight
- Carefully trim with knife so tape does not make foresight wider; all the tape should be on the top flat surface of the foresight ONLY
- Fire for effect, five rounds minimum
- Repeat process until rifle hits where you want it to

That's the low-buck, totally reversible way to bring your Point of Impact down on an arm that sights of differing heights might not be readily available for.

Sounds like it might be dead on at 100 yards to me, where does it hit at 25 yards? You might be right on at 25 and again at 75 and high only at 50....

Dave:  I dunno where it hits at 25, or 75 yards.  Ain't shot at those distances with it.  I'm not a whole lotta worried about this sight problem, 'cause the CAS stage targets are a lot closer than 50 yards and a whole lot bigger.  I'll just take a 6 low on them and I should get the clang?

[Laredo Crockett]

Kid, I'm not familiar with the Lightning front sight, but assuming that they are the normal blade type and can be drifted off the Rifle, I would take it to a Welder and have him TIG weld some on the top of it, reinstall and file as you go until you get the correct height. Tthen you can file, polish it to finish and cold blue.

[Big John Denny]

Kid, if you go that route, just remember to file only a little at a time and shoot again. Once it gets close to where you want it, file even less between shots. You can take metal off real easy, but putting it back on is a bear.

[The Arapaho Kid]

Kid, if you go that route, just remember to file only a little at a time and shoot again. Once it gets close to where you want it, file even less between shots. You can take metal off real easy, but putting it back on is a bear.

I think what I may do is take it to the shop and maybe their gunsmith might have an old, front sight that he canabalized off another rifle that'll slide right on.  If he does...it's not going to cost an arm and a leg to replace it.

[Big John Denny]

Kid, if they don't have one, you should be able to measure the base and order a higher one from Brownells or Dixie Gun Works.

[Silver Creek Slim]

What distances are ya gonna shoot this rifle: 25, 50, 75, 100, 150+ yards? I would assume that since it is a pre CAS rifle it is probably sighted in fer 100 yards. It probably is dead on at CAS ranges. The SASS handbook advices setting rifle targets at 13 to 50 yards. It is rare that the targets are over 30 yards. I would check to see where it hits at 25 and 100 yards before changing the elevation.

Slim

[jiminy criquet]

You could just take a soldering iron and some solder and build up the front sight with solder, then file it into a clean sight profile, and bring it down to where it needs to be with a file the next time you shoot it.  Taking care, of course,  to mask off the rest of the sight/gun when you're doing the filing.  Totally reversable with a solder wick and a soldering iron, too.

[blue drifter]

  howdy pards

    my question is can I dry fire my pistols with out damage to them. all my life I'v been told don't dry fire
a gun, now I hear to pratice at home just keep cocking and firing your empty gun. tequila says to do it
for long periods of time to inprove on speed. I herd on one show? or read someplace ,can someone
please give me some advice on this matter thanks.

[jiminy criquet]

No, you can't dry fire firearms without eventually damaging them.  They are made so that the force of the hammer falling being transferred to the firing pin is buffered by the primer of the bullet.  With an empty chamber there is nowhere for the energy to be expended except in the gun itself as the parts slam to a halt...and eventually somethings got to give.
Now there are those who will claim that Ruger's are made to be dry fired, but that is not the entire truth.  Despite what the factory may or may not say, Rugers are made to be more robust to the stresses put on the gun by dry firing.  By no means are they invincible to the hazards of dry firing.  Can't understand why that transfer bar just fell off your Ruger?  Dry firing.

Use dummy rounds or snap caps if at all possible whenever you dry fire a firearm.