1860 front sight

[Kent Shootwell]

The Pietta 1860 as most Colt clones, shoots high. I have corrected this on mine. Here's how. After shooting a group at 20 yards I did the math and a front sight .075" higher is needed. I formed one out of .090" brass then filed off most of the original front sight. This left a brass base in the barrel to witch I silver soldered the new one. Note the solder was pounded down to .005" thick and the piece is clamed in place for heating. This was filed and sanded to finial contours and correct height. Photos to help show the process and results.

[Coffinmaker]

Nice job Kent.

I just file the sight flat, cut a dovetail and make a new dovetail front sight.

Coffinmaker

[Niederlander]

Has anyone tried pulling the old one out and installing a new, taller one?

[Kent Shootwell]

I considered doing that but the Pietta sight is staked in and I didn't think I could get one restaked in a neat manner. If I had a couple of some one else's to experiment on it may turn out.😏 
I wanted a taller sight that looked more like the issue sight so this is the best way I could do it with my limited talents.

[Forty Rod]

I considered doing that but the Pietta sight is staked in and I didn't think I could get one restaked in a neat manner. If I had a couple of some one else's to experiment on it may turn out.😏 
I wanted a taller sight that looked more like the issue sight so this is the best way I could do it with my limited talents.

"Limited talents" my tired old butt.  That looks like quality work to me, old son.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Has anyone tried pulling the old one out and installing a new, taller one?

My gunsmith near Victoria did it with my Pietta "60.  Pinch the old siight with pliers and heat gently with a torch until the solder softe]ns and the blade comes out. It is in a lengthwise slot, so make a blade that fits and reverse the process. (I'm a bit vague about whether solder is necessary if  the fit ios tight. Mine stays in.)

[Niederlander]

I'm thinking red Loctite would also work to secure a front sight blade.  Of course, if it shoots to one side or the other I'm going to have to dovetail a sight anyway.

[Coffinmaker]

I've done it that way.  Used a very small screwdriver ground into a wedge, drove it into the slot and pulled the sight out.  Cleaned the bottom of the slot, made a new German Silver sight and glued it back in with JB Weld (Magic Stuff).  I did not try to re-stake the sight.
the one I made was quite snug and the Magic Stuff has kept it where I put it for ..... a long long time.  I also did not want to cook the blueing to Silver Solder it.

I now prefer to make a new brass dovetail sight so I can also play with the windage.  Good beans help with the windage, as does well prepared cooked cabbage, but that's a different subject 

Coffinmaker

I really really like Kent's job though.  VERY neat!!

[Montana Slim]

Has anyone tried pulling the old one out and installing a new, taller one?

I've replaced front sights which fell off....

So far, I've not seen any that were soldered in (Pietta or Uberti 1860's) - all I have or have seen are pressed/swedged.

IMO, staking a new sight is the simpler approach to the issue & (IMO), looks far better than a dovetail.

Regarding a taller sight. Many years ago, I dropped a drawing off with Hunter Kirkland (at SHOT) of an improved front sight design for the 1860 adding enough height to fix the POI. Hoping this would become a catalog replacement sight option. Never materialized...sort of a "who cares". Doubtful I could ever find the drawing again.

But it's easy enough to remove the existing one (It will tap out with a punch/hammer when struck length wise). Lay the old sight out on the new brass of german silver material & trace with a sharpie. The outline will make a bigger sight in all directions. File to a pleasing shape & tapers similar to the one removed. reinstall by tapping it in the same method as removal.

Ahh..major hint here: taper one of the edges/corner your going to start tapping into place so it can bite.

The sight sort of "slides" into place, start it a steep angle and then adjust as you progress.

If needed, you can hand swedge the old staking back a mite with an appropriate screwdriver.

And YES, a drop of red loctite can be used as additional aid. Be sure all surfaces are cleaned with acetone before reassembly.

After it's in place, I swedge the metal back to original staking. An old screwdriver with the handle missing is the general shape of a good improvised tool for this job.

Making the sight would be the most time consuming part of the job.

Do my guns have taller sights? Only the diminutive Pietta 31 Remington pocket model...and it is staked in. I've tweaked the hammer notch a bit on most of my colts to improve the sight picture & I find a 6 o-clock hold works fine for me. But I have removed a few of the ugly contoured sights of some Pietta's simply to reshape them to a more pleasing appearance & then reinstall per the above method. Plus installed a new sight on a Uberti, lost while shooting a stage.

I've spent more time typing this than it takes to remove & reinstall an 1860 sight.

Slim

[Coffinmaker]

SLIM!!!!

Where'v you been?   Grand to see your back (if you ever left).

Hoping YOU and YOURS have had/are having VERY MERRY HOLIDAYS!!

Coffinmaker

[Kent Shootwell]

For you folks that have removed the sight, is the groove cut flat or does it have a radius like a woodruff cutter was used? If cut as a radius what diameter is it?
By the way I did leave the sight a bit thick and corrected windage by filing it's side. The brass base I left allowed the silver solder to bond with out harming the blue. I wanted silver solder in case the future holds a rebluing.

[Coffinmaker]

Hey Kent!!  Happy Holidays to YOU and YOURS!!  (still one left)

The front sight slot has a radius at the bottom.  Diameter of the Radius??  Ah .... em ...... er ....... well ...... Nada Clue.  Somewhere between a dime and a 50 Cent piece maybe??  I honestly didn't pay any attention.  I just attacked the bottom of the sight blank I made with a file until it matched the Open Top sight I had in my parts box.  The Magic Stuff make up for any errors with the file.  Cleaned up the squeeze out with an alcohol cloth.

Coffinmaker

[Roscoe Coles]

Replacing a staked front sight on an 1860 is not tough at all.  A while back I found a second generation fluted cylinder Colt 1860 Army that was in the white (no color case or blue anywhere, inside or out) for sale for $99.  This was because someone had done a very bad job of raising the height of the front sight by adding metal.  Not only was this ugly, they had managed to scratch up the barrel around the front sight in the process.  I grabbed the mess of a front sight with a pair of pliers and pulled it out of the notch.  You can't get the Colt part anymore so I ordered a sample of th available Italian front sights, which proved to be wider than the Colt one, but had the same circumference at the bottom.  I filed one of the sights down to be friction fit in the original grove (which is like a woodruff key notch).  Once the site fit and the marks on the barrel were removed, I tapped it into the notch.  To keep it there, I bought a cold chisel that was a little wider than the width of the original staking tool mark, which was visible on either side of the front sight.  I then ground one side of the cold chisel flat on one side so the cutting edge fit very close to the sight the ground it so the mark it made was the same length as the original staking tool.  To stake it, I put the flat side towards the sigh. So the bevel on the opposite side would act to move metal towards the sight (it would have worked fine the other way to, but this put the staking mark very close to the sight, just like the original.  I gave it a single solid strike on either side and the sight is  firmly in place.  It is indistinguishable from the original site and since I had to remove some pecker tracks on the barrel caused by the previous "gunsmith" there are not even two staking marks.  The hardest part was fileing the sight.  Doing the actual installation took minutes.  But, I didn't need to refinish it since it was in the white.

[Montana Slim]

SLIM!!!!

Where'v you been?   Grand to see your back (if you ever left).

Hoping YOU and YOURS have had/are having VERY MERRY HOLIDAYS!!

Coffinmaker

Thanks...and kind regards to you Mr. Coffinmaker!

Don't recall what I've been up to lately... but at least still upright (mostly) & breathing. I keep a mirror near my desk at work - just in case I get questioned.

[Kent Shootwell]

Finished fussing with this one for now. The re color case hardening is done and new grips completes my list. I also polished off the straight line knurling from the hammer and cut 60 degree checkering into the spur. Gun belt all ready to go when the weather breaks.

[Coffinmaker]

ABB SO LUTE LE > > > > OUTSTANDING!!    

Coffinmaker

[Kent Shootwell]

Thanks, I value your compliment. It seems to me you once spoke of taking up color casing. If so have you?

[Coffinmaker]

Hi Kent,

Nah.  'Nother one of those really good intentions.  Just never got too it and then too many other projects got in the way.  Seems like there are always too many fun things to do but not enough time to do em all.  At's a really really nice 1860.

Coffinmaker