1860 Army

[One Eyed Blacksmith]

I, have a 1860 army in .44cal. I, am haveing trouble lineing the sights up. It is the sight on the hammer that is giveing me trouble. Do you guys file the slot wider, so you can see the front sight. Any help you can give me on this ,I would be greatful. Thank you

 

[Treestalker]

Yep, I do. The little chisel mark they come with is a joke. What you need is a 'knife blade file' that you can use to widen and deepen the notch to see a little daylight on each side of your front sight. If you are serious about hitting anything, and the front blade is too short, file off the front sight, and cut a dovetail to install a taller blade front sight, which will make your revolver hit lower, and can be adjusted for windage. Beats trying to guess where the front sight is. Please do not perform these adjustments on an original or high dollar repro, Thank you for your post! Geo.

 

[TreeMan]

Every colt type reproduction I have has had the rear sight filed to one degree or another. None of mine could ever be filed enough to get them to shoot to point of aim without installing a taller front sight. They all shoot high in my experience. If you need to file a little to see it then I say go for it.

 

[One Eyed Blacksmith]

Thanks guys for your input.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Deepening the hammer notch is not a permanent alteration, as the hammer can be easily replaced on most replicas if needed. I would abstain from doing it to a collectible or rare model, tho.

 

[Justin.44]

@One Eyed Blacksmith I'm not sure if you're familiar with Blackie Thomas on YouTube, but he has a great playlist on percussion revolvers. I think this video will help you if you get a chance check it out. Good luck, Justin

 

[wb78963]

Duelist also has videos on sighting in look back a couple of years to find it.
He is also worth going through Mike is the best on BP guns in general in my opinion
copy and paste this for his you tube presentation
Bunk

 

[Bad Karma]

I, have a 1860 army in .44cal. I, am haveing trouble lineing the sights up. It is the sight on the hammer that is giveing me trouble. Do you guys file the slot wider, so you can see the front sight. Any help you can give me on this ,I would be greatful. Thank you

Vti gunparts have a replacement for the uberti Colts. Look at the front sight for the Open Top or 1872 conversion type revolver sight. It’s taller and fits in the slot of the other uberti and also the 2nd and 3rd generation Colts. Then widen the slot in the hammer (here’s where you’ll correct your windage) and Bob’s your uncle.

 

[RjSixgun]

you can read about it here, step by step instructions
Replace the front sight on a Colt 1860 Army revolver - Home of the 4th Louisiana Delta Rifles (weebly.com)

 

[One Eyed Blacksmith]

Thanks, the front sight is not my problem, It is the notch on the hammer that needs to be wider so I can see the front sight. My question was, do you guys file the notch on the hammer wider.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Thanks, the front sight is not my problem, It is the notch on the hammer that needs to be wider so I can see the front sight. My question was, do you guys file the notch on the hammer wider.

Answer; "If necessary".
The Colts were designed to be POA at 75 yards. If you regularly shoot 25, then widening (and squaring off) the hammer notch would probably be the easiest and fastest solution. And as was mentioned, any windage correction can be compensated at this time by moving the notch left or right to suit. In addition to widening the notch, it can also be squared off to make the front sight more visible.

 

[One Eyed Blacksmith]

Thank you CaptainKirk. That is what I was looking for. I, have a real hard time seeing the front sight, through that little V on the hammer. Was wondering about fileing the V to a bigger notch. So far the windage is great.

 

[RjSixgun]

Yes just use a small jeweler's file. I do the same thing on my Remington's

 

[Bad Karma]

Thank you CaptainKirk. That is what I was looking for. I, have a real hard time seeing the front sight, through that little V on the hammer. Was wondering about fileing the V to a bigger notch. So far the windage is great.

Yes. You’re getting a better sight picture and the opportunity to correct for windage. Win win.

 

[Musketeer]

I used a flat diamond needle/jeweler's file on my Uberti 1860 and Dragoon. A big visibility improvement over the shallow and narrow factory v notches.

 

[M. De Land]

Yep, I do. The little chisel mark they come with is a joke. What you need is a 'knife blade file' that you can use to widen and deepen the notch to see a little daylight on each side of your front sight. If you are serious about hitting anything, and the front blade is too short, file off the front sight, and cut a dovetail to install a taller blade front sight, which will make your revolver hit lower, and can be adjusted for windage. Beats trying to guess where the front sight is. Please do not perform these adjustments on an original or high dollar repro, Thank you for your post! Geo.

Yeah, the dovetail up front is the way to go as it not only will give you elevation adjustment but windage as well. The rear notch should be opened to square too for a better sight picture on a partridge front blade profile.

 

[Bad Karma]

this one works very well. Hitting exactly the point of aim at 25 yards with a 195 grain flat point over 30 grains of 3f Swiss.

 

[wb78963]

View attachment 53130
this one works very well. Hitting exactly the point of aim at 25 yards with a 195 grain flat point over 30 grains of 3f Swiss.

since iI cut my teeth on a JMB gun we can't talk about dating from 1911 I like a square rear sight. notch.
I roughed it out with a Dremel cut off wheel and filed it to zero with my chosen load with a Swiss file.
To each his own I recon but that is my preference.
I also had a competent gunsmith (now retired) cut a dovetail and a install a nice square front sight.

 

[One Eyed Blacksmith]

I, want to give a great big Thank You. to every one that has taken there time to wright in and helped me.

 

[Musketeer]

My phone sucks, so not the greatest pic, but here's my 1860. The notch was intended to be a straight up and down rectangle, but it turned out sort of tapered from the top down just due to the inaccuracy of my movements with the file, as (blurrily) seen in the pic. In any case, vastly better than the tiny little v it originally had.