Front sight blade removal of Uberti Walker

[M. De Land]

I got started tonight on a new front sight and loading lever catch for the Walker. The front brass blade was removed with a single blow from a punch contacting the rear of the blade. It is set into a half moon cut parallel to the bore and is peened in from either side, no solder at all.
I needed to see how deep and long the half moon cut is for the proper placement of the dove tail cut required for the new front sight.
Laid out the front sight on a piece of flat stock mild steel and will begin milling it out probably tomorrow. The base of the new sight will need to be long enough to cover the half moon cut of the original blade in the barrel. I think .600 or a bit longer will do the job and look proportional to the height. The blade width will be .100 and height above barrel OD will be about . 450 to start with.
I start them a bit high and file to point of impact at 25 yards once I get my favorite load worked up.

 

[M. De Land]

I got started tonight on a new front sight and loading lever catch for the Walker. The front brass blade was removed with a single blow from a punch contacting the rear of the blade. It is set into a half moon cut parallel to the bore and is peened in from either side, no solder at all.
I needed to see how deep and long the half moon cut is for the proper placement of the dove tail cut required for the new front sight.
Laid out the front sight on a piece of flat stock mild steel and will begin milling it out probably tomorrow. The base of the new sight will need to be long enough to cover the half moon cut of the original blade in the barrel. I think .600 or a bit longer will do the job and look proportional to the height. The blade width will be .100 and height above barrel OD will be about . 450 to start with.
I start them a bit high and file to point of impact at 25 yards once I get my favorite load worked up.

Got the front blade rough milled out today and ready for filing to profile, sand out and barrel fitting. I do all that before parting as it's much easier to hold on to.
The brass blade set on barrel behind where it was peened in the half moon cut and then again set on the barrel flat for a better look at the profile. Sure isn't much to it and was really surprised it was only peened in with no solder.
End view of the profile and male dovetail cut with a ball mill and 60 degree dovetail tool. The female will be cut in the barrel across the original half moon cut covering it with the body of the new front blade. Hope I left enough width in case I have to use more windage than I figured on.
Oh well just mill out another a bit wider.

 

[Smokerr]

Good to know its half moon. I can build a sight to slot into that cut. The Walker is not too bad but it is 4 inches high at 25 yards and I may tackle that. I can grind things down with the best of them.

Of course I have to find or get Caps to continue, down to my last 9, sigh. Yes I have the kits to do those on order but a lot of mixed reviews on how reliable the process is. Some do fine and some struggle. It seems Hair Spray may have a combo of compounds to help that.

 

[Bad Karma]

Good to know its half moon. I can build a sight to slot into that cut. The Walker is not too bad but it is 4 inches high at 25 yards and I may tackle that. I can grind things down with the best of them.

Of course I have to find or get Caps to continue, down to my last 9, sigh. Yes I have the kits to do those on order but a lot of mixed reviews on how reliable the process is. Some do fine and some struggle. It seems Hair Spray may have a combo of compounds to help that.

For what it’s worth all of the Colts using a blade front sight are configured thusly. If your revolver is hitting well with regard to windage but the blade is too short as is the case with most of them, you can source the model 1873 steel blade from the same manufacturer and solder it in place. File it down to the desired point of impact and “Bob’s your uncle…” whatever that means.

 

[Smokerr]

Good to know. I super glued the sight back on the ASP 58 Remington and it stayed there, good news was it fell off on the bench and it was, whats that funny object there? (left to right dovetail)

 

[M. De Land]

For what it’s worth all of the Colts using a blade front sight are configured thusly. If your revolver is hitting well with regard to windage but the blade is too short as is the case with most of them, you can source the model 1873 steel blade from the same manufacturer and solder it in place. File it down to the desired point of impact and “Bob’s your uncle…” whatever that means.

I'm wondering (having second thoughts) about cutting the female dovetail across that original sight cut going the other direction and how well it will secure the male base.
I've not done this mod before through the half moon cut but think it should work. I'd feel better about it if it wore octagon out there.
Ah well if it doesn't work I'll just make a banded front sight to cover the whole deal.

 

[Bad Karma]

I'm wondering (having second thoughts) about cutting the female dovetail across that original sight cut going the other direction and how well it will secure the male base.
I've not done this mod before through the half moon cut but think it should work. I'd feel better about it if it wore octagon out there.
Ah well if it doesn't work I'll just make a banded front sight to cover the whole deal.

I’ve seen it done both ways. Is your windage ok with the stock sight?

 

[M. De Land]

I’ve seen it done both ways. Is your windage ok with the stock sight?

No, it prints a couple inches to the right and nine high at 25 yards with 200 grain flat point ACP bullet and a full load of 3F I've been testing so I'll need to move it for some windage. I also can add width to one side of the blade to compensate for some windage and still make it look pretty well centered , Old Polish trick I'm fond of, being of Polish decent!
I made the new sight three times as high as the original so should have plenty of elevation adjustment.
Not sure about sight shape I want yet as Walkers probably will look out of character with a target profile. I'll have to chew on this a bit longer before I get to crazy with the mill and file and have to start over. Wouldn't be the first time an idea went south mid construction.
I remember having to remake an overide fly 6-8 times to get it to work on a close couple double set trigger I made from a picture in a gun book that looked really neat. Dang thing still does not work flawlessly on cold days so I still have something out of balance somewhere in the contraption.

 

[Rum River]

.

 

[Bad Karma]

No, it prints a couple inches to the right and nine high at 25 yards with 200 grain flat point ACP bullet and a full load of 3F I've been testing so I'll need to move it for some windage. I also can add width to one side of the blade to compensate for some windage and still make it look pretty well centered , Old Polish trick I'm fond of, being of Polish decent!
I made the new sight three times as high as the original so should have plenty of elevation adjustment.
Not sure about sight shape I want yet as Walkers probably will look out of character with a target profile. I'll have to chew on this a bit longer before I get to crazy with the mill and file and have to start over. Wouldn't be the first time an idea went south mid construction.
I remember having to remake an overide fly 6-8 times to get it to work on a close couple double set trigger I made from a picture in a gun book that looked really neat. Dang thing still does not work flawlessly on cold days so I still have something out of balance somewhere in the contraption.

I heard that about the profile. I think you have to go with a bit of a compromise here. I’ve never seen a patridge style sight that looked halfway decent on a something like that Walker or the Dragoons.
Maybe something like this?

 

[M. De Land]

I heard that about the profile. I think you have to go with a bit of a compromise here. I’ve never seen a patridge style sight that looked halfway decent on a something like that Walker or the Dragoons.
Maybe something like this?
View attachment 318079View attachment 318080View attachment 318081View attachment 318082

Yeah, thanks for the pictures, I kind of like that ramped one in the second picture, plus it will be holster friendly ! I'll get the metal checkering file going on the ramp before bluing it with some cross hatching. Target Partridge are the most accurate with the rear sharp corners but a Walker is not really a target platform plus if you rip one out of your sash in a hurry so sighted, without a holster, you may bring out your shorts or part of your anatomy !

 

[M. De Land]

Yeah, thanks for the pictures, I kind of like that ramped one in the second picture, plus it will be holster friendly ! I'll get the metal checkering file going on the ramp before bluing it with some cross hatching. Target Partridge are the most accurate with the rear sharp corners but a Walker is not really a target platform plus if you rip one out of your sash in a hurry so sighted, without a holster, you may bring out your shorts or part of your anatomy !

The other thing that needs doing on this gun is the chamber mouths are currently .449 and groove diameter is .4532 so will need to ream them out to .4533-4 and perhaps take the taper out of the rest of the chamber. These changes should make that ACP bullet do it's best and add maybe 6-8 grains of powder capacity in an already hungry chamber. I did order a set of nipples from slix shot this am for the new 51 as well as Walker.
One of the mods I've used on beat up nipples is to spin them in a hand drive electric motor and profile them against a diamond file to fit the caps I have on hand.
The vent hole in the slix shot does seem to make the caps work more efficiently on the guns I've tried them on mainly rifles.

 

[No second place]

Pulling front Colt type sights with a vice grip type wrench and hand filing a new front sight to proper hight and pressure fit worked fine for me. I guess if I had those nice milling machines I would use them. Would be nice...

 

[M. De Land]

I heard that about the profile. I think you have to go with a bit of a compromise here. I’ve never seen a patridge style sight that looked halfway decent on a something like that Walker or the Dragoons.
Maybe something like this?
View attachment 318079View attachment 318080View attachment 318081View attachment 318082

 

[M. De Land]

Well I got the front sight blank parted and fit on to the Walker barrel dovetail this PM. I'll leave it roughed out until load development is finished then checker file the ramp and rust blue it flat black. I made it a good bit to high so I would have plenty of vertical adjustment and of course the dovetail for windage.
Dovetail is .350 wide and .080 deep about .010 shallower than I usually cut but I wanted a bit more barrel steel under the female dovetail and it just cleaned up the bottom of the factory sight cut.
Hope to get the loading lever latch designed and installed in the next week or so.

 

[M. De Land]

Well I got the front sight blank parted and fit on to the Walker barrel dovetail this PM. I'll leave it roughed out until load development is finished then checker file the ramp and rust blue it flat black. I made it a good bit to high so I would have plenty of vertical adjustment and of course the dovetail for windage.
Dovetail is .350 wide and .080 deep about .010 shallower than I usually cut but I wanted a bit more barrel steel under the female dovetail and it just cleaned up the bottom of the factory sight cut.
Hope to get the loading lever latch designed and installed in the next week or so.

Kind of wished I'd made the sight body out of wider bar stock with all the barrel dovetail showing but will have lots of windage adjustment should it be needed. I may make some contoured plugs to fill it up once the windage is established and re-blued.
Should be an interesting project getting it all balanced out.
I just realized this AM that once the female is blued it won't stand out like it does now in bright steel so there will be no need for the plug fix.
I may bead blast the whole barrel group and rust blue it along with the front blade and loading lever latch. The loading lever it self is cased so that should be nice contrast to the rust blue on the barrel. I'll leave the cylinder and frame in the original factory polished blue and see if I like the contrast.
The rust blue stays on much better than the factory blue to resist holster wear so should look pretty good on the barrel and front sight after they both get some use.

 

[M. De Land]

Well I got the front sight blank parted and fit on to the Walker barrel dovetail this PM. I'll leave it roughed out until load development is finished then checker file the ramp and rust blue it flat black. I made it a good bit to high so I would have plenty of vertical adjustment and of course the dovetail for windage.
Dovetail is .350 wide and .080 deep about .010 shallower than I usually cut but I wanted a bit more barrel steel under the female dovetail and it just cleaned up the bottom of the factory sight cut.
Hope to get the loading lever latch designed and installed in the next week or so.

The most technical part of this deal was figuring out a way to hold the tapered barrel in the mill vice and adjust it for both plumb and square to the barrel taper tangent. I usually use my Forester sight jig that uses telescoping V block purchase but it could not be adjusted short enough for the combination octagon to round barrel.
I finally wound up ball milling an elongated groove in two 2.5 inch by .5 inch by 2 inch aluminum blocks and shimming the base and both sides to plumb and square with the barrel taper tangent.
You can see one of the corner shims in these pictures. As with most machine operations all the time is used in the set up not the milling itself.
Plumb and square is critical for proper sight fit in the dovetail as well as the lower sight base along the barrel top line. There should be no light gaps showing laterally any where when fit up correctly.
I will need to put probably a .002 shim under the shoulder of this blade to make it draw up tight as I got a bit to robust on the final cut and should have left well enough alone.
I'm famous for thinking I can do something just a little bit better and then things start south on me! No matter it'll stay put and look right in the end !

 

[M. De Land]

The most technical part of this deal was figuring out a way to hold the tapered barrel in the mill vice and adjust it for both plumb and square to the barrel taper tangent. I usually use my Forester sight jig that uses telescoping V block purchase but it could not be adjusted short enough for the combination octagon to round barrel.
I finally wound up ball milling an elongated groove in two 2.5 inch by .5 inch by 2 inch aluminum blocks and shimming the base and both sides to plumb and square with the barrel taper tangent.
You can see one of the corner shims in these pictures. As with most machine operations all the time is used in the set up not the milling itself.
Plumb and square is critical for proper sight fit in the dovetail as well as the lower sight base along the barrel top line. There should be no light gaps showing laterally any where when fit up correctly.
I will need to put probably a .002 shim under the shoulder of this blade to make it draw up tight as I got a bit to robust on the final cut and should have left well enough alone.
I'm famous for thinking I can do something just a little bit better and then things start south on me! No matter it'll stay put and look right in the end !

I got the new loading lever latch made and installed on the Walker and she's ready for sight in. I've been chewing on different loading lever latch designs and finally came up with one of my own that seems to look right and is a mechanical tether rather than relying on springs so I won't have to fart around with a flopping down lever or a latch spring so powerful one has to get the lever down with a pry bar.
It's basically a threaded telescoping bolt that in circles the original point ended loading rod of the Walker. It has a brass circle nut with a Knurled perimeter that threads the brass keep rod forward and backwards trapping the lever end in a reciprocal cut out nesting the point .
I'll find some saddle leather up the road and make a cross draw holder for the old girl. I'm thinking perhaps with a cross strap and belt to hold her up efficiently.
I was planning on a front sight width of .100 but by the time I got done whittling out the current blade to the profile I wanted I wound up with a width of .060 so may have to make another if I don't care for this one.
Over all I'm pretty happy with how the latch and front blade came out pretty much complimenting each other in size and profile neither over powering the other for a balanced look.
About all that's left is to perhaps ream the chambers but am going to chew on that for a while as I work up some good loads and get the sights regulated.
I also will need to square up the notch in the hammer nose to fit the front sight profile.
I just noticed the latch spring dovetail in the barrel root of the last picture. It reminds me of some old guy smiling at me missing a front tooth ! Probably ought to make and insert for that so it doesn't look hookybood/Bubbafied !

 

[M. De Land]

I got the new loading lever latch made and installed on the Walker and she's ready for sight in. I've been chewing on different loading lever latch designs and finally came up with one of my own that seems to look right and is a mechanical tether rather than relying on springs so I won't have to fart around with a flopping down lever or a latch spring so powerful one has to get the lever down with a pry bar.
It's basically a threaded telescoping bolt that in circles the original point ended loading rod of the Walker. It has a brass circle nut with a Knurled perimeter that threads the brass keep rod forward and backwards trapping the lever end in a reciprocal cut out nesting the point .
I'll find some saddle leather up the road and make a cross draw holder for the old girl. I'm thinking perhaps with a cross strap and belt to hold her up efficiently.
I was planning on a front sight width of .100 but by the time I got done whittling out the current blade to the profile I wanted I wound up with a width of .060 so may have to make another if I don't care for this one.
Over all I'm pretty happy with how the latch and front blade came out pretty much complimenting each other in size and profile neither over powering the other for a balanced look.
About all that's left is to perhaps ream the chambers but am going to chew on that for a while as I work up some good loads and get the sights regulated.
I also will need to square up the notch in the hammer nose to fit the front sight profile.
I just noticed the latch spring dovetail in the barrel root of the last picture. It reminds me of some old guy smiling at me missing a front tooth ! Probably ought to make and insert for that so it doesn't look hookybood/Bubbafied !

By the way the new sight base covers the original half moon sight mortise in the barrel via the dovetail cut through it with plenty of steel left in the female shoulders. I was a bit concerned about how this would all work out not having milled through one before and fitting a new sight over the top of it.

 

[M. De Land]

The most technical part of this deal was figuring out a way to hold the tapered barrel in the mill vice and adjust it for both plumb and square to the barrel taper tangent. I usually use my Forester sight jig that uses telescoping V block purchase but it could not be adjusted short enough for the combination octagon to round barrel.
I finally wound up ball milling an elongated groove in two 2.5 inch by .5 inch by 2 inch aluminum blocks and shimming the base and both sides to plumb and square with the barrel taper tangent.
You can see one of the corner shims in these pictures. As with most machine operations all the time is used in the set up not the milling itself.
Plumb and square is critical for proper sight fit in the dovetail as well as the lower sight base along the barrel top line. There should be no light gaps showing laterally any where when fit up correctly.
I will need to put probably a .002 shim under the shoulder of this blade to make it draw up tight as I got a bit to robust on the final cut and should have left well enough alone.
I'm famous for thinking I can do something just a little bit better and then things start south on me! No matter it'll stay put and look right in the end !

I don't know, the more I look at that narrow front blade .080 the more I think I need to mill out another with a wider lower base/skirt and blade of .100 or perhaps Ruger Blackhawk width of .125.
I think a wider base skirt covering more of the female dovetail barrel cut will look better and the wider blade make sharper target definition.