Pistols Rear Sight Question

[Zonie]

Well, pregnant idea number 83-2005 is up for comment.

Today I cleaned a spot of blueing away and soft soldered my sterling silver front sight on about 3/4 of an inch back from the muzzle.
I had purchased a small rear sight with the intention of cutting a dovetail about 1 inch forward of the breech.
I still might do that, but a thought crept into my head.

The rear tang screw currently has a rounded surface on top of the head. This surface is flush with the barrel at the outside diameter of the head, but the middle is about .030 higher than the surface of the tang.
When the screw is tight, the screw slot is pointing right at the front sight. It actually makes a very unobtrusive little rear sight all by itself. In fact, it's hard to notice until you start to aim and then the notch becomes quite appearent.

I'm know that most pistols front sights are higher than the rear sight because of the light weight of the gun permits a lot of recoil before the bullet/ball exits the bore.

This pistol is a .40 caliber gun with a light 3/4 inch X 9 1/2 long octagon barrel. Do you think a front sight that's about 3/16 high will work?

Remembering that I'm a aim to the point of impact shooter, how low do you think I'll have to file the front sight to get it to zero at 25 yards?

 

[MSW]

As regards using a tang bolt for a rear sight, it sounds odd, and it's probably not very PC, but if it works for you, who am i to tell you what to do ...

As regards how much file work you'd have to do to zero the piece, it's been my experience that there's only one way, and that's to take it to the range and try it.

Take notebook and pencil, too, and take copiuos notes on what you're doing as you do it. Be methodical, and pay no attention to 'rangeflies' (like barflies, but where you go to shoot, this instant expert will gladly tell you how wrong you are, even with no prompting from you or anyone else).

The pistol looks very nice.
Good luck!

 

[CrackStock]

Zonie,

Let me think this through. You have a very nice and high front sight and a very low and low tech rear sight. Doesn't this seem out of balance aesthetically?

On a practical note, getting this screw to work as a sight has 2 problems.

1. You will be filing the front down so low that it will be a nub. More correct than our modern pistol sights, but still a nub when you had a really nice sight.

2. Is that you will be relying upon a screw as your rear sight. Screws rarely stay put and their tightness changes over time and removals.

If it were my gun, I would fire a round or 2 through it with the screw as the sight just for grins, but I would dove tail a rear sight that compliments the front.

CS

 

You could even cut a wedge shape in the screw slot to let in more light but the main issue I see is what CS pointed out - there will come a time when the screw will turn a bit more until poof! - no more rear sight notch. The alternative is to lock-tite the screw and never take the gun apart.

Brownell's has a chart for changing sight height to correct point of impact with different length barrels so you could shoot it once and then decide what to do with the front sight based on where it hits.

 

[canyonman]

Zonie,

What CrackStock says makes a lot of sense...a lot of sense...a lot of sense. Do you see a pattern developing here. ::

Larry

 

[silverfox]

zonie: Boy it seems strange to add something for your information but nobody else has so. They are all concerned about the screw moving and being to low well my question is what are you going to do when you shoot the side of the paper instead of the middle. I could always handle a little hold over or under but that side to side was always much harder to handle. Nice looking pistol you have I would just shoot it and see then deside what to do next.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[Erzulis boat]

On the last pistol that I built I did the exact same thing.

I used a .065 diameter silver bead at the front set back exactly .200 from the muzzle. The rear sight is the domed tang screw. The area where the tang screw is located is parallel to the bore.

The tang screw was secured using a thread retaining compound. The barrel is a Green Mountain .45 cal. with 10.9 inches of barrel (muzzle to breechface).

At 15 yards it is dead on for windage, and elevation is fine, the rear screw slot is more of a confirmation issue, not so much a precise alignment thing.

On this pistol, I wanted a streamlined look without a large dovetail cut into the long slender barrel. The pistol was designed to dispatch fools on the deck of the opposing ship before you board it with the short smoothbores and a cutlass.

Anyway, it works just fine, and looks really clean and elegant.

 

[Erzulis boat]

Now that I am thinking about it, choosing sights for a project is about the hardest thing to do.

The commercialy available sights have bases that are compatible with modern dovetail cutters.

I have real pistols in my collection, and the sights are extremely small and dainty. The front sight dovetails are sometimes as small as a sixteenth of an inch. The rear sight notch as narrow as thirty-second.

Too many great scratchbuilt pistols are ruined by chunky and way too high sights. There is so little barrel, that large dovetails completely overpower the streamlined elegance of a sweet pistol.

Your silver front sight is very handsome, so I understand your trepidation, I would be thinking about it hard too.

On that particular style of sight, the flat base can be thinned down towards the barrel flat. When they are thin, the blade can be lowered quite a bit and look more authentic. If the soldering is done properly, those silver sights are bulletproof.

Sometimes the rearsight can be installed near the barrel-tang junction with a small and shallow dovetail. Because of the lock location, the rearsight will not interfere with clean top barrel flat.

Anyway, the pistol is very similar to a French style percussion dueller and the rear sight would be on the tang, forged as one with the breechplug.

I have machined a narrow channel into tangs before, inserted a steel rectangular insert, and soldered them into place. If the fit is tight, the solder will not show. When the tang is inserted into the stock, the channel will be obscured. The rearsight is as wide as the tang, exactly parallel with the sides. If done right, they look super clean and authentic. If you used a chunk of silver about an eighth of an inch wide, it would look incredible with that black barrel. You would not have to solder it if the channel was undercut. :m2c:

 

[Zonie]

Thanks to all of you for the thoughts.
The rear sight I bought is Track of the Wolfs RS-A-71 which is about .400 wide by .56 long and .2 high. It's a nice little sight that could not be dovetailed over .030 deep into the barrel.
The casting is a little rough and boy is it hard to get a grip on to do much sanding. I may superglue it to a stick.

As for PC, I have seen several pistols which had front sights but no rear sights. I always thought the front sight on those guns was kind of like the bead on a shotgun. Not really for aiming, but more as just a reference point for the eye to pick up.

I think I'll go with what I have for now and see where it shoots. If it is way off, I can always add the real rear sight later.

If your curious, that block of wood the pistol is resting on was part of the stock with the barrel channel routed into it before I got out the ole saw and whacked it off. ::

 

[lanedh]

Zonie--

That pistol looks exactly like the one I am about to market and have a patent on -- see you in court, sonny!!

I am building one along the same lines as yours, except I will make mine a saw-handle something like the Perdersoli Mortimer, stocked in cherry and with adjustable rear sight for target shooting (I always used a six o'clock hold). Really nice curl to that wood, it's gonna look great when stained and sealed. Please post more pictures as you progress.