1858 Remington Sights

[Big D]

Hey yall. I've noticed the front sight of my Uberti 1858 NMA
is machined higher than the pictures I've seen of original
1858s. Is this yet another Italian replica thing or ? Since
receiving my Uberti NMA, I have noticed that to shoot POA, I
must align the sight so that with my sight picture, the top of
the front sight is aligned with the bottom of the V in the frame.
If I align the sights on target so that the front sight is even with the rear notch in the frame, I noticed I shoot high. Idk if this is just me or if these
revolvers just naturally shoot high. I know with the Pietta Navy .36 I have
it shoots slightly low with the short, stubby bead sight. Any help would be appreciated!!

 

[BCRider]

That suggests to me that your front sight is still not tall enough. Or that perhaps you are shooting lighter charges. With the same weight projectile a slower muzzle velocity will tend to print higher with revolvers.

With my two Ubertis I found that 30 gns is as low as I can go and still have enough ram travel to seat the ball on the powder. But if you're running down around 20gns of powder and some filler than your muzzle velocity will be lower and the bullet spends more time in the barrel and exits later in the recoil kick. Hence printing higher on the target. But if you are shooting 30 or more grains of powder then I'd say that the front sight is just too short.

 

[Oyvind]

Original Remington revolvers were sighted in at 50 yards. Today, most competition shooting is done a 25 yards/metres, so i guess that's why the Italians put a higher front sight on their revolvers. It's easier to file down a sight than to add metal.

I have replaced the low front sight with a higher on my original transitional Remington New Model Army with a higher that allows me shoot at 25 metres without having to aim below the target.

 

[BowerR64]

How far are you shooting Big D?

What powder 2F or 3F?

How many grains?

 

[1858remington]

My guess is your shooting high due to anticipation of the gun going off. All my 1858 Remington clones shoot right to point of aim. In that brief pause before the cap ignites the charge, my guess is you are rising up off the target. To be sure this is not the case, try shooting the gun from a rest, or sand bags. This will determine pretty fast if its the gun or the shooter.

 

[swathdiver]

What's point of aim? That has to be defined. In my Pietta NMA from 2012 that's 50 feet. In the Sheriff with the 5.5" barrel, same year, that's 20 feet. Same front sight, same loads; barrel length and chamber and barrel grooves are different.

 

[Modernhoglegs]

Point of Aim(POA) is where the sights are aligned.
Point of Impact (POI) is where the bullet hits the target.
The sighting in process is making those two point the same place.

My 5.5" Rem New Army requires me to hold about 6" above the target at 25 yards.
I will file down the frint sight yo correct this difference.
On the other hand, my 1860 Army clone requires me to hold 6" low at 25 yards to hit center.
I probably won't change this because filing the hammer requires abrading off the case hardening before the file work can begin, and this reduces the rust resistance. I know this is a petty reason, but I use the Colts for casual plinking where playing tne windage is part of the game.

If I want real pin poing accuracy I get out mh Ruger Old Army.

 

[Flatbush Harry]

My Uberti SS Rem 1858 shoots 4" low and centered at 13 yards with 30gr Pyrodex P....but I've got a file.

FH

 

[fdf]

There is more to shooting revolvers than most folks understand.

The Uberti comes with a tall front sight so it can be filed down, it's made so you can raise the point of impact by filing.

A low hand position on the grip of a revolver will make the revolver shoot "high". Raise the hand position really high on the grip and it will lower the point of impact significantly.

The most important part of pistol shooting is to focus the "front" sight on the target.
The brain and eye will take care of the rear sight and grip the pistol very firmly each and every time.