So I've seen some folks put a taller front sight on a ROA to lower the elevation but on a Colt replica what technique if any do you use to lower the elevation? Do you just aim lower....how many of you file the notch deeper in the rear hammer sight?
On your Colt replica...how did you adjust the elevation?
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expat_alaska
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Colt 1851 Navies/replicas shoot POA/POI at 75 yards. Yes, aim lower, more like 6 o'clock, depending on the yardage. Forget about filing down the hammer notch.
Get used to it.
Get used to it.
Carl N. Brown
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Colt revolvers are guns that call for Kentucky Windage and Tennessee Elevation.
Steel Hayes
Member
Filing down the front sight on an Remington NMA can work, but its best to just shoot a colt until you get the feel.
How deep do you think you filed the notch down?
I have 7 of the Colt replicas but have never made any attempt to adjust them and I was just curious. On my Ruger Old Army with the target sight I bought an extra rear site blade and filed that notch a good bit.
Curator
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On my Colt replica cap & ball revolvers I "adjust" elevation like this: Remove the front sight by grabbing it with a pair of vice-grips and smack the barrel with a rubber mallet. It should come out clean leaving a milled slot about 3/32" deep. Make a new sight that is at least twice as tall as the original (a dime cut in half is just about the right size. File to shape. Mix up a dab of J-B Weld and put a tiny bit on the slot before tapping the new sight in place. Go to the range and loading my most accurate or preferred hunting load, shoot 5-shot groups from a benchrest at 25 yards. File down new sight using a 6-O'clock hold until groups are centered in the black.
"Aim for the belt buckle."
“[aim for] the belt of the cartridge boxes of the enemy.”
Francis Marion Parker, commander of the 30th NC commands his men in the Sunken Road
From “It Appeared As Though Mutual Extermination Would Put a Stop to the Awful Carnage Sharpsburg’s Bloody Lane.”by Robert K. Krick. The Antietam Campaign. Ed. Gary Gallagher Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
https://jarosebrock.wordpress.com/maryland-campaign/antietam/the-sunken-road/
"As the Federals approached, General John Clark of the Missouri State Guard ordered his men to hold their fire until they could "see the whites of their eyes, then aim at their belt buckles." He rode back and forth behind his infantry, shouting words of encouragement and cracking jokes. Yet the work was grim enough for the most sanguine hearts."
Wilson's Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men who ...
"Our officers passed along the line and told us not to fire until the rebels got out into the open, then fire low, aim at their belt buckles."
A Perfect Picture of Hell: Eyewitness Accounts by Civil War ... - Page 46
“[aim for] the belt of the cartridge boxes of the enemy.”
Francis Marion Parker, commander of the 30th NC commands his men in the Sunken Road
From “It Appeared As Though Mutual Extermination Would Put a Stop to the Awful Carnage Sharpsburg’s Bloody Lane.”by Robert K. Krick. The Antietam Campaign. Ed. Gary Gallagher Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1999.
https://jarosebrock.wordpress.com/maryland-campaign/antietam/the-sunken-road/
"As the Federals approached, General John Clark of the Missouri State Guard ordered his men to hold their fire until they could "see the whites of their eyes, then aim at their belt buckles." He rode back and forth behind his infantry, shouting words of encouragement and cracking jokes. Yet the work was grim enough for the most sanguine hearts."
Wilson's Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men who ...
"Our officers passed along the line and told us not to fire until the rebels got out into the open, then fire low, aim at their belt buckles."
A Perfect Picture of Hell: Eyewitness Accounts by Civil War ... - Page 46
Caliper_Mi
Member
Not my video, but I follow this technique.
AlexanderA
Member
If you are using this to support the idea of aiming low, it's not quite as clear as that. The standard Federal uniform would have the cartridge box belt plate at the center of the chest, and the waist belt plate at the waist. That eagle cartridge belt plate would make an ideal target. Depending on the unit, these would either be highly polished, or left dull. Certainly Regulars would spend a lot of time polishing their brass.
I used the small Harbor Freight files.
I would make a few runs with the file, then shoot. After few times you could see poa was getting better. Just take a little at a time off. The small file I used made the notch a little wider and flatter near the bottom of the notch.
The end result made it easier to see the front sight and now shoots wear I want it.
I did this with my 1862 and 1851.
Mike's video will get you there also.
I would make a few runs with the file, then shoot. After few times you could see poa was getting better. Just take a little at a time off. The small file I used made the notch a little wider and flatter near the bottom of the notch.
The end result made it easier to see the front sight and now shoots wear I want it.
I did this with my 1862 and 1851.
Mike's video will get you there also.
That 1st reference probably doesn't work but the other 2 do.
The implied meaning was to aim low.
rdstrain49
Member
Filing the rear "sight" notch deeper will only change how your sight picture appears, NOT the point of impact.
wha?
dickydalton
Member
it made my Colt hit to POA at 25 yards.
Caliper_Mi
Member
That would depend on how you align the sights. With the modern (and more repeatable) method of aligning the sights even across the top, I agree.
But, if one buries the front sight in the now deeper notch you will get a lower POI. This works, but makes for a less consistent sight alignment and a poor sight picture with the rear sight blocking much of the target.
Lowering the rear sight is a more consistent method, even if a bit more involved.
robhof
Member
I did the exact same thing for my ROA's, I wrote about it as an answer to someone's question in the ROA blog, works great and easily replaceable sight blades if you want to return to factory set.
expat_alaska
Member
If the front sight is lowered the pistol will still shoot high.
I filed a sight out of key stock for my ROA, threaded a piece of brazing rod and screwed it into a hole I drilled and threaded into the barrel on my 1851 and made a dovetail block with a pc of drill rod threaded into it and drove it into a dovetail I filed in my Remmy. On the Remmy I filed a slot lengthwise, drilled and tapped a hole and mounted a S&W rear sight. Filed the notch in the Colt square.
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