Some folks just shouldn't be allowed to own hacksaws...
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CraigC
Sixgun Nut
That's what they all say.
I didn't. When you said "tight" was in reference to the barrel/cylinder gap, I began wondering about the action. Like I said, a loose gap is easy to fix and you don't need replacement parts. Replacing worn lockwork on an old Smith is costly and getting one with ragged out lockwork fixed could easily outweigh the cost of a good one.
I'm not trying to poop on your parade. If you're happy with the gun, that is all the matters. All I'm saying is that you have to be careful with such guns because getting one in shooting condition, something you can actually use, will often cost MORE than it would to buy a good one in the first place. Which is always something you have to keep in mind when considering such a gun. Don't simply be lured in by the cheap price tag, think about the big picture. Like I said, I have been there.
I see discussions like this all the time with regards to engine swaps. Somebody thinks that because he can get an oddball engine for free that he'll save money. In reality, he spends way more time, money and effort trying to get that free engine to work than he would have to put a more common engine in its place. Very short-sighted.
Money better-spent.
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Believe me the lesson was learned with the FUGLY Police Positive that I traded a POS Erma PPK knock off for. The time invested in that thing was more than I would have liked, but in the end it all worked out. Ragged lockwork would be an understatement...
BCRider
Member
That crap camera also doesn't want to focus up that close. Hence the really fuzzy focus. If it has a "flower" or macro setting try that.
Looking at the fuzzy picture it looks like any front sight will have to be quite tall. To check this lay a straight edge along the top strap and then plan on the front sight being around another 1/32 taller than that. I think you'll find that you've got pleanty of room for a base and blade setup and that a simple bead would not be suitable.
How's your skill at wielding a metal file? With a lump of steel and a couple of files you should be able to cobble up a base and blade to let you put a proper front sight on that puppy.
And the nice thing about a sight with a proper base is that there's enough surface area to allow you to soft solder the base to the barrel. On the other hand if you use JUST a blade it'll be tall enough that it pretty much needs to be silver soldered using the high heat stuff. The soft solder won't lift the nickel where using a torch and bringing up the end of the barrel to near glowing most certainly will lift what nickel remains.
I know it's not a big deal but if you can keep the finish as intact as practical it would make the cleanup work after mounting the front sight that much less work.
In my mind I'm thinking of a sight made from 1/4 stock where the sides would be filed using a half round file to produce a blade section that looks much like a hollow ground gunsmith's screwdriver tip. Then the base would be filed using a round file that is a little smaller in diameter than the barrel. Once the section is shaped like this then from the side it would be cut down to produce a nice smooth half teardrop shape so that it's a nice smooth non catching draw. Work with the shape until it all looks nicely square and sits on the barrel with the blade sides alingned nicely with the center of the bore. Then clean the area free from nickel plating under where the base will go. Smear it with a bit of soldering flux paste then firmly wire it on with some small section steel tie wire and go shoot it. Come to think of it you will want to leave the side shape a bit more square for this step and file the nice tear drop shape later. This first go round you're just looking for it to center for windage so don't worry about the height or if you need to angle the gun to allow the blade to be more visible for aiming. With it set scribe a witness line so you can reset it or very carefully transport it home and soft solder it to the barrel. Once mounted now you can worry about cutting the height down to finish the sighting in process.
If you're missing some of what I'm describing I could do up a sketch of how I'm thinking that the blade would be shaped and wired in place for soldering.
If you go this route your costs may ramp up by the cost of two files to do the shaping assuming you can find a small scrap of metal for free...
Looking at the fuzzy picture it looks like any front sight will have to be quite tall. To check this lay a straight edge along the top strap and then plan on the front sight being around another 1/32 taller than that. I think you'll find that you've got pleanty of room for a base and blade setup and that a simple bead would not be suitable.
How's your skill at wielding a metal file? With a lump of steel and a couple of files you should be able to cobble up a base and blade to let you put a proper front sight on that puppy.
And the nice thing about a sight with a proper base is that there's enough surface area to allow you to soft solder the base to the barrel. On the other hand if you use JUST a blade it'll be tall enough that it pretty much needs to be silver soldered using the high heat stuff. The soft solder won't lift the nickel where using a torch and bringing up the end of the barrel to near glowing most certainly will lift what nickel remains.
I know it's not a big deal but if you can keep the finish as intact as practical it would make the cleanup work after mounting the front sight that much less work.
In my mind I'm thinking of a sight made from 1/4 stock where the sides would be filed using a half round file to produce a blade section that looks much like a hollow ground gunsmith's screwdriver tip. Then the base would be filed using a round file that is a little smaller in diameter than the barrel. Once the section is shaped like this then from the side it would be cut down to produce a nice smooth half teardrop shape so that it's a nice smooth non catching draw. Work with the shape until it all looks nicely square and sits on the barrel with the blade sides alingned nicely with the center of the bore. Then clean the area free from nickel plating under where the base will go. Smear it with a bit of soldering flux paste then firmly wire it on with some small section steel tie wire and go shoot it. Come to think of it you will want to leave the side shape a bit more square for this step and file the nice tear drop shape later. This first go round you're just looking for it to center for windage so don't worry about the height or if you need to angle the gun to allow the blade to be more visible for aiming. With it set scribe a witness line so you can reset it or very carefully transport it home and soft solder it to the barrel. Once mounted now you can worry about cutting the height down to finish the sighting in process.
If you're missing some of what I'm describing I could do up a sketch of how I'm thinking that the blade would be shaped and wired in place for soldering.
If you go this route your costs may ramp up by the cost of two files to do the shaping assuming you can find a small scrap of metal for free...
BCRider
Member
From the angle of the picture I thought it would be more like 1/4.
If the straight edge gap is only 1/8 I'd suggest you want to start with a blade which is about 3/16 or a little more in height. That suggests that you could get away with working with 1/8 or 3/16 thick stock and still have enough joint area for a decently strong soft solder joint to survive some of life's hard knocks in use. I'd probably start with some 3/16 and by the time you file off the mill scale and a little more you'd be working with a 1/8 to 5/32 width face for the barrel joint. And that's a nice width to use with soft solder. For a length I'd suggest 3/4 of an inch. With.... ah hell, I'll do a sketch and post it in another post.
If the straight edge gap is only 1/8 I'd suggest you want to start with a blade which is about 3/16 or a little more in height. That suggests that you could get away with working with 1/8 or 3/16 thick stock and still have enough joint area for a decently strong soft solder joint to survive some of life's hard knocks in use. I'd probably start with some 3/16 and by the time you file off the mill scale and a little more you'd be working with a 1/8 to 5/32 width face for the barrel joint. And that's a nice width to use with soft solder. For a length I'd suggest 3/4 of an inch. With.... ah hell, I'll do a sketch and post it in another post.
BCRider
Member
Here's that sketch I promised. I found that with the barrel size off my own Model 10 at around the length you have that the curve for the lower soldering side as well as the radius of the sides can all be done with a single fine cut 1/2 inch round file. Now files don't come in diameters, they come in lengths. But a 12 inch round fine cut file will be really close to 1/2 inch in diameter. As such it'll nicely do for shaping the cross section as shown.
[
Don't mind the rediculous three figures that sized stuff to a thou. That's just the setting I've got for my more serious CAD work. Note that .064 is pretty much 1/16 and that .190 is just a hair bigger than 3/16's. Due to the mill scale on the usual hot rolled steel I'd suggest working the sight out of some 1/4 inch stock. And in fact cutting and filing the upper shapes out of the end of some 1/4 x 1 would do nicely as you have lots to hold in the vise. Then once you cut it off you should be able to carefully grip it by the blade using some sheet aluminium for soft jaws and with a guide to control the file placement clamped in place you can then cut the saddle shape of the base to fit against the barrel curvature. Note from the upper diagram that the cove in the sides could be cut to a slightly smaller radius. The narrower tip of the round file will do this nicely while the fatter main portion can be used for the joint saddle.
Another option, if you have access to a drill press and a block of steel which is as thick as the new sight would be long, is to drill three holes as shown in the layout in the upper corner into the block such that the small section right in between the holes is the shape of the section. Then hack or bansaw away the waste to leave yourself with the center bit which just needs a slight amount of filing to flatten up the upper sides of the blade and some cleaning up with a file and sandpaper. If done well and the holes are drilled in stages starting with an accurate layout and pilot hole drilling this could produce very nice results. But if time and care is used hacking the section out using a hacksaw to waste the majority and then a file to shape the cross section will work just as well.
[
Don't mind the rediculous three figures that sized stuff to a thou. That's just the setting I've got for my more serious CAD work. Note that .064 is pretty much 1/16 and that .190 is just a hair bigger than 3/16's. Due to the mill scale on the usual hot rolled steel I'd suggest working the sight out of some 1/4 inch stock. And in fact cutting and filing the upper shapes out of the end of some 1/4 x 1 would do nicely as you have lots to hold in the vise. Then once you cut it off you should be able to carefully grip it by the blade using some sheet aluminium for soft jaws and with a guide to control the file placement clamped in place you can then cut the saddle shape of the base to fit against the barrel curvature. Note from the upper diagram that the cove in the sides could be cut to a slightly smaller radius. The narrower tip of the round file will do this nicely while the fatter main portion can be used for the joint saddle.
Another option, if you have access to a drill press and a block of steel which is as thick as the new sight would be long, is to drill three holes as shown in the layout in the upper corner into the block such that the small section right in between the holes is the shape of the section. Then hack or bansaw away the waste to leave yourself with the center bit which just needs a slight amount of filing to flatten up the upper sides of the blade and some cleaning up with a file and sandpaper. If done well and the holes are drilled in stages starting with an accurate layout and pilot hole drilling this could produce very nice results. But if time and care is used hacking the section out using a hacksaw to waste the majority and then a file to shape the cross section will work just as well.
SharpsDressedMan
member
Need a barrel with a sight? http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=268070896
SharpsDressedMan
member
After all this talk of adding beads and sights, I just though a replacement barrel was the simplest, cost effective solution.....especially when THAT auction popped up. Even if it goes for more than you want, you can sell off the other two barrels later, and maybe pay for the one you need!
BCRider
Member
WELL OH SURE! ! ! ! If you're going to take the EASY way out then fine. I'll just take my drawing and go home to eat worms! ! ! !
I have to admit that if you can score on one of those barrels and it doesn't cost much to have it mounted by a smith then that could be a great way to go. It WILL up the cost of your $75 project by quite a bit. And you're going to end up with a really FUGLY two tone oddball.
I have to admit that if you can score on one of those barrels and it doesn't cost much to have it mounted by a smith then that could be a great way to go. It WILL up the cost of your $75 project by quite a bit. And you're going to end up with a really FUGLY two tone oddball.
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