Replacing the front sight on a Uberti replica Colt Walker revolver
Steve Sheldon
2014
Santa Clause was packing this year, and he brought me a Uberti replica of the Colt Walker. I took it to the range with several workups of loads ranging from 30 grains of 3F Shuetzen powder to 50 grains of 3F. I would have tried 60 but the rubber tube caps I use for making cartridges won't hold more than 50 grains plus a ball. I shot using .454 swaged Hornady balls, but they shaved just a little to little lead for comfort, so I have since bought a Lee .457 mold.
I found the best group to be between 35 and 45 grains of powder. At 45 grains, off a bench rest I had 3 shots pass through the same hole and 2 shots pass through the same hole nearby. One other shot was nearby by itself. At 50 grains the group started to open up again.
2014
Santa Clause was packing this year, and he brought me a Uberti replica of the Colt Walker. I took it to the range with several workups of loads ranging from 30 grains of 3F Shuetzen powder to 50 grains of 3F. I would have tried 60 but the rubber tube caps I use for making cartridges won't hold more than 50 grains plus a ball. I shot using .454 swaged Hornady balls, but they shaved just a little to little lead for comfort, so I have since bought a Lee .457 mold.
I found the best group to be between 35 and 45 grains of powder. At 45 grains, off a bench rest I had 3 shots pass through the same hole and 2 shots pass through the same hole nearby. One other shot was nearby by itself. At 50 grains the group started to open up again.
However, as you can see, the gun shot about 5.5 inches high and
about 4 inches to the right. A taller front sight was needed.
Encouraged by how easy it was to replace the sight on my Pietta 1860 Army, I decided to have a go at replacing the front sight on my Walker. The Walker would be a little trickier. For one thing, unlike the Pietta, the Uberti front sight was staked. There is a very fine staking line on either side of the blade, pinching it place after it had been set in place. But if I tried to just press in a new sight, it would be squeezed down by the stake bulges and probably just pull right out. Also the slot was only a couple of thousandths smaller in width than my brass stock. So soldering was going to be in order. But I didn't want to damage the bluing on my nice new Walker!
The first thing I did was lay strips of electrical tape on the barrel along side the existing sight, as I did with the 1860. Then I used a brass punch to carefully knock the original sight out of its slot.
Again as with the 1860, I then cut a piece of brass stock to match the length of the existing sight. I laid the existing sight on the stock and used a sharpie pen to draw the rounded profile of the sight.
Encouraged by how easy it was to replace the sight on my Pietta 1860 Army, I decided to have a go at replacing the front sight on my Walker. The Walker would be a little trickier. For one thing, unlike the Pietta, the Uberti front sight was staked. There is a very fine staking line on either side of the blade, pinching it place after it had been set in place. But if I tried to just press in a new sight, it would be squeezed down by the stake bulges and probably just pull right out. Also the slot was only a couple of thousandths smaller in width than my brass stock. So soldering was going to be in order. But I didn't want to damage the bluing on my nice new Walker!
The first thing I did was lay strips of electrical tape on the barrel along side the existing sight, as I did with the 1860. Then I used a brass punch to carefully knock the original sight out of its slot.
Again as with the 1860, I then cut a piece of brass stock to match the length of the existing sight. I laid the existing sight on the stock and used a sharpie pen to draw the rounded profile of the sight.
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Next I used a bench grinder to grind the profile, using the
sharpie ink as a guide. I used a Dremel tool to make a notch in the bottom
of the sight as in the original. I do not know what purpose the notch
served on the original, but I had a plan. I would use that notch as a
reservoir for solder! I fluxed the bottom of the new blade and heated it
with a propane torch. Then I touched solder to it and let it spread evenly
all along the bottom of the sight. It filled in the notch. Then I
carefully dressed up the profile with a file until I could start to see brass
peeking through the solder.
The pre-soldered and shaped sight.
Next I used a Q-tip and Acetone to thoroughly clean and degrease
the inside of the slot. I then used a toothpick to carefully apply flux to
the inside of the slot. I was careful to use it sparingly as I did not
want it to boil out of the slot and possibly harm the finish of the barrel.
Then I carefully tapped the new blade into place until it bottomed out in the slot. I then used some scrap leather to again clamp the barrel in a vice, and I carefully heated the brass blade with a propane torch until I could see the solder liquefy and seep around the edges of the slot and blade.
Then I carefully tapped the new blade into place until it bottomed out in the slot. I then used some scrap leather to again clamp the barrel in a vice, and I carefully heated the brass blade with a propane torch until I could see the solder liquefy and seep around the edges of the slot and blade.
After it had cooled down, I gently pushed on the blade and
discovered to my relief that it was not going anywhere! Of course the
blade in the picture is far too tall. I used a sight calculator to
determine that the finished sight needed to be about .25" high. I cut it
down to .3" to be safe and sure enough it shot low at the range. I
carefully filed the sight down until I got the right elevation with a 6-o'clock
hold at 25 yards. Then I filed the sight at an angle on one side until I
brought the windage to the bullseye. At 50 yards I'm betting that a center
hold will do the trick.
The results! 6-o'clock hold. Yes, one target was stapled up upside-down.
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The sight looks a little wonky being filed at an angle on one side to shift
the point of aim, but shoot to point of aim it now does! I was down to my
last 12 cartridges for the final two targets, and I had an antsy 8-year-old who
wanted to go home so I may not have been as steady on the trigger as I was
during the first grouping tests. Still, I'm pleased.
Like this article? See our article on replacing the front sight on a Pietta 1860 Army.
