Replacing the front sight on a Pietta replica Colt 1860 Army revolver
Steve Sheldon
2013
It seems it's rare (for me, anyway) that you get a black powder firearm that shoots correctly for elevation (or windage, for that matter!). Part of the art and science of black powder shooting is adjusting the sights after finding the bullet and load that gives you the best group.
Colt 1860 Army replicas often come with a small front sight, and as a result they often shoot quite high. My Pietta replica, purchased through Cabela's, was no exception. Sometimes you can file the rear notch in the hammer a little deeper to accommodate the error, but most people go the route of modifying the front sight.
With the help of some nice folks over on the N-SSA forum walking me through how to replace it, I was able to pop the old one out and make a new one and seat it in place in an evening.
To begin, I ordered some 1/8" thick by 5/8" wide brass stock from McMaster-Carr. The smallest piece they sell is 3 feet long and it costs about $18. So if you can find a scrap of brass from someplace else you will be way ahead of the game.
To start with, I carefully covered the barrel around the existing front sight with electrical tape. This is to protect the barrel finish while you are using a punch to knock the old sight out.
2013
It seems it's rare (for me, anyway) that you get a black powder firearm that shoots correctly for elevation (or windage, for that matter!). Part of the art and science of black powder shooting is adjusting the sights after finding the bullet and load that gives you the best group.
Colt 1860 Army replicas often come with a small front sight, and as a result they often shoot quite high. My Pietta replica, purchased through Cabela's, was no exception. Sometimes you can file the rear notch in the hammer a little deeper to accommodate the error, but most people go the route of modifying the front sight.
With the help of some nice folks over on the N-SSA forum walking me through how to replace it, I was able to pop the old one out and make a new one and seat it in place in an evening.
To begin, I ordered some 1/8" thick by 5/8" wide brass stock from McMaster-Carr. The smallest piece they sell is 3 feet long and it costs about $18. So if you can find a scrap of brass from someplace else you will be way ahead of the game.
To start with, I carefully covered the barrel around the existing front sight with electrical tape. This is to protect the barrel finish while you are using a punch to knock the old sight out.
Left: The stock sight, brass stock, and electrical tape. Right: The patient dressed for surgery.
Next, I firmly but gently secured the barrel by gripping it in a bench vice. I used a scrap piece of leather to protect the barrel. It is not necessary to crank down on the barrel to hold it firmly, and you don't want to risk cutting through the leather or otherwise damaging it. Use just enough pressure so that it's not going anywhere.
With the revolver secure, use a brass punch to carefully knock the old sight out of its groove. The bottom of the sight is rounded, so as you knock it forward (or backwards, depending on where you can get a better bite on the site) it will "ride" out of the pocket.
Left: Brass punch. Center: Sight coming out! Right: The stock sight removed.
With the stock sight out, the easy part is over. Next you have to craft a replacement blade. To start with, measure the overall length of the stock sight, and transfer that length to your brass stock. I used a Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel to cut the brass to the desired width, and I cleaned it up with a file. Remember to go slowly when shaping the new sight - you can always remove metal but it's hard to put it back!
Once you have your blank cut to size, the next step is to file a radius on the bottom. Use your thumbnail to hold the original sight down near the bottom of the blank, and then use an awl or small nail to scribe a curve on your blank, using the original sight as a template. Clamp your blank in your vice, using scrap leather or shims of brass to protect it from the vice jaws, and using a file gently and carefully file the blank until you match your scribe mark. Hold it up to the original sight to verify you have matched the curve.
The next step is the most critical. You have to carefully file the thickness of the blank to match the original sight. My sight happened to be .119 inches (3.02 mm) thick. My stock was about .125 inches thick. So I carefully clamped it in my vice by its edges and filed the blank down until I matched the thickness of the original sight. Because the blade is pressed into place with an interference fit, it's important that you don't file too much. If you make the blade too thin it won't stay in place and you will have to start over.
You can file a very fine chamfer, or beveled edge, on the nose of the radius to help it get started in the groove in the barrel, but don't get carried away - you want a lot of metal-to-metal interference when the sight is finally seated.
When you are satisfied that your new sight blade is finished, support the bottom front of the barrel on a block of wood sitting on a firm surface, like an anvil, or the anvil block of your bench vice. It might be helpful to recruit a friend to hold the firearm for you for this step. Carefully set the radiused end of the new sight blade in the center of the notch, and then with a small hammer carefully drive it into place. It doesn't take much force for it to go in, so don't pound it like a nail. If you can't get it to start don't bugger the finish on the barrel by trying to force it. File yourself a tiny bit more lead-in chamfer and try again. When you get it started, gently tap it until it firmly seats in the barrel.
When you are satisfied that your new sight blade is finished, support the bottom front of the barrel on a block of wood sitting on a firm surface, like an anvil, or the anvil block of your bench vice. It might be helpful to recruit a friend to hold the firearm for you for this step. Carefully set the radiused end of the new sight blade in the center of the notch, and then with a small hammer carefully drive it into place. It doesn't take much force for it to go in, so don't pound it like a nail. If you can't get it to start don't bugger the finish on the barrel by trying to force it. File yourself a tiny bit more lead-in chamfer and try again. When you get it started, gently tap it until it firmly seats in the barrel.
The new blade in place. Final shaping and sizing will be done when the most accurate load is determined.
When you are finished, you'll have a new blade blank installed! You'll want to use a gunsight adjustment calculator to figure out how much higher the new sight needs to be from the old sight. Never make any changes to your sight until you have established the best bullet and powder charge that gives you the tightest group. If you don't have a good group you are just wasting your time playing with the sights.
Once you have the sight filed so that it shoots to point of aim, then you can shape it as desired to a more rounded appearance like period gun sights.
So there you have it! In a couple of hours you can put a new front sight on your 1860 Army!
Update:
So after using the sight calculator to determine that I needed a sight correction of .111 inches, and given that the original sight was about .1 inches tall, that means I'd need a sight that is about .21" tall. I went ahead and cut the sight down to .25" tall and filed it to a rounded profile. I'll try it out and have a little extra to file down as I fine tune it.
Once you have the sight filed so that it shoots to point of aim, then you can shape it as desired to a more rounded appearance like period gun sights.
So there you have it! In a couple of hours you can put a new front sight on your 1860 Army!
Update:
So after using the sight calculator to determine that I needed a sight correction of .111 inches, and given that the original sight was about .1 inches tall, that means I'd need a sight that is about .21" tall. I went ahead and cut the sight down to .25" tall and filed it to a rounded profile. I'll try it out and have a little extra to file down as I fine tune it.
Like this article? See our article on replacing the front sight on a Uberti Colt Walker.