Rear Sight Placement on Pistols

[Bill-52]

Just returned from the UK where I visited Windsor Castle. In the armament displays, several flintlock pistols had the rear sight placed right behind the breech, on the barrel tang where it meets the barrel.  The origin of these pistols was not clear but I would guess British or French.  These were somewhat larger pistols; the barrel length was about 10".  Given the relatively short sight radius on a pistol, lengthening it by even a couple inches seemed to make sense.

My question is whether anyone has seen this done on American flintlock pistols?

Thanks,
Bill

Moderators:  I put this in Gun Building as my next project will be a pistol but maybe this should be in Antique Collecting?  Pls. move if necessary.

[smart dog]

Hi Bill,
Yes.  A lot probably has to do with the culture with which the maker was familiar.  If English dominated or the local fashion aped urban European styles, rear sights may be located on or near the breech tang if any rear sights are used at all.  I think Germanic gunsmiths most familiar with rifle making may have tended to place the rear sight down the barrel more similar to a long rifle.

dave

[Chris Treichel]

Many Kuchenreuter German pistols have their sights on the breech as well if that helps.

[B Shipman]

Sighting radius is a big advantage.

[JTR]

Since your question was whether American pistols were made with the rear sight mounted back at the tang area I looked through one of my Kentucky pistol books.

Of 76 pistols shown, 55 had either no sights at all or just a front sight.

21 had front and rear sights, with the rear sight placed out on the back half of the barrel.

None had a rear sight mounted back around the tang area.

That's not to say that it was never done, but if it was, it must not have been very often.

But if I was going to build a target pistol, I'd spread the sights as far as possible!

John

[jerrywh]

 English pistols and American pistols of that period were made for different perposes.  American pistols were basically made for a survival situation in more of a wilderness environment.  I think most of them were smooth bores. That is why they never had sights. At 10 feet they never saw a need for sights. They could also be loaded with shot of different sizes. This is somewhat a matter of my personal opinion. In England and Europe they were mostly made for target or dueling. I don't think commoners were even allowed to have a pistol in England. They were mostly owned by Rich landowners or aristocrats and royalty.  Nevertheless the quality of English and French guns far exceeded those of the colonies.  The English considered our guns as very low quality. Compared to theirs they were. The sight on the tang is far better than the ones on the barrel. Many of the American officers purchased English pistols for themselves. Including George Washington.  Patrick Gass of the expidition also had a pair of English pistols.

[Bill-52]

Thanks guys, very helpful.  Based on the feedback, I'm going to stick with the more traditional rear sight placement for an American flintlock pistol, which is what I want to build.  I'll be using a relatively long barrel so the sight radius will be longer than average anyway.

Many thanks,
Bill

[jerrywh]

American pistols very  rarely had barrels over 8 1/2" long.