Front sight attachment

[Scota4570]

How did John Armstrong attach this sight?

I'd make my sight out of steel.  I was thinking of using a post on the sight in a hole in the barrel with solder.  I want my sight a little taller for practical shooting reasons.  The banana shape precludes making a slot in the barrel.  I could use a tight dove tail and pene then file to make it invisible.  Thoughts?

Do the 20 dots on the original's muzzle mean anything special?

[Rich]

 I did a round barrel, brass sight of the same shape as you pictured. I fit the bottom of the sight to the shape of the barrel. Tinned the bottom of the sight with solder (stay-brite) and soldered it on. I laid a piece of round stock steel in the barrel as a heat sink so the soldered on lug on the bottom of the barrel would not be affected.

[Robby]

This sight I filed out of a piece of bronze and soldered on. It has been on there for over twenty years and is still tight.
Robby

[rich pierce]

A sight with such a low profile could be soldered on. It’s never going the catch on anything. I’d be tempted to make a shallow trough only the length of the sight’s midsection and make a short peg on the sight, then solder it. Because of its ovate shape I would not want to inlet the whole thing into a barrel slot and peen it in place.

[Scota4570]

I soldered it as suggested.

[elkhorne]

Scota4570,
Getting ready to need to do one of these in the near future. Curious about how you guys determine centerline on the barrel to line the sight up perfectly on the vertical centerline. Any help would be appreciated.
elkhorne

[Scota4570]

On this one I put the barrel in my milling machine vice.  It has smooth jaws that are parallel.  I leveled it up based on the top flat with a machinist level.  I then used a pair of digital calipers to strike a line on the barrel half way between the vice jaws, one line off each side.  I tinned the sight.  Fluxed the barrel.  Then clamped the sight in place with vice grips I use for this kind of thing.  They have long square shaped jaws with pads on the gripping surface.  Once the sight was positioned I heated the barrel until the solder melted.  The sight was slightly out of parallel to the bore so I heated and adjusted.  I may have to move the sight to adjust the poa. 

I probably could have just eyeballed it. 

[smart dog]

Hi,
Lay the barrel upside down on a flat surface using the octagon portion or barrel tang to keep the top flat on the surface. Slide a thin flat file under the barrel where the sight will go and pull it out scoring the barrel.  It will leave a nice mark perfectly on center.  When I mount sights such as those, I chisel a shallow mortice in the barrel centerline, give the edges a slight dovetail, and hammer in a rectangular lump of brass, silver, steel, or gold. I make sure it is secure by peening the barrel around the edges of the mortice with a punch.  Then I file the sight to shape.  I make the raw sight wide enough so I can file sides to make any fine windage adjustment.

 

dave

[Craig Wilcox]

I do the same as Dave, aka Smart Dog, except I use a triangular file placed perpendicular to the barrel.  A #2 or #4 cut will leave a very fine line.