Question for English pistol guys

[Bill in Md]

Good Morning from Maryland all....I am putting together a parts kit from the 1970's. It is the CVA "Tower Pistol". I have customized the stock but the barrel is a tapered and round. It is rifled and I know it is far from an original which would probably be smooth, but my question is about the front sight if any.There will be no rear sight and I was wondering if placing a bead type front sight on it would "traditional".....any thoughts would be welcome......Bill McNeal

[Blacksmoke]

Bill:  Welcome to ALR!  Since  most anything from "CVA" is a far piece from "Historically Accurate" it will not matter to any one but you if you put a front sight on this barrel.  If it works for you than do it! H.T.

[2 shots]

 hi and welcome. you are free to take all the liberties you like with a cva kit. as said make it as you like it. have fun and learn.

[Scota4570]

My Grandmother gave me one of those  in 1975. The barrel has a very slow twist, it appears to be a piece of rifle barrel.  I installed sights from a Remington M-700. 

Later I installed a new barrel made from a section of 12 ga shotgun barrel.   I loaned it to a reenactor friend who never returned it. 

Put whatever sights you like you will not hurt anything.   

[Bill in Md]

Many thanks gentlemen!......as it turns out I dug out  an old copy of the "Shooters Bible" I had from 1981 where it shows the CVA "Tower Pistol" listing for $79.95. It shows it without rear or front sights so that is the way I will finish it.....It seems I have had less hassle building from scratch than I have had with this rascal.

It actually turned out pretty nice....Again thanks for the advise!......Bill

[Daryl]

A simple point & yank the trigger gun.
About what calibre is it?

[smart dog]

Hi,
Here is an example of a front sight that was often found on British pistols if they had any sights.











dave

[Bill in Md]

A simple point & yank the trigger gun.
About what calibre is it?

Daryl, it is .45 caliber with 8 lands and grooves......That's what I am thinking

[Bill in Md]

Hi,
Here is an example of a front sight that was often found on British pistols if they had any sights.





Very nice, now ya got me thinking!







dave

[ibogle]

Been playing around with a "kit" and decided I wanted to put a sight on so used some extra German Silver from the castings and soldered it on.  Waiting for the WX to improve to put some rounds down range.

[J Shingler]

Hi,
Here is an example of a front sight that was often found on British pistols if they had any sights.
dave

Dave,
Excellent information. Thank you for the pictures. That will help immensely for an upcoming project.
Jeff

[smart dog]

Hi and thank you Jeff,
Let me elaborate a little that may help you. You can simply solder a sight with a wide base on the barrel.  That is authentic and common on cheaper guns.  Since I focus more on higher end guns, I mortise sights like the one I showed in two different ways.  On barrels with really thin walls at the muzzle, I cut a very shallow mortise and then solder the sight in place.   Those sights usually have very thin blades.  Here is an example.





The barrel for that gun is one of Rice's "Dolep" barrels made from 4140 steel.  We cut a narrow trench for the sight, which also had a pin filed on the bottom.  That pin actually stuck out in the bore of the barrel and was polished flush. That is not uncommon on original English guns. The sight was soldered to the barrel using StayBright low temperature silver bearing solder.  On thicker walled barrels, we usually mortise and then solder those thin front sights.  With the wider, more massive front sights, we file the sight from sheet brass or silver and then use a jeweler's saw to cut a fine groove all the way around the base of the sight. We cut the mortise with a flat chisel and undercut the edges just a little.  Then we peen the barrel around the sight using a punch and that groove accepts the peened steel of the barrel, firmly locking the sight in place.  Here are several more examples done that way.






Then there is a much more complicated solution found on the best pistols and sporting guns, the spider sight.  The star shaped sight is cast with the front sight or the sight is rivetted to the silver base. The barrel is chiseled to accept the base and the edges of the shallow mortise are undercut.







The silver is then peened to spread it into the undercuts and lock the sight in place.



I learned that work on my own with no one to show me the way. I can only say, doing that on a barrel for a gun I put in over 300 hours worth of work was stressful to say the least. Anyway, it was a common technique on good quality guns and I suspect the young kids who did it back in the day could do it in their sleep.

dave

[David R. Pennington]

Here’s one of those spider sights on an old English fowler barrel. This old gun was converted to percussion and the barrel had been shortened at the breech. Had Birmingham proof marks.

[Daryl]

I think I just soldered this blade on with silver bearing low temp solder. That was a LONG time ago.

[Bob Gerard]

This thread is very timely for me, and I hope I am not overstepping it with a related item.
I will be receiving soon a nicely built reproduction .50 holster pistol (circa 1690) that has no front sight but has shallow groove rifling. (This was a TRS kit build).
I am considering either having it bored to a Smoothbore and keeping it sightless or keeping the barrel as is and soldering on a front sight. (I have seep photos of this model pistol with and without a front sight.)

[J Shingler]

Dave,
Excellent work as always. And the pictures are extremely helpful. I am gathering parts for a J Kuntz inspired pistol similar to what Eric von Aschwege has in his set of scaled blueprints. I have a very good 58 cal pistol barrel from Rice that I plan to use. I wanted to try a simple blade without the base as you show in your pictures. Thank you Jeff

[smart dog]

Hi Jeff,
It is not hard with the right tools.  The only caveat is the wrought iron barrels of the past were much easier to work and peen than our modern steel barrels. It takes a bit more time to cut the mortise deep enough and more force to mush the steel around the sight.  Good luck.

dave

[J Shingler]

Thanks Dave I really appreciate the information. See you at Kempton!