New Front Sight

[paleroadster]

Having shortened the barrel on my .327 Blackhawk I have the opportunity to replace the front sight.  I was pretty close to dovetailing a fixed sight, but decided to do  DX replaceable blade sight.  Sadly Weigand Machine discontinued them.  I decided I can make a base, blades are available and also easy to make.  Then I was thinking that a short barreled SA might have issues with spring loaded sights when holstering/drawing.  So I made this base, smaller than a spring loaded base, that will use a set screw from the front to hold standard DX blades.  I still need to drill and tap the front screw hole, and the roll pin hole for the rear retention.  Also, that is not my intended blade for the Blackhawk, just one I had laying around to confirm fitment.  The old front sight in the background for scale.  Currently polished to 400grit, I'll go to 600 or maybe 800 before scuffing it down to match the rest of the gun.  It is 304L SS from a piece of plate I have had for some time.

I discovered a useful tidbit too.  MSCdirect.com when you look up fasteners like SHCS, has an option to get a 3d or 2d model of the fastener.  So you can, for free, get a printable blue print of a screw you don't have on hand for designing small items held by screws. 

[longoval]

Looks great. Very impressive.

[bushog]

Turned out nicely.

[DutchV]

I like that. The double cuts on the rear are a little like the Ruger #1 sight.

[bigbrowndog]

Nicely done

Trapr

[singleaction]

Man- I like that base! Would you be interested in making a group buy offer? I have a few aggie01 baes, and I like the looks of the Jim Stroh sights, but, to my eye, your base is perfect for short barrels, as the tang (if that’s the correct term) doesn’t trail off too far. It just looks very neat and tidy.

[paleroadster]

Dec 6, 2023 21:19:46 GMT -5 singleaction said:

Man- I like that base! Would you be interested in making a group buy offer? I have a few aggie01 baes, and I like the looks of the Jim Stroh sights, but, to my eye, your base is perfect for short barrels, as the tang (if that’s the correct term) doesn’t trail off too far. It just looks very neat and tidy.

I appreciate the support, in consideration of my current personal and work schedule I wouldn't want to take people's orders right now.  What I might do after the holidays is make up a handful of sight bases and when they are done offer them to see what kind of interest there is.  Considering Weigand discontinued their DX base I doubt the interest would be adequate for serious production.  I would post up here with any updates if I do get some made though.

[ideal]

Nicely done! For those of us without the abilities to do this, Bowen Custom Arms lists the DX front sight bases, but show no stock available at this time anyway. They may be worth a call some time in the future though.

[bigbore5]

I like it.

[messybear]

Nice work. I like it when people build/ modify their equipment to suite a specific need or function. That’s kind of uncommon these days it seems.

[paleroadster]

Quick question about interest in bases. For bluing would 1018 or 4340 be preferred. It's a sight base, so alloy performance doesn't really play into it, but I don't have direct bluing experience, and they may take bluing differently. And if I run some would there be any interest in brass?

[paleroadster]

Set up piece for secondary operations.  that is a #4-40 cone point set screw from the front for more positive retention than a rear loaded spring.  And a 3/32 roll pin for rear retention.  All the layout was fine, the blade is firmly held tight to the body with zero wiggle, and still easily releases with a couple turns of the screw.  I've been thinking my .327 or a .357 Blackhawk will be fine for a screw on base, but my .44spl or a .45 may require a silver solder base. 

The damage along the front top edge of the base is why this is just a setup piece.  No point ruining an otherwise good part if the layout didn't workout on the first try.

[singleaction]

Sweet!

[sharps4590]

I've made several front sights for my German rifles but compared to that, they were nothing. Well done, sir.

[paleroadster]

I made two sight blades, sourdough like I'll probably use, and a standard ramp.  The ground stock I used was coarsely ground, so more polishing is due.  I think I will probably shorten the back end of the blades and of course the height is exaggerated until I can find the actual final height required.  If I make another ramp I will probably make the serrations coarser too, these seem too fine to me.  Any fairly popular blade configurations I should try? getting pretty close to installing on my .327 Blackhawk that turned into a full custom.