DIY Brass revolver front sights

[wyliefoxEsquire]

Has anyone fabricated brass front sights for their revolver?

I am aware of Sure Hit.  Which are fine and very likely worth it.

There is the challenge and satisfaction of DIY.

 

-wylie

 

[Yusta B.]

Easy enough to make out of sheet brass from a model shop. Check Loctite for metal adhesive. Find a piece of steel/aluminum  the thickness of your sight, bend the brass using that as a form, shape with file/Dremel.

[Sedalia Dave]

Without some type of die it is impossible to form the sharp right angles that make Slicks sights fit so well.

[Chancy Shot, SASS #67163]

What Yusta said is correct, BUT.  Having tried it, I think Sedalia has the best answer.  After messing around with some thin brass, I bought some.

 

Chancy

[Dusty Devil Dale]

On 4/14/2019 at 7:09 PM, Sedalia Dave said:

Without some type of die it is impossible to form the sharp right angles that make Slicks sights fit so well.

Making brass front sight wraps is an easy afternoon task, if you equip yourself properly in advance. 

Make a forming die by grinding the last 1" of an old file down to exactly the thickness of the original front sight.  Make sure the sides are exactly square and parallel. Then you can clamp the file body in a vise however needed to support the brass sheet for bending and  forming. 

A metal smith's planishing hammer or engraver's chasing hammer, with a radiused face, is cheap, and makes it a lot easier to form the bends in the brass without getting thin spots or cracks.   

The hammers and a huge array of brass/bronze sheet thicknesses are all available for low cost at Rio Grande Jewler's Supply, in Sante Fe. (riogrande.com.)  I use 18 GA. sheeting, which when wrapped on a front sight, comes very close to, but doesn't quite fill the rear sight gap on a Vaquro)

But be careful.  Not everything RG sells is inexpensive, and you'll find lots of neat tools there that you just have to own, especially if you get to looking through the burs, and micro-abrasive disc's and mandrels.  The small sanding disc's are perfect for grinding the brass  to exactly fit the sight vertical contour, and for polishing up the finished sight. 

I attach the wrap to the sight with JB Weld, and/or sometimes drill and pin them in place. 

Have fun.  

[Cypress Sam, SASS #10915]

I made some brass front sights for several of my pistols using some 0.016” brass shim stock from a local hobby shop.  To make the bends, I used a hand held break (looks like pliers with extra wide jaws) that I found at Harbor Freight.  The sliding part of my adjustable square was lust the right thickness, same as the front sight.

 

Using the heavy paper of a file folder, I cut out a template of the front sight.  Then laying the template on the brass, I scribed around it and cut it out slightly oversized using scissors.  (Don’t tell my wife.). Using the break, I started both bends to about 45 degrees each.  Then using the blade from the square clamped in a vice and a small hammer I completed first one bend and then the other.

 

After degreasing the parts and drying them completely, I’ve tried both JB Weld and Locktite 380 (Black Max) for adhesives.  Both work well.  The next day, I trimmed off the excess brass with a file.

 

It’s easier to do with front sights that have the rear part square with the barrel, like Vaqueros.  Guns with a sloped front sight like my 1911 are a little more difficult but can be done.

 

[Goody, SASS #26190]

I understand for the small percentage of you that get a good feeling by do things for yourself. But for the rest of us, by the time we assemble all the materials, buy the specialized tools, get setup and make sights for perhaps two pair of handguns I can't see not just buying what is already available. But as always YMMV...........

[Captain Bill Burt]

Yank Ma Chain makes solid brass sights that fit over the existing sights.  He mills then then you epoxy them on and tap with a rubber mallet to get them flush.  They fit tight and look good.

[Dusty Devil Dale]

53 minutes ago, Goody, SASS #26190 said:

I understand for the small percentage of you that get a good feeling by do things for yourself. But for the rest of us, by the time we assemble all the materials, buy the specialized tools, get setup and make sights for perhaps two pair of handguns I can't see not just buying what is already available. But as always YMMV...........

You can buy them if you want to, at up to $80 a set.  But the original post asked about DIY, so that's why I think everyone headed out to their back yard blacksmith shop.