Are Colt 1851 Navy & 1862 Pocket Navy front sights "screwed-in" or "pressed-in" to the barrel?

[Blu Nos Dav]

Hoping to bring the point of impact of a Pocket pistol down, by installing a taller brass front sight meant for a full-sized Navy.  Anyone tried this?

[Sedalia Dave]

Pic of the current sight would help. 

[Blu Nos Dav]

Sorry, I can’t post a photo right now.  But, any online photo will show that they are both cone shaped brass front sights. The full-size Navy’s is just a larger (taller/wider cone) than the one on the Pocket model. I’m trying to find out how they are installed onto their barrels, before I order the new front sight. I can’t tell by looking at “exploded” parts diagrams.

 

Thanx, Dave

[Goody, SASS #26190]

Hard to answer without knowing the xecat revolver you are asking about, Original, second gen, third gen Pietta, Uberti, Lyman, the list goes on and on. Anyway, I would bet dollars to donuts it's pressed in. Here are some very good ideas regarding lowering the point of impact on a Colt type C&B.

 

https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=500072

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

On the Ubertis, at least, it is pressed in.  Note that the 1851 Richards-Masons were given a taller brass post starting some years ago, so that might help.  Before that they were the same height as the '51 C&B, which are pretty short.  But I don't know if the base of the sight is larger on the '51 than on the pocket pistol sight.

[Hawkeye Kid]

Colt 1851 2nd gens have a screw in front sight.  Bought replacement from VTI for the Uberti and it worked fine using lock-tight glue.  Even with a taller sight, you may still have to cut the hammer notch deeper.

Getting the old sight off was the chore.

[Blu Nos Dav]

Thanx Goody - That TFL thread had a lot of good ideas! 

 

Abilene - I'll take a look at those taller sights for R-M conversions. Might even order one for comparison & testing.

 

KH24 - My Pocket model is a 2nd Generation Colt. If getting your larger 1851 sight off was a "chore", then taking my smaller 1862 sight off might be a real PITA?  Luckily whatever replacement sight I use will come as a spare part, and not require a take-off.

 

I'm hesitant to cut a dovetail, at least at first.  Gonna begin with the least intrusive method, and then if that doesn't work, move on to more non-reversible changes.  New front sights are cheap, new barrels are not.

 

One of the easiest ways that I can think of, is to buy a larger 1851 sight, cut off its stem and hollow out the cone, so that I can temporarily glue it on over top of the smaller 1862 cone.  It that works, I might just glue it on permanently.

 

If I do decide to remove the 1862 sight, and if the stem of the 1851 sight is larger in diameter, I could cut-off the smaller sight, drill out the hole & old stem, and then either tap the new hole with threads, or press the new sight stem into the appropriately larger hole.

 

If all else fails, cutting a dovetail would "erase" all of the previous attempts.

 

Thanx again, Dave

[Major Crimes]

Not sure what your back sight notch is like but I have found on my Uberti's and Pietta's its to small and forces you to shoot high.

 

So for all of mine I have (close your ears children!) taken out the Dremel and enlarged the rear sight notch on the hammer.

 

This has allowed me to sit the front sight deeper into the rear sight  and hence lowered the point of impact.

 

As an example at 25m my Pietta sheriffs were shooting over a standard 25m paper target and after the above its now shooting in the black (way more accurate than I need for cowboy).