Navy Arms 1873 Saddle Ring Carbine front sight

[Chief Rick]

Is what is pictured original to these guns?

How difficult would it be to replace with a front sight with a gold bead?

[Assassin]

Just paint the top part of the sight.

That original sight appears to be soldered on. 

[Bailey Creek,5759]

I have a Navy Arms Carbine. Same front sight.

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

Soldered onto barrel.  Two solutions.  Remove front sight and put a dovetail in the barrel.  This may not be practical if the gun is a .45 as there may not be enough material in the barrel.  What I have done is mill the top of the sight flat and then take a piece of brass rod and mill a slot in it and then glue/solder the bead onto the sight.  These can also be made to work.  These are Sure Hit style front sights.  Fixing the sight in the photos should be fairly easy as the sides of the sight are parallel.  Most Uberti carbine sights are tapered.

 

[Irish Pat]

Slick sells them Irish ☘️ Pat

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

You could also remove the front sight and try adapting one of these from Pioneer.  It is made for Uberti but should be close enough to try and adapt it to the Winchester/Navy Arms.

 

[Ringer]

Acquired one of these 19 years ago.

Went to Hobby Lobby and bought small decorative brass bolts. The heads were octogon but the top was rounded.

Put the appropriate drill bit in a Dremel and drilled as parallel to the barrel as I could. Best I recall, I tapped the bolt in and never looked back.

Sight looked round when shouldered. Was big enough for me and very inexpensive.

[Chief Rick]

2 hours ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

You could also remove the front sight and try adapting one of these from Pioneer.  It is made for Uberti but should be close enough to try and adapt it to the Winchester/Navy Arms.

 

This is a Navy Arms/Uberti.

 

I have some small brass rods that I may cut off and try to attach to the current front sight.

[SGT. ELI 35882 GUNFIGHTER]

I have milled a flat and installed a shotgun bead on some 

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

I've done some rudimentary DIY beads on my carbines.  First, I cut off a little piece of 1/8" brass welding rod and JB Welded it to the front sight.  But my carbines all seem to shoot high for CAS so I wanted the bead a little higher.  So I took a longer piece of that welding rod and shaped it a bit with a file, then JB Welded that to the top of the sight.  On another, I filed a notch in the rear of the sight, then made a bead from a Winchester large pistol primer (tap out the firing pin indentation and smooth), cut a notch on one side, and JB Welded that to the sight.  All worked well, although they would eventually get knocked off at the loading table or something after some number of years and I'd have to replace it.