[JamesKelly]

I have an old Navy Arms brass framed .36 Navy.

With its 10" sight radius I need to add a little over 1/16 " (1.6mm) to the front sight to get the point of impact within reason at 25 yards.

Being hesitant to mess up my gun, you guys have any idea the best way to remove that old sight? (I do not know if it is pressed into place, or threaded)

And put on a new bead or blade, with minimal chance of messing up the blued finish.

Also have a 2nd gen Navy, nice authentic sights hits way, way high at 25 yards. Thought I'd practice Improving the sight on my old Navy Arms brass-framed gun.

[mykeal]

Navy Arms sold ASM for many years, then switched to Pietta. It's probably an ASM, however. I believe, but do not know for sure, that those sights were press fit. Removing them could be tricky. Might need to use a little heat on the barrel.

[Pulp]

On option is to use a triangular file, and deepen the notch in the hammer a bit. Or take it to a smith and have them inlet a groove parallel with the barrel and make a new sight out of an old silver coin.

[Hellgate]

How much to "move" the sights? Put everything in the same units, let's say inches. You need to measure the sight radius and the distance to the target. How far off the gun shoots from the point of aim is a ratio. Let's say the gun shoots 8" high @ 50 feet(600 inches) and the sight radius is 10 inches. If you want to move the POI down 4" you need to grind off .067" from the rear sight or raise the front sight that much or do half the work on both. I have most of my guns shoot 4" hi @ 50ft. Here's the ratio formula: correction(of the sight) is to the sight radius as correction on the target is to the distance (in inches) to the target.
that is: X/sight radius=4/600 or x/10=4/600 equals .06666666" If you want the gun to shoot point of aim you need to take off .13 from the rear or raise the front that much.


I've had a plethoria of Navies. Here's what I have done on different guns:
--Ground the rear notch a little wider and deeper with a Dremel cutting disc. Makes a better sight picture.
--Ground the tip of the hammer off in order to "lower" the rear sight and then Dremeled the notch deeper & wider. Be careful that you don't grind off too much or the barrel will block the front sight as mentioned before. You can sight down the barrel and see what kind of clearance you have to start with. Some guns don't have any. A longer or shorter trigger may raise or lower the arc of the hammer and thus change the heigth of the hammer but I have not intentionally done that but noticed more hammer above the barrel line after swapping out a trigger for a shorter one once.
--Filed off the bead very flat and epoxied a taller shotgun bead onto it.
--Filed off the front sight (or lifted it out of the hole) and epoxied a cut off #4X3/4" brass flat head wood screw (upside down). This fix made a nice tall bead/post that a little cold bluing "ages" it nicely and it looks good if you don't goop too much epoxy onto the barrel. Cut, size, & shape the "bead" before you glue it on.
--Have a gunsmith dovetail a front sight but only if the gun shoots way off to one side (too far off to merely cut the rear notch over a little). If the front sight needs to be drifted way over to the side, you're gonna get the creeps looking at the sight picture. I carefully (as in gorilla) bent the barrel to the left on one gun to make it shoot to POA. Looks alot better than having a drifted sight hanging off the side of the barrel.

[Smokin_Gun]

Here's the best, easiest, and least exspensive way I know of to adapt a site height to your '51 Navy or any Rev with a conical site...this was done by Oldelm a couple years ago and Posted in my BPR Forum on Voy.com/60048/ ...
Go to any hardware store my favorite CIB parts place...
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/Smokin_Gun/site3.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/Smokin_Gun/Site1.jpg

[StrawHat]

I have few revovlers that still carry the original front sight. Most of the time I dovetail and install a small rifle sight. It makes it a lot easier to see and easier to sight in.

Smokin Gun, Interesting! May have to try that.

[JamesKelly]

Smokin Gun-- what is that little spiral cutting tool you are holding?
Don't know what "CIB" means.
This sight looks great, would like to get the tool.
Oldelm post is no longer on voy.com

[madcratebuilder]

That tool is a Dremel tool #117 (LINK (http://www.dremel.com/en-us/AttachmentsAndAccessories/Pages/AttachmentsDetail.aspx?pid=117))

For anything harder than brass you would want a carbide tip.