Adding a front sight to a CZ52

[barnbwt]

I picked up an old cz52 a while back, and having satisfied myself with the reliability and function of the gun, I am now ready to begin modifications and repairs.

The factory front sight on these was a little protrusion machined from the slide casting itself, and is very small. On my pistol, the sight is worn down to a nubbin, presumably from holster wear. What is the favored way to add a front blade sight to a slide where there is no means for attachment? FYI the metal here is about .1" thick. I have decided to polish the remains of the current sight flat as part of my general polishing/refinishing project. I figure swaging or threading a sight into a new (small) hole in the slide is the most likely solution.

Any ideas?

TCB

 

[rcmodel]

http://www.novaksights.com/products/sights/models/cz52.html

rc

 

[dogrunner]

Easy, solder it on. I'd suggest Brownell's Force 44 lo temp. Used the stuff a bunch of times, once on a BOLO that a buddy could not keep a sight on. The F44 held..........I have never had that product fail if I did my part right.

Easy to use, polish the base of both the slide and the sight you intend to use to a tight fit, propane will do for heat unlike the hi temp stuff.

 

[fatcat4620]

What is the point if doing this to a 60 year old gun?

 

[rcmodel]

He probably wants to be able to shoot it and hit something with it.

It is not at all uncommon to fix or replace missing sights on guns two or three times that old to make them usable again.

rc

 

[barnbwt]

Would this work?

He probably wants to be able to shoot it and hit something with it.

Very perceptive, RC

I checked out the Novak site, and it looks like they only show rear sight installation (not that they couldn't do front sight, too)

What worries me is that they appear to cut dovetails to install front sights, and the metal is about .1" thick at the top of the slide (exacerbated by some fool using an end mill at the armory to obliterate a previous serial before restamping. I'll sand the whole top surface down .005" to clean this up. There is still so much meat on the sides of the slide that this removal of metal up top doesn't worry me terribly.

Could a small hole be made up top to insert a blade, which would then be peened/staked in place on the inside of the slide? Obviously this would be a fixed/permanent sight. Let's see if I can throw together a sketch...

BTW, this gun is my "bubba" project to distract me from trying to "improve" my other stuff. No need to worry about resale value or historical integrity (this gun was ugly and messed up when I got it).

Anyone heard of attaching a sight this way? The sketch is a cross section of the upper slide surface at the centerline.

TCB

 

[barnbwt]

Dogrunner,
I'll look into a solder or braze attachment, since they can be very strong (Remington 700 bolt handles are brazed on, as I recall). Unfortunately I'll have to get someone else to do that operation since I'm more skilled at removing metal than adding it

TCB

 

[rcmodel]

Anyone heard of attaching a sight this way?

Yes.

Thats exactly the way every military or commercial Colt and other 1911A1 pistol ever made has the front sight staked on.

It is called a tennion front sight.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/br/brownells.aspx?page_name=1911-wide-tenon-front-sight

If you do it, you need to make a rectangle hole with a needle file.
A drilled hole will allow the sight to rotate in the round hole.

rc