Bending a Ruger front sight

[burrhead]

I bought a used Blackhawk in .45 Colt a couple of months ago that has a very slight bend in the front sight. If I run the rear sight all the way to the left I can correct for it but, I would prefer to straighten the sight. I live at the edge of the world so shipping a gun is difficult and a last resort. I’d like to fix this myself and I’m wondering the best way of going about it.

My first thought has been to put a small C-clamp, padded with plastic shim material, on the front sight and just tweaking it a little. I’ve also thought about clamping the sight in a padded vise and tweaking that way. I just don’t know how ductile the sight is and certainly don’t want to appreciably weaken the sight.

A trip to Ruger IS possible but a real logistic pain. I’m very open to suggestions on this.

TIA

 

[highlander 5]

If you have a blued Blackhawk and try to bend the front sight you might snap it off then you're screwed. Stainless the sights are pinned in place so you can at least replace it.
Now the 2 suggestions I can give are these,1 get a better rear sight,Hamilton Bowen makes an all steel adjustable sight for the Blackhawk,Redhawk and Super Redhawk and IIRC they are around $70 or so. The second trick is to try and move the barrel by twisting it,this would require a vice and a wrench to place on the frame. This is something I would want a gunsmith to do. If the barrel is really that bad ship it back to Ruger and let them fix it,all that it will cost you is the postage.
now a little tale. I had a then new Ruger Redhawk that I tried to replace the rear sight, couldn't get it to fit. Brought it to a gunsmith figured he could get it to fit,turned out that the hole for the height adjustment screw was drilled incorrectly. Sent it back to Ruger and they couldn't fix the pistol so they just sent me a brand new gun. So if the sight has to have the windage screwed that far off I'd send it back and let the good folks at Ruger fix it.

 

[RaceM]

If the bend is bad enough an attempt to tweak it may indeed snap it off. Test for hardness using a medium tooth mill bastard file. If the file won't bite then it's too hard to play with directly.

If hard, you can pull the sight, anneal by heating to at least 500 degrees, then bury in dry sand/lime and let sit until room temp. After tweaking clean it up good and reblue.

Alternatively, a minor bend could be corrected by grinding or filing the sight until trued up, then refinish. Depends on how much it's bent, and if the bend starts at the base, or is close to the tip.

 

[burrhead]

More details. It’s a blue gun and the sight sort of “leans” to the left from the base, if that makes sense. It is not removable and moving or removing the barrel is beyond my skills. Removing material on the left side of the sight is an idea but, by time I corrected the problem I’d have a very skinny front sight. I may just have to hike up my britches and go through the hassle of getting it to Ruger.

Thanks for your responses.

 

[RaceM]

Well, there is one last option if you're handy with tools. Cut off the bent sight even with the base, make a new one & silver solder it on.

 

[highlander 5]

Actually the last idea is doable . Mag Na Port can replace the sight. They cut off the old sight EDM a slot for the new sight and pin it in place. If it's possible rather than pin the sight drill and tap the the sight base and use a set screw like the Dan Wesson revolvers did.