Hi-Standard Double-Nine Front Sight?

[KMO]

A local contractor dropped off his Double-Nine .22 Revolver with me today. It's over 50 years old, and looks every day of that. But, it looks like it can be cleaned up & made functional. All it lacks is the front sight, which appears to be a pressed-in type of sight. Anyone know where I can find one?

 

[rcmodel]

No.

But it would real darn easy to make one with a peice of 1/8" cold rolled stee, a belt sander, and a file.

http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Manufac...296/Revolvers-36543/DoubleNineW-101-38171.htm

rc

 

[KMO]

But, it would real darn easy to make one with a piece of 1/8" cold rolled steel, a belt sander, and a file.

Well, it might be easy to duplicate one if another one was in hand, but it is difficult to measure the exact radius of the barrel cavity in which the sight rests. I also went to Numrich, but they may have ceased selling this sight...

 

[BCRider]

I've done a few revolver front sight replacements. It's not at all hard to find the curvature of the slot. You simply need to play with fitting various washers and coins into the slot until you find one which rocks slightly and the next size up which sits solid on the two ends of the slot. The curvature you need is between those two sizes.

To make your life easier the next part will work best if you have a set of number drills and a set of calipers or a micrometer. Find the drill shank which is a bit of a push fit in the slot and measure the diameter. That's your target size for the width of the new sight.

Next up is to cut a little slug of metal from something and file it with frequent measurements. Work slow and measure frequently and get it down to something like a thou or two over the thickness. Now using the coins or washers you found closely matched the curvature file the profile of the stub that will go into the slot. When that's done stone the blank down until it's at the point where it starts to bite into the notch of the barrel. Now you can cut the upper sight profile. Cold blue and you're ready to tap it into the notch. Stand back and admire.

If things go bad and you make the slug too thin overall or on one area so it won't work you've only lost an hour or so of your time and a nickel worth of steel. Try again. If you don't do much metal working that's OK because your file handling skills are improving with every stroke. When you're close and you want some sort of indicator of where you're filing mark the low areas with a felt pen so you can instantly see if you scuffed it any more with the file. If you work with a slightly oversize piece any rounding and tapering at the edges can be cut away when you cut to the coin or washer to form the slot stub.

The idea of stoning the last few thou instead of filing aids by providing you with even MORE control as you sneak up on the final press fit size. You want your stub to be a half to one thou thicker than the width of the slot.

All in all even with a couple of "oh darns" and starting over it'll take you less time to make one than it does to find one on the web.

 

[KMO]

Thanks, BCRider, for the extended response. As it turns out, I got lucky. The sight I needed was on eBay, and I picked it up pretty cheap. Here's hoping it fits!

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Sorry to hear your revolver didn't come with the sight. I had one of those revolvers and the sight fell off at the range. I got lucky and found it so I was able to put it back on the gun. From what I hear it's a common problem with that revolver.

If I still had the revolver I would take the measurements for you, sorry...

 

[KMO]

Sorry to hear your revolver didn't come with the sight. I had one of those revolvers and the sight fell off at the range. I got lucky and found it so I was able to put it back on the gun. From what I hear it's a common problem with that revolver.

The design would surely be better with a cross pin, but my buddy's revolver isn't quite worth the extra expense to have the barrel drilled. I'll press the sight in with a little red loc-tite added. That ought to hold it in place for another decade or so...thanks guys...

 

[Jim K]

Try a nickel for fit; it might give a more visible sight and will be easier to work than steel. Usually you don't even need glue or solder to keep the sight in if it is made the right size, just a press fit, using a vise, will do fine. You can crimp the barrel a bit if you feel it necessary.

Jim