My 1860 Colt

[Crawdad1]

Got out to shoot my 1860 Colt today. Using 25 grains of 3Fg GOEx with one Oxy wad and a 451 ball. At 25 yards, on sandbags 2 hand hold. She's still my absolute favorite. Sold everything else.

I 'V' notched the hammer sight and I think I went a little to far to the right. I'll JB Weld the notch up and recut it to the left and try again.

 

[midland man]

looks nice I hope my 58 rem will soon do that!! mine shot wide yesterday!

 

[timothy75]

Great shooting i also love the 1860.

 

[Panzerschwein]

LOVE.

IT.

Nice 1860! I love the Colt percussion revolvers!

 

[45 Dragoon]

Crawdad, you sold everything else?

 

[Crawdad1]

Thank you gentlemen!!!

When I first got her I was loading her up with waaaaaaaay to big of a charge and used between 30 and 35 grains of 3 Fg GOEx and 2 Oxy wads with a 451 ball. It shot way to the left so I 'V' notched the hammer sight slightly off center to the right but still had to use some 'Kentucky' windage to get her to shoot straight.

This time I went down to 25 grains with only 1 Oxy wad and a 451 ball and she really took to that load. But now I have a hammer with a 'V' notch to the right that I don't need. So its either a new hammer or I'll JB Weld the old hammer and re-center the notch.

I'm real pleased.

Dragoon, yea, I'll probably regret that later on but I never really cared for em, just sitting there collecting dust and rust. Even all my breechloaders (in which I still believe is just a passing fad) are sold and gone.

 

[Crawdad1]

looks nice I hope my 58 rem will soon do that!!

Midland Man, I respect the heck out of any Remmy, but I just can't see that narrow front sight they have.

But, I can't miss that big fat brass front sight on the Colt!!

 

[midland man]

that's col I was looking at cabelas last night at a 1851 navy colt in brass frame on sale for $149 and sure thought about purchasing it to see if I like it better!

 

[Noz]

Just cut the notch a little to the right to center the sight picture.
My notches are very wide for quicker acquisition for CAS.

 

[Crawdad1]

Noz, how did you cut your notch? With a file?

 

[Willie Sutton]

" But now I have a hammer with a 'V' notch to the right that I don't need."


Just cut the other side to match and center things....


Willie

.

 

[Hellgate]

Noz, I think he needs to recut the notch a little more to the LEFT to line the sight picture up with the POI.

Sight change formula: sight movement (in inches)/sight radius (in inches)=error (in inches) at target/distance to target (in inches)

in other words: X/Sight radius=how far off POA/distance to target

if he's 2.5" to the right at 25 yards and the sight radius is 10" her's the formula:

X/10=2.5/900(inches to the target)
solve for X
X (sight adjustment)= 25/900=.027"
cut the notch to the left approximately .03"

I don't have my 1860 Army handy to check the sight radius, the 10" was just a guess, please measure the gun.

 

[Crawdad1]

Excellent Hellgate, that takes the guess work out of it.

 

[Noz]

After I got the notch started with a dremel, I used a 1/8" chainsaw file.

 

[Noz]

Noz, I think he needs to recut the notch a little more to the LEFT to line the sight picture up with the POI.

Sight change formula: sight movement (in inches)/sight radius (in inches)=error (in inches) at target/distance to target (in inches)

in other words: X/Sight radius=how far off POA/distance to target

if he's 2.5" to the right at 25 yards and the sight radius is 10" her's the formula:

X/10=2.5/900(inches to the target)
solve for X
X (sight adjustment)= 25/900=.027"
cut the notch to the left approximately .03"

I don't have my 1860 Army handy to check the sight radius, the 10" was just a guess, please measure the gun.

Yup! Comes from not reading.

 

[Crawdad1]

The first shots, to the right were with the front blade buried in the bottom of the 'V' notch back (hammer) sight. I started to walk her over to the left by progressively shifting the front blade further and further into the left side or leg of the 'V'. With the front sight half ways disappearing into the left 'leg' of the 'V' notched back sight and with that sight 'picture' she started ploughing them into the 9 and 10 ring.

I've started to JB Weld up the back hammer sight and after a few days of letting the JB Weld get good and hard I'll re-cut the hammer, but ever so slightly to the left of the old 'V' notch.

At the very bottom of the target that hole is where I set up a 20 fl, oz. bottle and blasted it from 25 yards. (I didn't want to say that at first cause you aren't suppose to do that at that range. Of course I picked it up and properly disposed of it at the nearest recycling facility)

 

[44 Dave]

Think bottles are fun try a shave cream can!

 

[Crawdad1]

Think bottles are fun try a shave cream can!

You guys up in Wisconsin have all the fun!!! And the most beautiful women in the country

 

[Panzerschwein]

Dang! What a sweetie!

I'll add an 1860 Army to my collection some day too!

 

[Crawdad1]

Dang! What a sweetie!

You got yourself a beautiful piece yourself Cooldill in that 51' Colt. I always regret selling mine back in the 80's. I should have known something was up when that guy offered me a 50 caliber Hatfield Longrifle and 100 bucks for it. "You can't hunt deer with it in Pennsylvania it has to be a flintlock" was his line while handling my 51' Colt.

 

[Panzerschwein]

You got yourself a beautiful piece yourself Cooldill in that 51' Colt. I always regret selling mine back in the 80's. I should have known something was up when that guy offered me a 50 caliber Hatfield Longrifle and 100 bucks for it. "You can't hunt deer with it in Pennsylvania it has to be a flintlock" was his line while handling my 51' Colt.

Thanks! Sorry to hear that. My '51 is being worked on by a member here. Can't wait to get it once he's done so I can shoot it again!

 

[BCRider]

My own two 1860's get groups much the same. Amazing guns aren't they?

Unless you've opened up the sights a LOT why not simply cut away a little on the left side of the "V"? Make yourself a safe edge file by stoning or belt sanding away the teeth on one side of a triangle shaped file. To use it lay the new smooth side on the side you don't want to cut and press inward to cut some off the other side.

If you do find that you've made it too wide THEN break out the filler for the other side.

 

[rcflint]

I recut the notch on a mill with a 5/64 or 3,32 carbide end mill. Much better sight picture.

 

[Crawdad1]

My own two 1860's get groups much the same. Amazing guns aren't they?

Yes they are BC!!!

I think with the Colts you have to shoot them and the more you shoot them the better they shoot. Last Summer I shot on average between 45 to 50 balls each week through her. But I also like the Colts because you can make a sight adjustment for drift and elevation by re-cutting the hammer sight.

All great suggestions guys, raining here off and on all week but next week I'll go back to that range and try again. I'll post the results.

 

[Crawdad1]

Its the mathmatics!!!!

The formula here is HEW x (PPS+PPA) = Highly Effective Weapon multiplied by (Piss Poor Shooter with Piss Poor Ability).

I JB Weld the notch and re-cut the 'V' notch slightly to the left. I went to the range and at 25 yards, barrel on sandbags 2 hand hold these are the results. My first shot is very low but I had the very top of the front blade deep in the 'V' notched hammer sight. I then started putting the front blade about half ways up into the 'V' notch. And she really started hitting well. The shots to the head were made off-hand, 1 hand hold at 25 yards. I'm positive that a better shooter with more ability then me could consistently 10x with this 1860 Colt.