How many of you ?.

[adrians]

Hi,
As the title say's ,," how many of you " have had to take a file to the front sight post on your Rem NMA cap gun ?.
I ask because my Pietta shoots waaaayyy low at any distance , I see a couple of options ,, File to raise poi OR get the barrel dovetailed so a smaller sight could be added .
Now the fileing I can handle but the dovetailing is a bit beyond my abilities ( with the tools I have ) .

So who's been a fileing lately ?.
Just curious folks,,,

PS ,,, is the front post on the Pietta a push fit or a screw fit , anyone know,,?.

[rodwha]

I've been considering having mine dovetailed with an Uberti sight added. Mine shoots a couple of inches left and a couple of inches low at 15 yds.

I've read the sights are press fit.

[adrians]

Thanks, I guess there's nothing to loose by fileing , if I mess up I can always press a new one in or get it dovetailed.
My windage is a little off also but not by much...

[Omnivore]

Man, I WISH mine had been shipped with tall sights. My reoccuring problem has been to replace the front sights for taller ones because from the factory they shoot from several inches to two feet high at 25 yards, depending on the individual gun.

Even my Pietta "Target" model with adjustable sights was shooting WAY high with the rear sight adjustment all the way down (a common complaint in the reviews). I've had to remove an impressive amount of steel from the rear sight and it still shoots a tad high. Now I'm thinking of replacing the front sight with something altogether different, from Marble Sights.

Having a tall front sight is a feature, Ladies and Gentlemen, not a bug. Good for Pietta. It allows you to first find the load that shootes best for you, and then regulate your sights for that load, so you want to do a fair amount of shooting before you make your adjustments. When you're ready, bring a file to the range.

All that said; a dovetailed front sight is superior, and you should NOT be intimidated by the prospect of making and installing one. You do not need any special tools, nor are they necessarily even desireable. See here;
http://1858remington.com/discuss/ind...?topic=10160.0
(note the rather tall-ish, new front sight-- The original was just a teeny little brass bead. That gun shot about 2 feet high at ten yards, IIRC, when I got it new).

Tools used were a bench vice, some standard, readily available files, a bench grinder to modify a file by grinding off the teeth on one side, a hacksaw and a plain old propane torch for hard soldering (it's a two-piece front sight, but one can be made as one piece and not need soldering). I used a dial caliper to check my progress during filing, but it wouldn't have been strictly necessary.

To drive home a point; ask me any of the dimensions of the dovetail or front sight and won't be able to tell you. I don't care and neither should you. It doesn't matter because the pieces are hand-fit, and the height is adjusted for POI/POA regulation, requiring no numbers.

I did come up with one important number ahead of time. Take the POI offset at a measured distance. Divide that distance by the number of sight radii (your sight radius is the distance between the front and rear sights). Now divide the POI offset in inches by the number of sight radii in inches. That number is how much taller (or shorter) your new sight should be. Make it taller yet, so you can file it to regulation.

Let's say my gun was hitting 24 inches high at ten yards. That's 24 inches at 360 inches. Now say my sight radius is 6.5 inches. 360 divided by 6.5 = 55.384 sight radii distance. I'm off by 24" at a distance of 55.384 sight radii, which comes to .451". That's about how much taller my new sight must be, compared to the original, to hit on point of aim (I say "about" because it depends on how you measure the average center of your average group - I said you'd have to some shooting beforehand, didn't I?). If my original front sight was one eighth inch tall, then my new sight must be .451 + .125 = .576" or a little taller than that so as to allow for final regulation or error. So it's simple; I explained it in one paragraph. Now I'll explain it in one sentance;

Take your point of impact (center-of-group) offset divided by the shooting distance in sight radii, and that's the amount of adjustment you need (up, down, right or left).

Shoot several groups and see how they compare in their final numbers. I made up all the numbers just now, and I was shooting groups at 25 yards (and you should too), but otherwise they're close to the ones I had to deal with for that little Colt Police pistol.

The biggest mistake a newbie will make is cutting the dovetail slot too deep in the barrel. DON'T. About the depth of the teeth on your hacksaw is enough. If you start with a factory front sight, you may want to file the dovetail portion thinner to begin with. The Uberti Remington front sight should be ready to go, but there's nothing wrong with making one as it allows you to use a different style or different material which you may prefer. The typical black-on-black sights for example are dandy for perfect conditions on a nice day at the range against a contrasting target, but they're terrible for a lot of field use.

[Omnivore]

By the way; do whatever it takes to get your gun shooting dead on, the way you want it. A gun that shoots to point of aim is WAY more fun.

[adrians]

Thank you Omnivore for the very informative lesson and information .
I guess it all comes down to that word " confidence " when it's time to tackle a job like cutting your own dovetail.
My next time out with the revolver will be to find a load which best suits the gun ( group wise ) which all indications right now is 24 grns but more shooting will confirm it or kill it ,, we'll see.
Then to the operating room we go with tools in hand.

If I'm feeling confident I may even pick up the hacksaw and triangle file with of course one side ground smooth..

Thanks.

[Standing Bear]

Adrians your front site is unusual at least to me. Originals were sighted to shoot high in combat. I recall it said at 25 yds the soldier could aim at a belt buckle and hit center then at 50 aim center. Many of the reproductions come this way. My Ruger Old Army (adj sites) is set up for a 6 o'clock hold at 25.
TC

[DerekP Houston]

Adrians your front site is unusual at least to me. Originals were sighted to shoot high in combat. I recall it said at 25 yds the soldier could aim at a belt buckle and hit center then at 50 aim center. Many of the reproductions come this way. My Ruger Old Army (adj sites) is set up for a 6 o'clock hold at 25.
TC

I had this thought as well. For my revolvers I like the 6 o'clock hold on the target but semi auto's seem (to me at least) to aim better with the bead right on the target. I use a lil kentucky windage on mine instead of adjusting the sights, those file things scare me.

[Texantothecore]

Gonna take a look at marbles and see what they have.

[adrians]

Adrians your front site is unusual at least to me. Originals were sighted to shoot high in combat. I recall it said at 25 yds the soldier could aim at a belt buckle and hit center then at 50 aim center. Many of the reproductions come this way. My Ruger Old Army (adj sites) is set up for a 6 o'clock hold at 25.
TC

Someone will chime in and give us the sighting in range of the nma, I think it's a little further than 25 yds though and yup mine shurnuff shoots low,,,,,