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enyaw · September 5, 2012, 11:31 AM

I like the idea of the dovetailed front sight for a Navy. I've seen pics of originals that had the dovetailed front sight. The sights were configured in a Navy style with the post a flat topped flat post. Nothing bad about a blade front sight though. Some originals I've seen had that too.
When you grind down the rear sight it needs to be flat(horizontal) on the top when it's drawn back. It makes sense to me to hit the problem two ways and lower the back sight some and raise the front some so.....neither is too pronounced in it's change. Rear not too low or the front not too high.
I like the Navy that's shown in the pic in this thread. Nice front sight. I'd want to have all the sight brass on a Navy but that's just a preference. I have a preference for a steel base brass bead or blade fer a Navy too.The steel base can be blued after the guns regulated and the dovetail "wings" filed flush with the barrel to hide the base of the dovetailed sight.
The sight base on the pictured Navy seems to have a dovetailed cut too deep especially for a 44 caliber. Might be just the way the pic looks. The base is too wide fer my preference too dealing with a Navy Colt. I'm just expressing an opinion is all.
Anywhoooo.......hittin it two ways....lower the rear some and raise the front some is a good way to get er done. Don't want to get the gun shootin too low and have a front sight that gets too short to make lower to "raise er up".
I know the dovetail cut can't be too deep and that's not just an opinion. Never go deeper than half the wall thickness of the barrel and better is keep no deeper than 1/3rd the wall thickness of the barrel. A dovetail cut on a mill precisely can be quite shallow and be strong and be 1/4th the wall thickness. The area left between the sight base and the inside of the barrel can't be too thin. It can bulge upwards if too thin.It should be ,sorta finessed, and shallow fer a Navy or Army Colt.
I can attest to one fact that gets overlooked when a gun shoots too high. Uberti's have the problem more than Pietta's.
The problem that concerns the gun shootin too high? The dang arbor not bottomed in the barrels arbor hole especially when coupled with a loose fer the arbor barrel arbor hole.
When the arbor isn't bottomed in the barrels hole correctly the wedge sets the barrel at the breech end "back and canted down" which raises the muzzle end. Shoots high. Fix the arbor thing and the gun may shoot low even with the stock factory sights. I've done it.
The arbor hole too loose fer the barrelcan be shimmed with a piece of brass or copper shim cut with a scissors and laid on top the arbor above where the wedge slot is and inserted there when the barrel is tapped on. A tight arbor hole for the barrel and a bottomed arbor sets many a-gun shootin low and many times sets it shootin more accurate.
Seems funny....regulating the sights by messin with the arbor fit.
Those Colts...ya gotta love em. I do. I have a collection such as I can't remember how many I have and always want more to "tune up" and play with.
I can help out ,maybe, by lettin folks know that Brownells sells 60 degree dovetail files. With some practice they make good tools fer dovetailin without a milling machine. Milling machine is best though. The dovetail files have a safe side which is very helpful. Most anyone can make a good dovetail cut with the dovetail file. Make the cut with the edge of a regular mill file and put the dovetail under cuts there with the dovetail file.
I hate to say this but I have to......a chisel can be used to make the dovetail undercuts. Cut with the mill file edge and then bang the dovetail under cuts there usin the chisel parallel with the barrel. Pushes metal up but that can be left or filed away. The base of the sight has to be filed to match whatever angle under cuts are made but......the base can be fit close and the raised metal from the chisel can be gently tapped down onto the base of the sight.....as long as the base fits the width of the cut tight.
I may as well say this too even though I hate to type. Mentioned was the bending of a barrel to regulate the windage. Something to try other than that is....study the akigment of the barrel to the frame. Sometimes because of a loose fit arbor and tolerances that add up the wrong way a Colt gun barrel can be mounted crooked. Within the "looseness tolerance" of the barrel on the arbor a person can carefully file the barrels bottom lug (against the frame)at an angle to set the barrel right. Shoots right? Move the muzzle of the barrel to the right. Doesn't take a whole lot neither. A tiny bit goes a long way towards regulating windage. Measured in the .001's inch ya know.
It's tricky filing the bottom lug and keepin the planes of the surface right but it can be done ifin yer good with the file. Don't leave a high spot in the middle of the barrel lugs plane. Don't file too much neither. The barrel can only shift a small amount within the looseness on the arbor. Sometimes it's the "barrel loose on the arbor" that creates the windage problem too. Back to messin with the barrel/arbor fit again to set a Colt to shootin where you aim it. Funny ain't it? There's more to "tunin a Colt" than meets the eye or the regular connotaion of the word "tunin". ha ha ha A Premiere tune job sets "everything a-right". Consistant cylinder gap....tight barrel....shootin point of aim.....nice trigger.....good wedge fit......good arbor barrel fit and.....a million other little things I can't remember until I have some Colt cap&baller in my hands and assaulted by my tools.
Maybe I should say that if the windage is off on a Colt check the crown or muzzle face first off. If the rifling is deeper on one part of the barrel than the other then don't use a crown or get rid of the crown when there is inconsistant rifling depth. Use a flat face muzzle with no crown with inconsistant rifling depth. That lets the gas escape from each groove simaltaneously,even when the depth is not consistant in the rifling, so the barrel doesn't shoot like a gun with a bad crown even when the crown is good. Check the rifling depth since it can be way off in the cap&ballers. If it's off and inconsistant use a flat face muzzle with no crown and concentric with the bore. The flat face muzzle can sometimes fix a windage problem.
There's more to tuning or regulating a Colt than messin with the sights to get it shootin point of aim same as point of impact.
Please excuse any type errors in this since I type terrible.

September 5, 2012, 11:31 AM	#8
enyaw Senior Member Join Date: November 28, 2008 Posts: 134	I like the idea of the dovetailed front sight for a Navy. I've seen pics of originals that had the dovetailed front sight. The sights were configured in a Navy style with the post a flat topped flat post. Nothing bad about a blade front sight though. Some originals I've seen had that too. When you grind down the rear sight it needs to be flat(horizontal) on the top when it's drawn back. It makes sense to me to hit the problem two ways and lower the back sight some and raise the front some so.....neither is too pronounced in it's change. Rear not too low or the front not too high. I like the Navy that's shown in the pic in this thread. Nice front sight. I'd want to have all the sight brass on a Navy but that's just a preference. I have a preference for a steel base brass bead or blade fer a Navy too.The steel base can be blued after the guns regulated and the dovetail "wings" filed flush with the barrel to hide the base of the dovetailed sight. The sight base on the pictured Navy seems to have a dovetailed cut too deep especially for a 44 caliber. Might be just the way the pic looks. The base is too wide fer my preference too dealing with a Navy Colt. I'm just expressing an opinion is all. Anywhoooo.......hittin it two ways....lower the rear some and raise the front some is a good way to get er done. Don't want to get the gun shootin too low and have a front sight that gets too short to make lower to "raise er up". I know the dovetail cut can't be too deep and that's not just an opinion. Never go deeper than half the wall thickness of the barrel and better is keep no deeper than 1/3rd the wall thickness of the barrel. A dovetail cut on a mill precisely can be quite shallow and be strong and be 1/4th the wall thickness. The area left between the sight base and the inside of the barrel can't be too thin. It can bulge upwards if too thin.It should be ,sorta finessed, and shallow fer a Navy or Army Colt. I can attest to one fact that gets overlooked when a gun shoots too high. Uberti's have the problem more than Pietta's. The problem that concerns the gun shootin too high? The dang arbor not bottomed in the barrels arbor hole especially when coupled with a loose fer the arbor barrel arbor hole. When the arbor isn't bottomed in the barrels hole correctly the wedge sets the barrel at the breech end "back and canted down" which raises the muzzle end. Shoots high. Fix the arbor thing and the gun may shoot low even with the stock factory sights. I've done it. The arbor hole too loose fer the barrelcan be shimmed with a piece of brass or copper shim cut with a scissors and laid on top the arbor above where the wedge slot is and inserted there when the barrel is tapped on. A tight arbor hole for the barrel and a bottomed arbor sets many a-gun shootin low and many times sets it shootin more accurate. Seems funny....regulating the sights by messin with the arbor fit. Those Colts...ya gotta love em. I do. I have a collection such as I can't remember how many I have and always want more to "tune up" and play with. I can help out ,maybe, by lettin folks know that Brownells sells 60 degree dovetail files. With some practice they make good tools fer dovetailin without a milling machine. Milling machine is best though. The dovetail files have a safe side which is very helpful. Most anyone can make a good dovetail cut with the dovetail file. Make the cut with the edge of a regular mill file and put the dovetail under cuts there with the dovetail file. I hate to say this but I have to......a chisel can be used to make the dovetail undercuts. Cut with the mill file edge and then bang the dovetail under cuts there usin the chisel parallel with the barrel. Pushes metal up but that can be left or filed away. The base of the sight has to be filed to match whatever angle under cuts are made but......the base can be fit close and the raised metal from the chisel can be gently tapped down onto the base of the sight.....as long as the base fits the width of the cut tight. I may as well say this too even though I hate to type. Mentioned was the bending of a barrel to regulate the windage. Something to try other than that is....study the akigment of the barrel to the frame. Sometimes because of a loose fit arbor and tolerances that add up the wrong way a Colt gun barrel can be mounted crooked. Within the "looseness tolerance" of the barrel on the arbor a person can carefully file the barrels bottom lug (against the frame)at an angle to set the barrel right. Shoots right? Move the muzzle of the barrel to the right. Doesn't take a whole lot neither. A tiny bit goes a long way towards regulating windage. Measured in the .001's inch ya know. It's tricky filing the bottom lug and keepin the planes of the surface right but it can be done ifin yer good with the file. Don't leave a high spot in the middle of the barrel lugs plane. Don't file too much neither. The barrel can only shift a small amount within the looseness on the arbor. Sometimes it's the "barrel loose on the arbor" that creates the windage problem too. Back to messin with the barrel/arbor fit again to set a Colt to shootin where you aim it. Funny ain't it? There's more to "tunin a Colt" than meets the eye or the regular connotaion of the word "tunin". ha ha ha A Premiere tune job sets "everything a-right". Consistant cylinder gap....tight barrel....shootin point of aim.....nice trigger.....good wedge fit......good arbor barrel fit and.....a million other little things I can't remember until I have some Colt cap&baller in my hands and assaulted by my tools. Maybe I should say that if the windage is off on a Colt check the crown or muzzle face first off. If the rifling is deeper on one part of the barrel than the other then don't use a crown or get rid of the crown when there is inconsistant rifling depth. Use a flat face muzzle with no crown with inconsistant rifling depth. That lets the gas escape from each groove simaltaneously,even when the depth is not consistant in the rifling, so the barrel doesn't shoot like a gun with a bad crown even when the crown is good. Check the rifling depth since it can be way off in the cap&ballers. If it's off and inconsistant use a flat face muzzle with no crown and concentric with the bore. The flat face muzzle can sometimes fix a windage problem. There's more to tuning or regulating a Colt than messin with the sights to get it shootin point of aim same as point of impact. Please excuse any type errors in this since I type terrible.