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Old January 12, 2019, 04:45 PM   #1
cdoc42
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SuperRed Hawk front sight problem

At least 20-25 years ago I put a Bushnell Holosight on my Ruger Super Red Hawk with a picatinny rail that required the removal of the front and rear sights
The front sight ramp is a permanent fixture. The sight was removed by removing a spring-loaded bar with a sight indent by pushing it rearward with a tool of slightly smaller diameter from the front of the ramp.

Another bar was inserted which had 2 holes in it to accept screws that hold the rail in front.

Well, here I am, 20-25 years later with a Holosight that doesn't work well anymore so I replaced it with a 30mm Ultradot and a smaller rail from Jack Weigand in Mountain Top, PA that attaches to the integral scope mounts on the frame.

I want to replace the sights just for the sake of completeness. The rear sight went on without a problem. I cannot remove the small bar in the front sight and I no longer have the directions nor the name of the picatinny rail. The end of the bar has a standard flat screw slot but no matter how I turn it, it just rotates in the front sight. I did not try to knock it out with a tool like a nail punch in one of the screw holes. I lubed it with Kano Kroil and Microil but it doesn't slide out.

I contacted Ruger but have not had a response. Any advice here would be greatly appreciated.
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Old January 12, 2019, 08:50 PM   #2
JohnKSa
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Can you remove the entire front bar by depressing the spring-loaded plunger that used to retain the front sight blade?
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Old January 12, 2019, 09:19 PM   #3
cdoc42
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JohnKSa, that's the piece I'm trying to put back in. Where it goes is a bar with 2 screw indents that held the total length picatinny rail from the back site to the front site.

That's the bar I can't get out. I suspect it should just slide out but it won't do anything but rotate when I put the flat blade of a screw driver in the slot that is at the end of the bar.
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Old January 12, 2019, 11:54 PM   #4
JohnKSa
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There are three parts:


1. There is a spring-loaded plunger in a small hole on the front of the sight. Normally it retains the front sight blade.

2. There is a front sight blade that you removed many years ago and now are trying to replace.

3. There is a "bar with 2 screw indents that held the total length picatinny rail from the back site to the front site".

Is that spring-loaded plunger (part #1 above) now retaining the "bar with 2 screw indents that held the total length picatinny rail from the back site to the front site" (part # 3 above)?

If so, then depress the spring-loaded plunger (part #1 above) and the bar (part #3 above) should be freed for removal and then you can replace the front sight (part #2 above.)
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Old January 13, 2019, 12:22 PM   #5
cdoc42
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The spring-loaded plunger and front sight were removed and replaced by the bar with 2 screw indents in order to affix the long picatinny rail to he revolver.

The bar is the same length as the spring-loaded plunger and has a flat-head screw driver access tip in that channel and hole at the muzzle end of the revolver. I need to get that bar out in order to insert the spring-loaded plunger and old front sight.

It won't screw out; it just rotates in the channel. I think I need to use a punch, angled in one of the screw indents, to knock it out but I hesitate to do that if there is any explanation that I'm missing.

I don't have the instructions from the rail, nor can I find anything on the net because there is no name on the rail to seek out the manufacturer. The Ruger web site has a blow up of parts for the SRHK but the front sight it shows is connected to the barrel by 2-3 screws. My sight ramp is not screwed on, it is a permanent fixture with the channel and spring-loaded plunger as you describe.
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Old January 13, 2019, 04:02 PM   #6
JohnKSa
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Quote:
The spring-loaded plunger and front sight were removed and replaced by the bar with 2 screw indents in order to affix the long picatinny rail to he revolver.
I am reading this to mean that:

The front sight blade (part #2 above) was removed and replaced with a "bar with 2 screw indents that held the total length picatinny rail from the back site to the front site" (part #3 above) since there is no way to put a bar into the small round hole at the front of the sight.
Quote:
The bar is the same length as the spring-loaded plunger and has a flat-head screw driver access tip in that channel and hole at the muzzle end of the revolver. I need to get that bar out in order to insert the spring-loaded plunger and old front sight.

It won't screw out; it just rotates in the channel.
I am reading this to mean that there is some kind of a part which you believe is a flat-head screw replacing the spring loaded plunger (part #1 above) that is holding the bar (part #3) above in place.

I'm not sure that the "flat-head screw" is really a screw because the channel for the spring-loaded plunger is not threaded. So there is nothing for a screw to screw into other than the bar (part #3 above).

Is it possible that the part you believe is a "flat-head screw" is really just a slightly different spring-loaded plunger being used to retain the bar?

Another possibility is that there is some kind of nut in the bar that the screw threads into. If so, maybe that nut is turning--but I would think it would be visible from the top.

Is there any way you could post pictures?
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Old January 13, 2019, 09:31 PM   #7
cdoc42
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I don't know how to post pictures. But what you're missing here is the bar with the flat-head screw TOP (one cannot see any threads on the other end because it is in the channel) was supplied with the rail to REPLACE the spring-loaded bar. Picture a pencil with two screw indents in the shaft and the eraser end having a flat head screw groove in it. That replaced the spring-loaded bar.

The spring-loaded bar and original site are removed. That leaves a blank channel in the ramp of the sight, with a hole in the muzzle end through which either bar can enter. That's where the current bar entered.

I need to get that bar out and it will not screw out (and should not, as you noted, there is no thread at the inside end of the ramp channel), nor will it slide out.

It has been in there for 20 years and I am certain it just slid right in to start with, with two screw indents available to put screws through the rail at the front sight. But is won't slide out, and with Kroil and Microil lubrication it just rotates if I use a tiny flat head screw driver to remove it.

I know a picture is worth a thousand words and we are probably close to that number at this point, but I just don't know how to attach a photo here. I apologize for all your trouble here.

Last edited by cdoc42; January 13, 2019 at 09:36 PM.
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Old January 13, 2019, 09:59 PM   #8
JohnKSa
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Ok, so the bar goes into the hole that the spring-loaded plunger originally occupied.

Do you have the original parts? You should have the following:

1. A front sight blade.

2. A metal rod with a notch in one side, and a thin protrusion on one end. It should look like the part in this link:
https://media.mwstatic.com/product-i...bp/641318.webp

3. A spring that is tapered so it is smaller on one end than the other. It should look like the part in this link:
https://media.mwstatic.com/product-i...bp/935242.webp

If you do NOT have the spring, then I'm guessing it's still in the hole. It is not easy to get out. I just pulled one out and it was in there pretty tight for one thing, and for another there's no easy way to get at it. I had to make a tool with a small hook on one end to get in there and pull it out. The back end of the spring is the end that flares out and it sticks in the hole pretty tightly.

You can probably verify that the spring is still in there by pushing on the bar that's in the hole to see if it's springy. The spring is very stiff, you'll have to push hard.

If all of that is true, and if the bar turns, then it's just being held in place by friction and the fact that the spring kind of snaps onto the end of the little protrusion to keep it from falling out.

Anyway, assuming all of the above is true, you should be able to push it out by getting something into the small holes in the bar and pushing forward.
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Old January 13, 2019, 10:05 PM   #9
cdoc42
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Well, I did it. I put the gun in a vise and used a small brass punch and hammer. I started tapping toward the muzzle using one of the screw indents and it started to move out. I kept it up until I could catch the end with a pliers and pull it out. It was like pulling a tooth!! That was NOT ever going to fall out.

I inserted the spring-loaded plunger (bar) and inserted the front sight blade in the slot and snapped everything into place.

I'm sorry again for having you take all this time and effort to help with nothing more than my less than adequate explanation.

I guess, if nothing else, this is a lesson that one should keep all instructions for everything for life, limited only by a memory as to where they might be when you need them in the future.......

PS: I posted this before I saw your message above. Your photos were exactly what I removed in the past (including the spring) and what I was trying to put back in. What's really dumb is since I have the Ultradot installed, why do I need the original sights? Probably for the same reason that my wife should dress nice for me to take her out to dinner - it looks good!!

Last edited by cdoc42; January 13, 2019 at 10:11 PM.
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Old January 13, 2019, 10:23 PM   #10
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Nope, no problem at all and no need to apologize. When I joined these forums, that's really how I thought they would work--it would be about people helping to solve problems.

Glad you got things straightened out!
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