SAA dovetail front sights

[Rusty Marlin]

Thought I'd share one of my current projects for a matched pair of Vaqueros.

The barrels were shortened which obviously removes the front sights. Rather than the traditional slot and solder method of attaching a new sight, it was detirmained that a more attractive solution had to be used.

These start as a lathe turned blank.


Then a miracle occurs and they come out as a front sight base.



Notice the radius at the very top, which was very interesting to do the first time; I got to use a new toy that I'm storing for a friend. This is a VOLSTRO rotary milling head. The crank on the left runs a slide that detirmains the radial offset from being aligned with the mill spindle to 3" offset. The right handle rotates the milling head's spindle around the centerline of the Bridgports spindle.

[Rusty Marlin]

And its perfect for making radii like the this: To give a sense of scale, that's a 3/8" endmill.



After the bases are machined, they need blades. Again the milling head is employed to carve out the blades. I cut one thick blade using the mill with the VOLSTRO radial milling head. Neat toy. If my freind ever asks for it back I'm going to have to buy one or just break down and go CNC.
I would have liked to have shown some in progress shots but the level of concentration to make sure all the monkey motion goes just right is tremendous, boarders on nerve racking. When I was finshed with the profile I did a little victory jig. :liberal: They were cut from a solid bar of 1144 Stress Proof held on end in a V-block. I cut once around the block deep enough to get both blades. After the contouring was done they were sliced off with a slitting saw like salami.

[Rusty Marlin]

Then they were polished and test fitted to the sight bodies, Perfection! Some days I manage to suprise the $hit out of myself! :grin:


Now its time to cut the dovetail in the barrel. To locate the dovetail its measured over a gage wire from the muzzle. Two gage wires are used to measure its exact size.




And finally the base is pressed into its slot and centered, the blade is blued, drilled and pinned in place.

One gun down, one to go.

[JCHannum]

Nice job. It is the details like that that set a job apart from the rest and make them special. Thanks for showing it.

I particularly like the holding fixture in the 5C collet, that is a very handy looking setup.

[Rusty Marlin]

Thank you. I have to make an extended length dovetail with an alignment flat so I can take the fixture out of the collet. I'm afraid that the clamp surface is too short to get it dialed in perfect when I take it apart, and I need my 1" 5C back in circulation, not tied up in collet block for the rest of my life. LOL

[Ron of Va]

Rusty,
This is an outstanding report. Just in time for me too.
I am re-barreling a High Standard pistol using a 10/22 barrel. I can get three barrels out of one 10/22 factory takeoff.

Please advise which dovetail cutter you used for the front sight, because I need to order one. Brownells has several different sizes, and I am a little conflicted which one would be appropriate for my application.

Which dovetail cutter are you using?
Thanks

JCHannum:
You can get that 5c collet fixture at Enco. http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...AKA=ST235-7050
It is $40.95 and very useful. I use mine in a lathe milling attachment.

[Rusty Marlin]

For this project the dovetail is a nominal .326" across the points. The tool used was the .290 dia x 60 deg. I think its the Wilson cutter. Unfortunatly the Brownells web site doesn't give the dia., but the catalog does.

[Rusty Marlin]

JCHannum:
You can get that 5c collet fixture at Enco. http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...AKA=ST235-7050
It is $40.95 and very useful. I use mine in a lathe milling attachment.

I think he's talking about the dovetail fixture used to hold the sight.

[JCHannum]

That is correc, I do have a collet holder set, and use it frequently. Rusty's dovetail holder is what I was commenting on.

Holding small parts is a difficult proposition, often more challenging than the actual machining once you have a grip on the little critters. Oftentimes you will spend more time fixturing than machining. The holder in a holder is worth filing away for future use.

[Ron of Va]

For this project the dovetail is a nominal .326" across the points. The tool used was the .290 dia x 60 deg. I think its the Wilson cutter. Unfortunatly the Brownells web site doesn't give the dia., but the catalog does.

Thanks for the information. Big help.