Help!...Botched front sight installation

A

azredhawk44

Moderator
Grr.

Angry at my neighborhood gunsmith. I'll never use him again.

Took my 4" Redhawk to a local smith, along with a $40 Hi-Viz fiber optic front sight. This model redhawk uses the cross-pin retention system rather than Ruger's typical method for GP's and Redhawks, so the new sight needed a hole drilled and to be fitted properly.

Smith didn't fit it properly.

The sight is not flush against the top of the barrel, and it wobbles like a teeter-totter on the pin. You can see an air gap between the sight base and the top of the barrel. If I bottom out one side and measure the inside gap of the other side of the sight, I get a gap of 0.028".

It can't be re-fit, though. The hole has already been drilled in the sight, and the hole is obviously present in the barrel itself, so you can't change anything without getting a new sight.

I'm thinking about driving out the pin myself, putting a non-bonding gasket agent in there like a black RTV rubber compound, re-seating the pin and letting it cure. It should still be replaceable (definitely not going to be dumb and use something like epoxy!) and take care of the air gap and wobble.

Any better ideas out there? I intend to carry this gun out in adverse conditions and I definitely don't want any moisture getting down there to rust my gun, so paper shims aren't an option since they trap moisture. Leaving it as-is will result in inaccuracy, as well as weakness of the front sight if smacked hard.

Argh. Never using that smith again.:mad:

Anyone know the size punch I need to drive out the front sight pin on a 4" Redhawk barrel?
 
Redhawk,

If it were me I'd bite the bullet, buy another 40.00 sight and install it myself. It is not difficult to do right, your local smith is not very good if he botched this. The same system is used for the SP101 and I've done 3 of mine without a scratch on any of them. And they're all seated properly.

I'd be surprised if your roll pin isn't the same size as the SP101. The SP uses a 1/16".

If you decide to re-do it DIY-style. Do this:

1) Put masking tape on both sides of your barrel over the pin holes (prevent scratches).
2) Put new sight in place and seat it properly.
3) Clamp it in place (likely the step your smith forgot. I use a simple squeeze style "quick clamp").
4) Drill the hole in the sight blade through the existing hole in your gun. Drill 1/2 way on one side, flip over and finish on the other side. You may snap a drill bit here as it's a small bit and you are drilling through one material to another. No problems, just be prepared with an extra bit and a punch long enough to drive a broken bit out if necessary.


It's really a simple operation and the smith is a bonehead for messing it up.
 
I get a gap of 0.028".
Click to expand...
I would think your gunsmith had to work pretty hard to make that happen. :(

Sounds like rantingredneck's procedure should work fine. Run the drill at the highest RPM available, go slow, but keep it moving.
 
Before sending it off, I would push the roll pin out and compare the original to the HiViz. I had a HiViz that was not shaped the same as the original. I clamped them together and dremeled the HiViz to the same profile as the original. Made sure that it fit in the sight track, then I drilled the hole myself. Worked out great. Good luck.


Never mind they already said what I was slowly writting.
 
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I'll preface this: I'm cheeeeeep.

Before discarding the sight, I'd try removing it, swaging the bottomside of the hole while extending the topside upward and seeing if I could take up that gap.

Failing that, I'd epoxy it in; heat releases epoxy just fine (soldering iron works well) and it would be more stable that the RTV.

FWIW,

Larry
 
Well, several days ago I went out and got a 1/16" punch and removed the sight. I gooped it up with some permatex, stuck it back in and drove the pin in again. Made sure there was enough to eliminate any pockets under the sight, and the permatex oozed slightly out from underneath the sight.

Not quite as much of a hack-sight as Jim March's .357 Vaq front sight, but it ain't pretty.:p Hopefully it holds center consistently.

Took several days to cure and it was soft for awhile, but today it seems pretty solid.

I'm gonna take it out shooting this weekend and see how it holds up. The RTV needs cleaning-up around the edges of the sight base so that it doesn't look sloppy, and eventually I will get a replacement sight and install it properly, but this will work for right now.

If it works properly then I'll clean up the edges with a razor blade.
 
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