Attaching sight

[tucten]

I?ve struggled with this far too long. How do I attach a brass sight to my Smith sight base. TIA

[mike davenport]

Hi depending on your skill level there are several methods....
prior to removing the sight base "index" the location on the off side with a punch so you put the base back in the original position.
1. Remove sight and place in a vice
2. clean and flux the sigh base with solder flux
3. "Tin" the slot with a minimum amount of solder
4. Flux the brass insert and tin the insert with solder
5. heat the base with torch and insert blade when the solder liquifies
6. wipe excess solder off , let cool and replace sight

or
1. Remove sight and place in a vice
2. place blade in slot in base
3. carefully drill a hole thru the base and base in the front and back of base
4. insert a small pin in hole, trim ends to be flush
5. Reinsert base in gun

it sounds harder than it really is
mike

[Lou Lou Lou]

Don?t understand exactly what you want to do.
the front sight base will take a replacement blade easy peasy.
can you explain what you want to do?

[Maillemaker]

First, drive the old blade out of the site. You'll want to carefully secure the sight in a vice, and then use a small punch to drive it out of its slot. You can fashion a small punch out of a small nail.

Then, you'll want to fashion a new blade out of a piece of brass, or German silver, or whatever. Make it taller than you think you need. Start out with a piece that is slightly thicker than you need.

Use some calipers to measure the width of your original blade. File the new blade thickness until it is just a tiny bit thicker than the original blade. You want an interference fit when driving it home. You don't want it massively oversize or you can split the sight base in half or break off the wings. Remember, if you screw up the blade it is not a big deal just file out a new one. Slow, steady, careful fitting wins the race. Remember you just want a slight interference fit. You're not trying to drive a wedge in a log. A few thousandths of an inch oversize will do.

You'll notice that the bottom of the slot is very slightly wider than the top. This traps the blade once it is in place. Try and match this shape as you file your new blade.

You'll want to file a chamfer on the front of the blade. This is a "lead in" so that when you tap the new blade into the slot, it starts easily. In other words, make the front edge of the blade a bit narrower than the slot so it starts into the slot easily. Carefully tap it into place with a small hammer. If you do it right, you won't need any solder. However, if you like, you can "tin" the blade before you drive it in place, flux the groove, drive the blade in, and heat the base until the solder melts. However, the blade may shift in its slot since the solder was making up part of the interference fit. I've replaced the blade on 3 Smiths and did not use solder on any of them.

Once the blade is in place, you can file it to a final shape. You can clean it up fore and aft so it is flush with the sight base. File the height to be close, but taller than you need. If your blade is too short you'll be back in the shop making another one. :)

If you have not yet done a load workup, don't do any sight work until you have achieved your optimal group size. Only then work on the sight. You can then file the blade down to get the point of impact you desire for your point of aim. After that you can finish dressing the blade to the final shape you desire, following the original configuration of the original sight blade as your guide.



https://i.imgur.com/2gAgIEP.jpg

You can also buy complete sights from S&S Firearms:
https://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SC36

S&S also sells front blades in different thicknesses:
https://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SC36A
https://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SC36B
https://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SC36C