The Percussion Revolver..Rear Sight Mod

[@madd-mattmitchell917]

Oh my good Lord!! I've never seen anyone explain how to "set" the sights on a fixed sight cap & ball before ! I didn't even know it could be done and I'm 65 yrs of age and have been shooting since I was 11 yrs old. The only way I could hit with a cap & ball was to "aim off" using Kentucky windage &/or elevation and memorize each pistol's "aiming off" point. Geeze Louise I've been working myself to death; just to get close !! Blackie, this old man thanks you from the bottom of my heart. Yes, please show more on sighting in of cap & ball revolvers, PLEASE! Regards, Matt

[@1963pipo]

« Spray and pray » That got me laughing silly. Wonderful informations, priceless words of experience. Thank you so much.

[@arrlmember]

The 1903 Springfield had a magazine disconnect on it because it was feared that if a soldier had access to a full five round magazine that he may waste ammo. These days the military gives kids a M16 varmint caliber rifle and tell them to SPRAY the area. Apparently they don't teach marksmanship any more.

[@funkmonkeyfun]

Amen about front sight reflection, my Kentucky rifle has the brass front sight blade and man it's a strain to pull a sight picture with light hitting the blade. On a side note you can pick up a spare hammer for 25 bucks so dont be afraid to modify

[@arrlmember]

$17.50 at www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/product/product_id/2282

[@Zachary77]

Thankyou so much, love your vids. They've been a great aid in getting both my navy's set and tuned right. Shooting cans and clay pigeons(stationary) at 15-30 yards is always a fun time. I build things for a living, and I just enjoy the nuts and bolts feel with Cap and ball. Keep rocking!

[@sicesp]

you are a fountain of wisdom. thanks again

[@ewalddroidworks]

Here is a trick I use. Take a paint or a crayon and color code the notches. Green close orange far. Its faster for your eye to catch and made a big difference in my speed shooting and accuracy.

[@jimrozelle9673]

I recently purchased a Pietta Remington, and I’m looking forward to getting it dialed in as a competition target pistol for 25 & 50 yards. Thanx for the info !!!

[@ericletts4072]

Blackie, I want you to know that I have learned more from you than any other person. Thank You !

[@geffreybolster3780]

Hello blackie. My Colts have their temperments. Two of them shoot left. Why always left, it seems? Anyway, a Second Dragoon and a Navy Pocket both shoot left. 24'' to the left at 45 yards. I m getting ready to go to the range with them again. I m adjusting them. The shooting high thing, right you are! The old talk about how , , just accepting the wild point of aim/hit ,. I agree. I ll be making thos adjustments too. I noticed on the Dragoon sight, there was a dent in the slot of the sight (on the hammer). Lining up the front sight, adjusting for that little dent, caused the muxxle to be pointing slightly left. I fine filed it clear. We ll see. I m going to fire it and see. The Pocket, no clear reason. I have this old book about Civil War soldiers talking about maintaining and firing the Colt Navies (D. L. Rheas book). In one account it was discovered that the barrel was bored off center. In order to pass inspection, for appearance, the barrel flats were filed to look like there was nothing amiss. The man said it took him a long time to figure out why it was shooting so far off etc.

[@Turk380]

Thanks for this! My C&B's (Brass "Navy" Colt .44 and a steel Colt .44) both shoot crazy high, and I think this is the trick right here. I need to man up and get the files in there.

[@geffreybolster3780]

I have an example, at least two of each, of the Authentic Colts from the 70s and 80s. Some of the CBAC ones too. I fire them. At least an example of each. All of them have their quirks. Ironically the worst is one of the Authentic Walkers. The best is a WH Dragoon. The quality is predominantly high in the Authentics and low in the CBACs. Anyway, great and informative videos. I m pick n up tricks and proceedures from you. Thanks and keep it going.

[@frankyeyna9500]

One note Blackie , In the past I have found a bent mandrel so before doing all the mods I use a dial indicator screwed into the cylinder and spin the cylinder 360 looking for a mandrel that is bent .

[@spulamander]

Thanks Frank that's a great idea!

[@robinmckinney25]

Thanks for this, I'll be working on my 1860 .36 soon!

[@357bullfrog]

Blackie. could you do one on the 51 colt? with the bead fro t sight. of you haven't already. I'm gonna look thru your series and see.

[@Bill23799]

I have never heard of anyone talk about glare on their front sight except in one other place. IN the film " Sergeant York " Pvt Alvin York was at the Basic Training rifle range and the Drill Sgt noticed that Alvin licked his finger and and wiped the front sight of his '03 Springfield rifle before he fired it. He asked Alvin why he did that and he said it was to take the glare off the front sight.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

actually my long range teacher spoke of it at length..we were shooting iron sights at 500 - 1000 yrds in old style military service rifle matches..now a days its just lost knowledge..since every would be using scopes today

[@Bill23799]

Abour 20 years ago at an outdoor range in Houston,Tx I was sighting in an AR-15 I had recently finished building. A buddy of mine was on the spotting scope. I had my sight just about dialed in and switched to a new target. I fired one round and asked my buddy which way I needed to correct. He said shoot again. I shot and asked again where to correct, he said shoot again. I was getting kind of annoyed. I said which way do I need to adjust. He said come here and see. I had 3 shots dead center touching almost all in same hole. This was done with iron sights. OK it was only 50 yards but they were still the best 3 shots I ever made with a rifle in or out of the military haha. Well I know at Basic training I was knocking down silhouettes at 350 yards but that was not as fun as seeing 3 shots in one hole. I am 60 years old now and with my diabetes I just can not do what I used to do years ago with iron sights. I do better with a Red Dot. Thank you for your concise explanation on sighting. we could have used an instructor like you back in 1979 at Fort Sill.

[@doranmaxwell1755]

I agree.. a patridge or undercut front sight is way easier to see... I have no idea what these giant glow plug front sights are trying to accomplish unless it is for low light indoors where no sun is present. Modern ramp front sights work in perfect light conditions but I have always shot better with an undercut or patridge front.

[@cluek9780]

The Ansley (Confederate) revolver sported a rear sight dovetailed into the barrel. True, few were made, but the impact on accuracy must have been great, right? Do I dare dovetail a groove, however slight, into the barrel of a Pietta 1851 Navy?

[@geraldreynolds9650]

I had a dovetail put on to the muzzle end of my Ubertie Remington and had a taller front sight made (I think it was 3mm taller then factory height) Gun shot fine.Then I could tap it a bit left or right to correct for windage.

[@lloydscott295]

good info I even filed across the top of my Notch like you did on your Hammer but I didn't put three marks have a good day

[@mkshffr4936]

Just what the doctor ordered. Thanks.

[@jamesvahalik127]

Great info 👍thanks

[@virusinstall9658]

blackie you show the true face of alabama and show people how cool the heart of dixie really is. I bet you aren't afraid of anything.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

thank you very much for you kind comment..safe journeys to you

[@Titigrosminet29]

Merci, pour vos conseils.

[@terrysmith8714]

Thank you. Another great video. Cheers

[@steveferris663]

Please do windage adjustments on the Colts, please.

[@anthonyyurt7260]

That should work for fixing the "hog waller" rear sight in a SAA too, shouldn't it?Great videos, Blackie, Thanks for the info

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

i have done that to single action army..elmer keith was a good source for mods to the saa..

[@MarcusWilhite]

Have you ever recut the rear sight with a round file. I'm thinking it would be easier to focus on ?

[@gusdearolph9861]

Blackie, I cannot find the program where you discuss what you did to the FRONT sight of a cap and ball revolver! please help

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

ok i am right now shooting the video for how to antique my 1860 army..i will include a talk of what i did to the front sight for ya

[@gusdearolph9861]

@@BLACKIETHOMAS Thank you!

[@warskye5686]

Great info

[@Yosemite-George-61]

how about the "smoking the sights" trick to avoid reflection?

[@jwoltremari]

Wish you could show the actual hammer looking down the barrel at the sights. You know the fine adjustment.

[@SanitysVoid]

my 1851 shoots high and to the left. I understand the file to fix the elevation but no idea how I can fix left to more right and how that would work.

[@EdmundMar]

Visualize you have a perfect sight picture and not pulling left by bad trigger finger placement or to strong a trigger spring. So the bullet hits to the left of your perfect sight picture. You need to move the REAR Sight to the right to move the bullet impact also to the right. A very light trigger pull could be dangerous but target shooters find it gives them an advantage.

[@dudearlo]

Can we just put a piece of painters tape on there and write in the notches and test them out. That way if one is off we can remove the tape and try again? Then we have marks to cut? :D

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

yes you can and work out proper place ment for your eyes

[@TraditionalBlackPowder]

Very interesting video, thanks.

[@jayj8256]

thanks, Blackie!

[@stewknoles4790]

I use the same method Although I use a diamond file. The case hardening can be hard to break. New users will notice that a new BP revolver shoots higher than a cats back. You see bad reports from users because of this. My question is, why would a maker of these pistols put gosh awful sights on these???

[@EdmundMar]

If the target is shooting back at you, it would be best to sight him in and disable him before he got close enough to disable you.

[@pharmhound68]

Love hearing that Bobwhite. Don’t hear them in Texas anymore. Fire ants and egrets pretty much wiped them out.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

they can be wiped out too easy we are trying to seed them back here and get the numbers back up

[@pharmhound68]

@@BLACKIETHOMAS I raised them for awhile. Had 16 hens and 8 roosters paired in cages. Hatched probably 500 successfully in 2 years. Then something hit my flock and I lost a bunch. Plus the paperwork is just crazy. $100 for Texas game bird propagation license. And daily count. Have to keep your records perfect with the number of live birds. A record of any released, died and sold. End user permit for every sale. It was a hassle.

[@buckshot4428]

Good info Blackie. How do you like those Italian "Swedish" files?

[@carlostrujillo4750]

This might be a question for a different time but I noticed your Remington is very easy to pull the hammer.my pietta 1860 army is hard to pull what can I do?

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

in front of the grip is a small screw back it out a bit it add tension to main spring to alot for age and wear

[@walterashley149]

Look up his mods on the 1860. I believe there was some internal polishing and possibly doing work to the hammer spring. The Remington only has the screw.

[@FPerry]

Mr. Blackie, my question is this if after filing the notch in your hammer if you get it too far off to one side so that the gun fires too far off to one side how would you fill it in to correct this problem and basically start from scratch with resighting it for the windage?

Can't wait to get one!!!!

[@2ColtNavys]

My pietta 1851 has a bead sight on the front vice a blade. Do you square and flatten those too?

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

YES I WILL file """gently"" to make the sides square and flat top the bead it will look normal from the side so when someone is looking at the gun it doesn't look out of place..but the sight picture will be better

[@mickeypickett4300]

that's real good info!!

[@bobbartholomew1435]

My ruger Old Army both sites are adjustable

[@DonHavjuan]

Have you ever put a rear sight on the barrel so you don't have to use the hammer notch? A nice target sight would be good.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

i have seen that and my 1872 open top had a sight on the back of the barrel..i do the notch for guns that do not have the sight..or dont wanna mod a gun too far

[@billybudd45]

Good job

[@STEVEN-STEELE]

If you learn the way your particular firearm shoots. Like the man says you can out shoot others. I had one of those North American Arms stainless 5 shot 22 revolvers that came with a magnum cylinder. I chauffered pizza. It was a firing offense to carry on the job. But I had my CWP and my other job required I be armed at all times. At any rate. Lil Dog I called it cause it barked over here and bit over there. Didn't have but a quarter inch barrel. But after running a couple boxes of CCI stingers through it. I could make a can dance. Not even brining to eye level. I used point shootin. Basically if you grip the same hold the same squeeze the trigger the same your muscles remember. Then it's just a matter of knowing it shot low left. So just like pointing my finger I could pop a Coke can knocking all over from three feet on out to ten yards. Learn your firearm and it could shoot two foot off. But you can still bulls eye a target knowing it's a drunk barrel. I figured IF Lil Dog saved my life. In a life or death situation. Who cares if they fire me. Lol I kept three dollars wrapped around all but the hammer butt and trigger. Held by a rubber band. Thinking once the right saw the money They would relax thinking they won. Smile wait for the flash. I also made an elastic holster and could carry it inside my drovers hat. Kinda like Mr. Thomas's. Hat in hand is a sign of giving up being whipped humble.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

i have seen those little gun do amazing things ...usually up close..but a friend had the earl that was good to 20yds

[@STEVEN-STEELE]

@@BLACKIETHOMAS Do y'all still have Turkey Shoots down in your neck of the woods. I ain't seen one advertised on. Like thrifty nickel or Kroger's bulliten board in ages. Back years ago they still ran them in Randolph Co. Up Weedowe way and Wadley. But that was ages. I sure would like to have a good ol. Shooting match. With classes for Rifle, Handgun and Both in Black Powder. Tie that with a Archery meet. And could raise alot of money for various charities here in the state. And get to eat good. Maybe bring home a big ham.

[@stewknoles4790]

I use a dremel tool.

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

that works as long as you have a steady hand and go very slow

[@jolllyroger1]

In military applications you want the best damn accuracy you can hey cuz your life depends on accuracy

[@thomasglandon5078]

Blackie, my new 1858 new Army is shooting to the left so how do i get it to shoot point of aim ? PS its a Target model, no one does a Video about sighting in the Target model.

[@Frenchbroadcatman.]

Well that will help me for my new dragoon colt that I'm getting. The 1851 wouldn't hold 40 grains of powder for use while bear hunting so on to a bigger gun. Took me three shots on a bear ain't doing that again

[@taurushipointenthusiast1306]

I understand the WHY? just do it our way just does not work for me

[@kurtb4552]

would not be allowed in MLAIC competitions

[@BLACKIETHOMAS]

you are correct i focus on field accuracy for a carry revolver..setting one up for a target range gunsafe queen is a totally different video series..thanks for the comment

[@jdkeith5373]

Remington=just the tip🤣

[@mypetvelociraptor]

Hey 👋