Last week I was the successful bidder on s/n 6215, a 6 1/2" 1899 blue target revolver.
This is probably the worst-condition gun I have ever bought - or owned - but it is an
1899 .38 target, and they are scarce.

It has a myriad of problems, not the least of which is a hole through one of the cylinder stop slots, and going clear through the cylinder wall into the charge hole. I do have extra 1899 cylinders, so I can deal with this. I still have two frozen screws to deal with, but they can be resolved.

On the bright side, whats left of the gun is all original. All the various parts are serial-numbered to the frame; grips, barrel, cylinder, side plate, rear sight leaf, and rear sight blade.

While waiting - to no avail - for some penetrating oil to try to loosen the thumbpiece screw, I started cleaning up the front sight blade. I think the gun must have been stored wet in a holster, for many years. At one point in the cleanup, I noticed that the front sight blade was a bright silver color, and seemed to have something written on it.

This first picture is the right side of the front sight blade, mounted in its sight base on the barrel. The picture is turned upside down, so its easier to see what is there.



You will notice three important parts of this side of the blade. Right next to the sight base, there are the letters "TA". Below that is a field of stars, and below that is what looks like the head of an eagle. I've had a long interest in US coins, and recognized this pattern as the engraving found on the 1900-1920 Barber silver quarters and half-dollars.

This next picture is the reverse side of a 1914 Barber silver quarter. I've circled in red the approximate area of this pattern in the coin.



This coined seems to be pinned approximately through the "E" in the word "STATES"

This next picture is the other side of front side blade. This time the barrel is right-side-up.



This is a bit hard to understand by itelf; a picture of the obverse side of the coin is very helpful.



On this side, the pin is passing somewhere between the "1" and "4" of the date "1914".
Because of the contour of the sight blade, a good hunk of the coin has been cut away.
Whats left, in this picture, is the ends of the hair-ribbon, and a chunk of Her neck !

From a condition point-of-view, this front-sight-blade is the best part of the gun !

Regards, Mike Priwer

Really cool.

I shot a colt 22 frontiere scout at the garbage dump once, heard a muffled sound on one shot but kept on shooting. When I got home discovered my front sight missing. I cut a pie shaped section of a nickel and epoxied it on.

Still there the last time I saw it.

Really cool gun and i like the sight.

Charlie

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

Mike glad you picked this one up. The rear sight looked a little odd as you and I discussed is it the correct sight for this model?

I for one, think that that is something that is really neat. Some gunsmith needed to replace the sight, reached into his pocket and pulled out a common quarter for the time and carefully fitted it to the revolver. Truly make the revolver not only rare but one of a kind. I hope that you plan on keeping it that way.

Randy

Here is a picture of the underside of the rear sight leaf, and the rear sight blade.



As you can see, both are original to the gun. What we observed was a bend in the rear sight leaf, right around the screw than anchors the sight leaf to the frame. This was causing the leaf to be high on each end. Unfortunately, that screw was/is one of the frozen screws. I had to mill the head of the screw off, to get the rear sight leaf off the gun. A good gunsmith will drill the rest of the screw out, and rethread it. I've had that done in the past, on another gun.

Regards, Mike

Mike
Nice post and nice front sight!

I own several nice Barber dimes and quarters and have always liked them. For several years back in the 1980s I regularly carried one of each in my pocket, just for fun and to show kids what silver coinage used to look like. I usually carried a Morgan dollar with them as well.

What a fun discovery! Congrats.

__________________
Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Bought an old 1915 Winchester 1895 in 30-40 Krag. Front sight was silver most likely made up from a dime of the period. Frank

Here are photographs of a .44 DA First Model with a coin as a front sight. I believe it is a Barber dime.

And, in reference to another post in this thread, I have carried with me daily a worn Morgan dollar dating from 1885.

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I suppose it may sound silly, but I wonder if the front sight was done to replace the original that maybe was damaged or went missing...or was this done to sort of customize the gun. I suppose we'll never know. I like it, though, for whatever that's worth.

I thought the same thing then I wondered if it was simply done for contrast with the rear sight--like red-ramped or the multi-colored inserts used today?

__________________
Possum—The other white meat!

I had a Morgan dollar someone had drilled a hole into so I decided to put it in my pocket just to amaze folks that had never seen one. After some time, it wore all the lettering off, just from carrying it, so I put it in the safe with the others. Being a grocery store checker in the 60's, I found many old coins and bought them. Big Larry

I don't know when, or why, this section of a US silver coin came to be a front sight blade.
I've never seen any silver sight blades offered in any of the catalogs I have, so I'm confident that it is not factory. Also, the front sight pin is either a non-factory replacement, or has been damaged. One end is not right.

The contour of this blade closely resembles that of early S&W factory blades. I would guess that someone made a copy of a factory blade, out of a US silver coin.

Regards, Mike Priwer

That's a nifty find !
I've seen a few with dimes for front sights , but never a Quarter.
Using a silver coin is mentioned as a replacement in an old DIY gunsmithing book I have dated 1938 . The Amateur Guncraftsman by James V. Howe...evidently it wasn't that uncommon back then.
These replacements were never from the factory , it was just a way for a fellow to make himself a new front sight.
Gary

I have seen several old pistols with dime front sights. A couple
years ago at a show a guy had a old Hi-Standard auto with dime
for front sight. He went on and on about the old timer that cut
that dime down to make a front sight. The kicker, it was one of
the laminated dimes, 1990s vintage and had to be glued in. I
havent use a silver dime, but I have used brass keys and various
other odd pieces of brass. It is easy to work and Birchwood has
a chemical brass black that works well on it. I have always wanted to pick up one of those key grinders that they use in
HW stores to duplicate keys. I would be perfect for sight making.
The nice thing about brass is it can be soldered to steel very
easy with low temp silver solder. You can get the heat required
through the sight without using flame on barrel.

I once had a cut down Krag .30-40 rifle that had a silver dime sight. IIRC, it was a Mercury dime.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Mike,

A very rare and unique target model!


The only near perfect solution to the rusted screws/rust removal problem doesn’t have to be laborious, using force, or machining; it's time, patience, and letting the right product do the work.

As shown below, the scientific test proven top solution is not an off the shelf rust or corrosion product, and in fact exceeds them all. And off the shelf products are far from equally effective. Kano Kroil tops them all in testing and some are just a flat waste of money.
Just a few representative tested products quoted in test results including the hands down winner: 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone. Cruddy guns are a piece of cake to clean with this solution.

Averageload (Lbs) to release a rusted/corroded test bolt and price per fluid ounce:

W/Openetrant.... .516 pounds $0.00
WD-40.................238 pounds .. $0.25
PBBlaster ........... 214 pounds .. $0.35
LiquidWrench ......127 pounds .. $0.21
KanoKroil ............106 pounds .. $0.75
ATF-Acetonemix....53 pounds .. $0.10
(note:53 lbs. was the load required to release the pre-corroded testing device.)

SOURCE:April/May 2007 edition of MACHINIST'S WORKSHOP scientific test of penetratingproducts to remove rust and measure the force required to loosen rusted-solid test devices.

They are all inferior to (well down the list in test results as can be seen below), and more expensive than ATF, good old tranny fluid. None of the other products have or will ever have the years and level of research and engineering to remove crud and/or rust, keep spotless, and sustain the life of a $2500-$3000 and higher, piece of high tech equipment; your automatic transmission! It's also the least expensive product.

So if you have two parts corroded together solid and want them apart, the only thing better than ATF, again as test proven, is a 50/50 solution of ATF and acetone. Nothing approaches its efficacy and performance, nothing. Just soak and agitate, period!

I became a believer when given a Sharps rifle relic to fix; you know, a relic relative to firearms is a gun dug out of the dirt after years and years, a corroded chunk of steel, as in a bunch of parts frozen solid. That Sharps is now operational with new springs and wood, and shootable. Factory stampings not completely rusted away are now readable again. It was soaked for two months in a sealed container that was also agitated by being driven around in the back of a pickup. The only thing that would speed it up is an electro vibrator.

__________________
Jim
S&WCA #819

The guys on the Shiloh board like copper pennies for front sight blades, preferably an Indian Head from the period that Sharps was in business.
They say the copper rubs up for a bright blade or tarnishes for a dark sight picture.

Bag of silver quarters at the ready... just waiting for the orders to pour in!