A friend and general S&W aficionado found some 3rd Gens at a small LGS's shop earlier in the year and he passed on them or some of them, but gave me a heads up on the 1066. He told me about it, said it looked good except someone put a Bo-Mar adjustable sight on it, just promise to take that thing off if you get it. Not that there is anything wrong with a Bo-Mar, but it doesn't belong on a short barrel arm. I couldn't get down there fast enough, in CA and even the free states, at that price would be sold very quickly. It was in good shape and I bought it, 2 mags, no box but I was happy and even happier since it was a TDA in the 1066, how cool is that! After getting it home, the plan was to strip her down and get the factory sights on this gal and have it all fixed up for the next range trip. What I found next was a bit of disappointment.

7/28/15 Updates on post #13
10/6/15 Updates on post #18



Here's a couple pictures sporting the Bo-Mar look.




Starting on the sights and what the heck is this . I didn't even notice it at the shop. I have to say, I still would have bought it, but use it as a negotiation point.


Oh Boy, this is just wrong.




Somebody put a dremel on it to knock the rear lip off the slide to make room for the overhanging Bo-Mar sight and did a piss poor job. Probably took them less than a minute to grind that down like that.



What am I going to do now with this thing? So off the photos go to my amigo Bill (BMCM) and a phone call later. Honestly, what can I say about Bill and what would I do without him. Genuinely a great person, and community asset we have here on the forum that I have learned a great deal. He was as disappointed as me and immediately started kicking ideas around to get her fixed up again. After several days of back and forth and playing with ideas that would work, potentially work, not work, maybe, nah I don't think so John and what the hell have been smoking with that one, we decided to restore to factory condition the best as can be done in this case. And while it's enjoying some southern hospitality and warm weather, have a little fun with a couple other mods at Bill's discretion.



So, he starting with some fun on the mill! Slowly removing material to level the slide flat and clean up the dremel or grinder damage.




Some 410 stock and silver braze will be used to restore the rear lip aft of the factory Novak sight. Once stock is installed, then the filing and shaping begins, and we all have seen how excited Bill gets to do a little filing. Take it easy at this step Bill


While the mill is still warmed up, how about a decoker installation.



Looking Good


Even Better



She's starting to shape up nicely. Stay tuned.

__________________
USS ZELLARS
DD-777

Looks like a great save!
Bravo!

John

So I gotta ask - what is that 5 digit number under the sight?

BILL RULES!!!

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Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire

Neat project and will probably be fantastic when finishedS and while I agree than an OEM Novak was easily the best option of all (at the start of the pistol's life), that Bo-Mar (hack install not withstanding) is simply LIGHT YEARS better than the train-wreck awful S&W OEM adjustable sight.

Those are horrendous. The guy who approved those factory adjustable sights -and- his boss should have been drop-kicked out of the back door of the plant.

I saw a 10XX series slide up on ebay a few weeks ago- might still be there.

EDIT to add: I can't see the pictures- the .mil server is stripping them off.

Congrats on your newest!

Congrats to BMCM as well.

I don't want to hijack 03Fatboy's thread or distract from BMCM's "mastery of the mill" (and quite a few other skills), but I am compelled to rise to the defense of the oft maligned S&W OEM adjustable rear sight aka, "big ears".
Sevens, my delicate sensibilities were also offended when I first laid eyes on an adj. sight 659 back in the early '80s. It seemed out of place on that otherwise sleek looking pistol.
I have come to learn the aforementioned "horrendous" adj. sight was developed for the suppressed "hush puppy" pistols in Vietnam (with even taller and more grotesque ears) because the earlier adjustable wasn't high enough to see over the suppressor.
So it is combat proven.
And it is rugged!! Those ears can take a beating. I've seen quite a few pistols that were dropped on their sights, and none fare so well as the S&W adjustable.
And it is adjustable!! If your pistol doesn't shoot where you want, a few clicks and POA and POI become inseparable.
I will admit that they are complicated with a bunch of small parts but so are the pistols to which they are attached.
Last but definitely not least, the S&W OEM adjustable rear sight was designed and patented by long time and prolific Smith & Wesson designer, Dwayne W. Charron. Please look him up. He had a very long and storied career.
I have come to love the sight on anything S&W with a four inch or longer barrel.
It may not be pretty, but it's the best darn adjustable sight for a serious combat pistol that I have ever seen.

BTW, 03Fatboy, did you consider lengthening the dovetail to accommodate the OEM Adjustable as a possible alternative thereby eliminating the necessity of the silver soldered "dutchman"?
Now back to the swarf!!

John

Link to a pdf of the original S&W adj. rear sight patent:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/attachm...5&d=1414117361

Thanks JohnHL and your post was welcome and warranted mentioning. And thanks for the link to the pdf, great information. I also have no issues what so ever with the Factory adjustable sights. They have functioned for me without issue!

No issues with that chunky Bo-Mar and we even thought about ways to lower it within the slide and re-use it with a lower profile look. Also considered some other rear sights. Definitely tried to look at it as an opportunity to do something different. Yes, strongly thought about putting a factory adjustable sight on there too. In fact I have a complete one ready to go. Although it is a take off and not sure I could source a replacement, but an option nonetheless. The pro, you get an adjustable rear sight, one of a kind 1066. The con, assuming you could find the right front sight to regulate. Would require more milling, drilling etc. Once you do that there is no turning back although kind of a moot point considering the condition. In the end, restoring the lip and returning to the Factory Novaks seemed like the way to go.

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USS ZELLARS
DD-777

A 1066 is one of my Grail guns.

first thing..03Fatboy I can't wait to see how your slide turns out in the capable hands of BMCM....second I want to give a +1 on what JohnHL said...I too went through the same evolution regarding the factory adj. sights...hated them ...UNTIL...I got my 4506-1 with said sites.....after adjusting to my point of aim I wouldn't trade them out for anything.....that said....back to 03Fatboys 1066

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witty signature goes here

Thanks nocents, I have been around 3rd Gens my whole life. Funny you mention the 4506-1. That gun was my introduction with adjustable sights. My dad took it everywhere that I remember as a kid, didn't leave home without it. He always says that gun was made for me when we make a range visit together.

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USS ZELLARS
DD-777

It's been awhile and time for an update. Here are some additional pictures showing off some of Bill's progress and workmanship.

Getting there.

Heating and cooling down process. The copper tube is carrying argon gas to the underside to prevent it from turning into a big'ole blob of something really yucky.


Material build up.


Cleaning up the flat and rear lip












Looks like another pass is needed here to fill the void areas and she will be well on her way to a clean bill of health.

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USS ZELLARS
DD-777

Very nice! And thanks for the update.

Wow that is impressive. And the whole adj sight versus fixed for me is how it looks I have more than a few 2nd and 3rd gens and only 2 of those carry adj sights and both are nib unfired 659 and a 4006. Maybe I will bust out the 4006 and see how good the adj sights are.

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The Lord cometh and right soon

All I can say about Bill is WOW!

I love the LPA on my 1066

With the factory Novak night sights mine shot about 4 inches low at 15 yards so something had to give. The LPA worked like a charm she shoots POA now and it to me looks right.
My Shorty .40 came new with almost the same LPA BTW.

It's been awhile, so here is an update and final pictures. Darn happy to have it home. The work is complete, can't even tell it ever had an issue. A Big Thanks to BMCM, he did outstanding work!!!



Rear lip restored and looking proud.


Milled for decock only


BMCM guide rod and bushing for ISMI flat wire setup

__________________
USS ZELLARS
DD-777

Perseverance and Ye Shall succeed!
Absolutely, HANDS DOWN, GREAT JOB!

Bill is the MAN! He has worked over several for me, the latest was my 1006 for a barrel crown and ISMI spring and guide rod setup. His work has no equal

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It is the Indian not the arrow

............out-freakn-standing

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witty signature goes here

Awesome! Fantastic work! Congrats!

Super repair job!

Once again I say, "Nice save, guys!"
And I am particularly gratified that you elected to build up the "relieved" area with weldment instead of silver soldering a patch. That would have been a small slab to fab and install (before dressing it down to match) and I also wonder how invisible the parting line would have been even after bead blasting.
Temperature control being much more critical during welding (and I can see from the pics that issue was addressed), this results in a monolithic repair which is as good as new (albeit a little more involved).
Congrats on the superior slide restoration.

John

It's always easier to take it off than to put it back on. (Except for waistline inches.)

It became quite apparent early on in the project that the solder plan was not going to yield decent results. I have silver solder & flux formulated just for stainless steels so I gave it a try. I wanted a repair that would be invisible or nearly so but in the end I didn't like the result. So, on to plan B.

I entertained soldering idea originally because the only TIG torch I had at the time was just not adequate to weld this. I had a CK micro which would not provide nearly enough shield gas coverage for a job such as this. Additionally I needed a means to back-purge the recesses below the sight area to protect the steel from sugaring.

So, I invested in some new tools to get this done. A new CK130F torch, a gas lens kit for that torch, also a Victor dual flow meter for my argon bottle so I can back-purge.

The molten metal generated during welding is highly reactive with the oxygen in the air. Stainless steels are especially reactive and without adequate shielding with instantly turn into a nasty ball of slag.

I built up the weldment with some 0.035" ER309 filler rod a little bit at a time. Stick some weld on there, let it cool, weld a little more, cool and so on in order to limit how much heat went into the part.

Hindsight being what it is I should'a gone with TIG to start with.
I likely would have saved myself some grief and gotten the patient home a lot sooner. Anyway, overall it didn't come out half bad despite taking too long. And there was that break while i was tending to my fall planting

Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

Bill, don't sell yourself short.
You did a excellent job of bringing the slide back to its former glory.

If I need a master's hand I'll know where to go.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

BMCM, you are, indeed, an artist.

Richard

Wow. If I decide to get my 5906 and 6906 slides milled for Novak sights, I know where I'm sending them.
The guide rod/recoil spring mod and recrown looks good, too.

All hail BMCM, master of metal.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

Fantastic work here. It's heartening to see this level of dedication to craftsmanship. Too few people care enough to bother doing it right and seeing this restores some measure of hope for the continuing tradition of pride in workmanship. Tip of the hat, sir.