Advice On Front Sight Modification Pre-Model 10

[jmiles1960]

Hey Guys, I bought this pre-model 10 at an estate sale for next to nothing, knowing the front sight had been modified. Please take a look at the pictures.

Looks to me like a copper "insert" or post was brazed to the original half moon front sight. IMO, not the best looking or thought out job / modification.

I would like advice if this can be reversed / fixed back to original appearance? I was tempted to take my file and round it off, and apply cold blue.

If it makes better sense to leave it alone, then so be it. The barrel, frame, cylinder and grips all match (serial #), so I am not inclined to swap the barrel, even if I could find one with the correct finish match.

The gun is certainly not collector grade, but if I can fix the front sight back to stock specs, I would like to do it.

Appreciate any advice on possible options. Thanks!

 

[alwslate]

It will never be stock again. I guess you could remove the brass and have a piece of steel soldered in it's place and it might look better to you but it will forever be modified. Don't think you can cold blue brass. Round it off and paint it with black nail polish.

 

[biblethumpincop]

Polish the brass and see what the sight picture looks like.

 

[80sgyrene]

You could have the base slotted and a new half moon pinned in place.

 

[drgbike]

round it very carefully. Take only the copper away and as little as needed to round the sight, then paint with satin black. Its already screwed up so whats the harm. these are point shoot guns so a little off is no big deal.

 

[msp2640]

My guess is it's silver soldered on, so heat may remove it without the need to file it. I bought a model 35, 22 LR, several yrs ago, which had red paint or finger nail polish on the rear flat of the front sight. Once I removed it, I found that it had a small piece of copper, which was/is probably soldered on, as well. I was going to remove it, but then decided not to, as it was part of its history, so it still remains there. It's in very good condition overall, but no box, papers, etc and lost its original grips along the way, but very happy to have it as is! Bill in MA

 

[Protocall_Design]

You could carefully file it off down to the bare steel, then cold blue it. The patridge style gives a better sight picture, so you may want to leave it as is for that reason. Either way works.

 

[jmiles1960]

Thanks for the advice! The copper insert cleaned up better than expected. The modification just looks wrong for the gun, but it is what it is. I will leave it for now. Appreciate the comments.

 

[Modified]

Thanks for the advice! The copper insert cleaned up better than expected. The modification just looks wrong for the gun, but it is what it is. I will leave it for now. Appreciate the comments.

How does it look cleaned up?

"Wrong" is sometimes "Right". Have a look at this thread if you would like to see some information on someone who had S&W do a job like this to their gun:

Half Target M&P, Update: Another Police Gun!

I wouldn't say your job looks like the service department did it, but it is an upgrade from the perspective of the owner who did it. If you polish it up and cold blue it, I bet it would actually look pretty good. The most offensive part about it seems to be the filing marks.

As others have said it will never be right again, but I do think you could make it look pretty good.

If you would like to see a similar job that was done to a front sight *by* S&W, have a look at this gun (which the service department modified in '49):

Updated: Model 3 DA, Factory Modified in '49, The SWHF is awesome!

 

[2152hq]

With the notch in the rear of the orig blade for the sight bead and another on the front surface now filled with solder,,plus the slot thru the center of the blade for the new piece...
I would remove the entire top portion of the blade down as far to leave the sight blade clean of those alterations.
The removal can be done easily with hand file(s) or in a mill if available.

No need to cut any more than necessary, but the cut must be flat and square.

Then soft solder a piece of steel onto the shortened sight blade to again gain the height back to normal.
With a perfect square flat joint betw the two pieces and a good sweat solder job a near invisible joint line is possible.
Use Lead/Tin soft solder not the newer Silver/Tin "Silver Solder' which is also a Soft Solder.
The latter will forever remain Bright and any solder line will show like a Platinum inlay.
The Lead/Tin soft solder will darken , oxidize with exposure to the air plus the rust bluing process (below) will darken it as well.
There is 'Solder Black' available as well if the joint line is too noticable for you,

Shape the add-on piece to match the old sight blade.
Polish it and the old sight blade together to get a perfect joint and polish match.
Then Rust Blue the sight (only) w/an Express Rust Blue.
That can be done right on your kitchen stove with a pan of water.
No need to place anything other than the muzzle of the bbl into the boiling water. No need to disassemble the revolver in anyway.
But the metal must be clean of any oil or grease.

That's what I would do on first look at the project.
Either that or file the sight blade right off, Mill a notch and pin in a new blade. File to orig shape. Polish and reblue as above for a
Half Target style M&P
You could make the blade a Patridge style w/ bead doing it this way. That option was offered by the factory at one time I believe.

Nice looking Revolver!

 

[Drm50]

I recently got an old 1905HE that had front sight modified. The front sight was a square piece of steel, terrible. I made sight of brass and it looked worse. Stood out like sore thumb. So I filed one out of steel. The correct width for back sight notch. I would shoot gun the way it is. It might be tuned if someone went to that much trouble to mod the sight. I couldn't find anything to black the brass permanently.

 

[murphydog]

Does it shoot well for you? If so, and you can live with the front sight appearance, I'd leave it alone. Function over form and all that.

 

[shawn mccarver]

Someone attempted to convert the front sight to a Sheard target front sight?

 

[DGNY]

Thanks for sharing this good looking revolver and its "unusual
front sight. Were it mine, I would locate/reload some appropriate ammo and see how it shoots at the distance you prefer to shoot it.

Then I would consider having your gunsmith, or yourself if able, create, insert/engraft a new front sight to your liking of proper height, complete the project - and enjoy it in good health for many years to come