Model 14/15 Front Sight question

[jareds06]

I want to take a pretty beat up Model 14 and cut it into what I would consider the ideal size carry piece: a 5 inch K38 Masterpiece. My question is how is the front sight base attached? I know there's the sight blade that is commonly replaced but I need to move the whole front sight assembly off. I notice on some older K38s you can see a pin, or pins in the case of the Combat Masterpiece, going through the rib of the barrel and presumably through the sight base. Is it a simple task of removing these pins, removing the sight base, cutting back the barrel, cutting a new slot for the sight base, and then drilling new holes for the pin/pins?

Are the standard Patridge and Baughman Ramp sight both attached this way? I would ideally like to take a Baughman ramp sight off a Model 15 parts kit and install it on the now shorter 5 inch barrel.

Thank you

 

[steelslaver]

You are correct, a pin goes through a tongue that sits in a slot in the rib. A problem with cutting back a barrel 1" is that the slot in the rib that tongue sits in will be exposed in the face of the rib. You are stuck with cutting barrel just in front of slot or behind it or filling the slot. You can make a piece of steel that fits the slot tightly and silver solder it in place. Done right it should be no more noticeable than the pin was when polished.

I will never ever try to cross drill another wide rib to install a new pin for a ramp. I set up a ramp in a new slot in a cut 44 mag barrel. It had a wider type rib that took 2 pins. The first one went through perfectly, the second wondered a bit and broke though the corner of the rib on far side. I was using a pressure chuck in a milling machine. Plus, even if you are successful drilling the hole(s) trimming and polishing the pins is a real pain. Simpler to silver solder the tongue in its new slot. You will need to form and pour a new insert if blade has one, but that is easy compared to the pin problems. The thinner ribs on some guns would be less of a problem to drill. But if you want the flush polished pins it almost certainly will mean a blue job by the time you file the and polish the pins flush on rib. . You could make domed pins that look OK

Turning the muzzle correctly is also kind of a pain in the rear.
The inside portion is easy. Matching it from the outside without hitting the face of the rib is kind of stressful. I press different grades of emery cloth on the muzzle with my thumb to finish

I have 2 large disk of aluminum. One drilled and tapped for K frame threads and the other N frame. It works for short barrel muzzles. Longer ones i use a 4 jaw chuck and with brass between jaws and barrel. Pain in the rear to center

 

[jareds06]

Awesome, thank you for this info! Do you happen to have a picture of a front sight base removed from the barrel?

 

[sndbggr1484]

Here are a few pictures of a Pre 14 and a model 14 - 6'' barrels. Looks like cutting to 5'' won't be a problem with the original front sight slot in the barrel getting in the way if your sight is pinned.

 

[sndbggr1484]

Here is a retired LAPD model 14-3 that started life as a 6'' then cut down to 4''. You can see the sight pin if you look closely.

 

[jareds06]

Awesome! Thanks a lot, this makes me totally confident in this project. Now I just need to find a suitable Model 14/K38