The official 442/642 "pro" thread

[RevolverRob]

Like this?

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Yes. Is that the Cylinder & Slide you mentioned before?

I can see there is less meat on that dovetail than the one on Hizzie's gun. Given the option, I'd prefer the version Don Williams does. But I'm not quite as convinced as Marc @ Gemini is that there isn't enough meat to keep the dovetailed front sight in place. I think starting with an oversized blank and fitting it tight should keep it in as well as can be kept.

FWIW, Marc told me he can do whatever we want, he just advises against a dovetail. And he is not a fan of epoxy-on XS sights and actually refuses to do those. I don't blame him there, I'm not particularly enthusiastic about a glued-on front sight myself, though I think it would be fine with wadcutters, a gun that saw a steady diet of +P loads, would almost certainly find the front sight laying on the ground one day.

If I were the 'Smith in question I would probably re-engineer the XS to work better. By drilling a pin hole through the sight blade and through the post of steel that you leave in place which you epoxy the sight to. Epoxy + Pinning would probably keep the sight firmly in place...basically forever.

Maybe I should go take the machining class on campus, buy a table-top lathe, a good drill press, and a stack of XS sights and just make it like it should be...

[Hizzie]

@RevolverRob

I sent you additional pics of the sight on IG.

[Matt C.]

Yes. Is that the Cylinder & Slide you mentioned before?

I can see there is less meat on that dovetail than the one on Hizzie's gun. Given the option, I'd prefer the version Don Williams does. But I'm not quite as convinced as Marc @ Gemini is that there isn't enough meat to keep the dovetailed front sight in place. I think starting with an oversized blank and fitting it tight should keep it in as well as can be kept.

FWIW, Marc told me he can do whatever we want, he just advises against a dovetail. And he is not a fan of epoxy-on XS sights and actually refuses to do those. I don't blame him there, I'm not particularly enthusiastic about a glued-on front sight myself, though I think it would be fine with wadcutters, a gun that saw a steady diet of +P loads, would almost certainly find the front sight laying on the ground one day.

If I were the 'Smith in question I would probably re-engineer the XS to work better. By drilling a pin hole through the sight blade and through the post of steel that you leave in place which you epoxy the sight to. Epoxy + Pinning would probably keep the sight firmly in place...basically forever.

Maybe I should go take the machining class on campus, buy a table-top lathe, a good drill press, and a stack of XS sights and just make it like it should be...

Yes. C&L

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[Sherman A. House DDS]

I see that there are a number of fans of the glue-on XS sights. I’ve got exactly one experience with those, which involved a glued on Big Dot flying off of my bead-sighted 870, in a Paul Gomez shotgun class circa 2011.

My question to the hive mind...why can’t that particular sight be silver soldered into place?


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[RevolverRob]

Update:

I'm still talking with Marc @ Gemini regarding some options. I'm not sure we'll find a good sighting solution right now.

I did reach out to Don Williams as well. Partly, because I think most of us are impressed with the work on Hizzie's gun and because he is the originator of that type of dovetailing approach, as near as I can tell. I'm sort of of the mind, that because he created it, he should get the work if he wants it. If he refuses/cannot do it, I'll confirm with him if it's alright if I request that another 'smith take a similar approach to doing that work. I want to try to respect the genius of Williams rather than simply ask someone to blatantly copy it.

[Spartan1980]

Update:

I'm still talking with Marc @ Gemini regarding some options. I'm not sure we'll find a good sighting solution right now.

I did reach out to Don Williams as well. Partly, because I think most of us are impressed with the work on Hizzie's gun and because he is the originator of that type of dovetailing approach, as near as I can tell. I'm sort of of the mind, that because he created it, he should get the work if he wants it. If he refuses/cannot do it, I'll confirm with him if it's alright if I request that another 'smith take a similar approach to doing that work. I want to try to respect the genius of Williams rather than simply ask someone to blatantly copy it.

A dovetail with a good epoxy like JB Weld will hold forever. Red Locktite 272 or 2700 would be fine too.

[OlongJohnson]

I see that there are a number of fans of the glue-on XS sights. I’ve got exactly one experience with those, which involved a glued on Big Dot flying off of my bead-sighted 870, in a Paul Gomez shotgun class circa 2011.

Proper surface prep, material selection and mixing/application technique should make that a non-issue.

[Poconnor]

How about using the plain big dot? With no tritium - no worry about heat, except melting the dot.

[RevolverRob]

Proper surface prep, material selection and mixing/application technique should make that a non-issue.

Realistically each of those can be difficult to get right. Especially, with the range of epoxies retail-available, which do not have precise specifications attached to them (how much heat can they handle, how many Gs, etc?).

How about using the plain big dot? With no tritium - no worry about heat, except melting the dot.

I guess I don't know where you're going to find the plastic insert to replace the big dot? Because when you heat that front sight up to about 850ºF you're going to melt it. It would be better to use a metal bead front sight.

[OlongJohnson]

Realistically each of those can be difficult to get right. Especially, with the range of epoxies retail-available, which do not have precise specifications attached to them (how much heat can they handle, how many Gs, etc?).

I've always been able to find technical data on epoxies and other kinds of sticky goo from the manufacturer's web site, if it's actually a quality, name-brand product aimed at a professional user, rather than someone selling "miracle glue" to housewives.