Making a Fixed Rear Sight for a Revolver

Jeff H

NW Ohio
A year or so ago, I got a Charter Arms, stainless, 3" Mag Pug in 357 Mag. Neat little five-shot. almost perfect for my needs and I just like Charter's revolvers anyway. I like the the gun, but the "adjustable" rear sight is an abomination. I'm not blind to Charter's deficiencies, and their "adjustable" rear sight is just, well, sorry. Not only that, it's like having a pocketful of fish hooks, and I had even dehorned the danged thing.

The top of the blade needed to be filed so low to get it to hit to point of aim, so installing a Smith M60 adjustable rear sight was out, unless I cut off the front sight and found a way to add a taller one, which would have been way too tall.

This gun should have been made with FIXED sights, period.

I got tired enough of that rear sight that when I remembered I had a piece of 1/2" x 1/2" cold roll lying on my casting bench to corral bullets falling from moulds, I decided to borrow a couple inches off that bar and make a fixed rear sight. It's not done yet. I need to shoot it and make the final height adjustment and tweak the width of the notch - maybe. I made the blade taller and the notch narrower than the original so I had that latitude later. After I get that dialed in, I'll put a little more effort into the finish and get the right screws (3-56, by the way) and find a way to make it black.

I'll say this - it IS snag-free now!

I don't have a machine shop, so this isn't perfect. The only power tool I used was the drill press for the holes.Charter Fixed Sight 01 (Copy).jpgCharter Fixed Sight 02 (Copy).jpgCharter Fixed Sight 03 (Copy).jpgCharter Fixed Sight 04 (Copy).jpgCharter Fixed Sight 05 (Copy).jpgCharter Fixed Sight 06 (Copy).jpgCharter Fixed Sight 07 (Copy).jpg
 
Last edited:

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Thanks, Rick. It IS a lot of work, but the curse of stubbornness won't let me stop once I start.

There's quite a pile of steel filings at the foot of my bench.
 

waco

Springfield, Oregon
Excellent work Jeff! You have way more skill and patience than me for sure. Awesome job.
 

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
I fully agree with the others. I know the effort and patience that went into making that sight. I'm sure you will enjoy it even more knowing that you made it.

As for making it black/blue, heat it with a propane torch until it turns blue and quench it. If you are careful and time it just right, you can make it fire blue if that is your preference.

Well done!!
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I have the same file card! Good job man, Charters are a solid tool for the working man.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Wow! Appreciate the compliments from folks I regard so highly. Now, I feel obliged to finish this thing up right.:oops: Getting to this point is one thing, keeping edges crisp and maintaining symmetry when cleaning up takes some extra effort.

@Bret4207 , I've had that thing for about fifty years. It's got about a third of the bristles left and I can't find a replacement. My dad bought me tools for Christmas when I was a kid, set of wrenches one year, 1/2" drive set the next, wood chisels once. He got me that file card as part of an assortment of odd tools one year.

Yes, Charters are solid and worth the effort. I love those things and now wish I'd kept every Bridgeport and Stratford Charter I ever had my hands on.

@Snakeoil , I think you're onto something with the finish - its cheap and I know how to do it. When I bedded my 222 527 a couple years ago, I "made" new action screws with hex heads and treated them that way. Easy enough on something that small, but I may try it on this too.

Yes, @waco , patience is key. I've got about four hours into this, off and on over the course of a couple days. It's so easy to get bored filing or stoning and you have to stop and walk away before getting over-anxious. Obviously, you've been there.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Well, I can't complain about this. POA was bottom/center of the tape square and it was apparent that I needed to remove a tiny bit off the left wall of the sight notch just eyeballing it, but I wanted to shoot a test group before taking any more metal off. If I were to weld the notch shut, I may as well start over because I'm not much of a welder.

This was only ten yards, but it's what I've got between my shop window and the end of a pine log I can tack my target to, and I didn't want to shoot too much farther and have the windage put me off the paper. I can file a little and set up at twenty or twenty five yards later.

This was the Arsenal 359158RF "Ranch Dog Clone," like Michael's 190 and 175, but 158 and plain-base. Six grains of Unique, 45/45/10 x2 and sized to .358"

This thing shot WAY high when I got it and Charter replace the barrel (to get the right front sight height) and they filed down the top of the rear sight blade. I had to file it even more when I got it back, and had the "adjustable" rear sight bottomed out just to get 158s and 180s to hit to POA.

THIS is a much more satisfactory setup, much more durable and snag-free.

The front sight is still a bit of a problem, having been polished to the point of having rounded edges.Charter Fixed Sight 08 (Copy).jpg
 
Last edited:

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
That is awesome!

And I really like that total package: Stainless Steel DA revolver, 3" barrel, ramp front sight with a black serrated face. No hammer spur. Rubber grips, - That's an excellent working gun!

And you now have a snag resistant rear sight that can't get "out of adjustment".

Once you get it dialed in, cold blue the rear sight (maybe stipple the rear face first to reduce possible glare?) and put it back on with some blue loctite on the sight screws.

GOOD WORK !
 
Last edited:

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Wow, you guys make me feel pretty good about my hillbilly improvisations. Understand that there is no special skill involved here - just pure, raw stubbornness to have what I want to have - the way I want to have it. My gun smith couldn't afford to support a few of his "habits" on his earnings, so I'm stuck on my own. His "habits" of eating and paying the light bill pretty much did him in as a gun smith.

@Petrol & Powder , you got it on the "package." This is an ideal for me as an as-close-to-perfect "working gun" as I can establish. Granted, if I lived somewhere else, it may be a different package, but this covers a LOT of bases and goes hand in hand with the 357 carbine for a down-n-dirty, nitty-gritty basic battery for a fella facing resource limits - which we are ALL experiencing right now, regardless of our personal situation otherwise. These are cheap to feed.

I'm still looking for that perfect stainless, 3", 5-shot 357, but this is getting very close. The SP101 does come very close and I do like them, but I'd end up doing a bunch of "work" to any revolver meeting those first basic criteria, not just on a Charter. I'm not sure when I'm going to officially 'fess-up on the fact that I ordered one of those stainless, 3" Taurus 605s. We'll see. I'm entering this one eyes wide open.

You have me thinking on the rear face of the sight now. I HAD actually considered stippling on the surface, since I don't have a checkering file. If I'd have spent the fifty bucks thirty or forty years ago, it would have paid for itself a dozen times over by now, but NOW, I don't intend to have to do that much more of that type of work. The material on this sight is mild steel and is pretty soft. I've never stippled anything before, but I'm stubborn enough that I think I could do it six or seven times t get it as even as I want, and then post a single pic, making it seem "easy." NOTHING has ever come easy for me and I'm not inherently "good at" anything, but I think I could pull off stippling, even though it will cost me some sore fingers and TIME.

Yes - Blue Loctite, but t hat comes once everything is done. That stuff is a staple among my "gun stuff."

Thanks again. You made my day with the recognition of the "total package" or "excellent working gun."
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I put DA revolvers into different categories:

Snubnose revolvers are DA revolvers with barrels 2.5” or less, no hammer spur, fixed sights, chambered in 38 Special or larger. Boot grips or slim grip panels plus a grip adaptor. These are pure self-defense guns made to be carried concealed, often in pockets.

3” barreled DA revolvers get a class all by themselves. Typically, fixed sights but can have adjustable sights. The grips can be a bit larger. Chambered in whatever cartridge I want. These are not pocket guns but can be carried concealed in a holster if needed.
I wrote about the 3" guns here:

4” DA revolvers are basically the old duty revolver and the “all-around “revolver.

And everything with a longer barrel such as 6” K-38 revolvers, etc. These are strictly target guns or hunting guns if you’re into that. I consider the 6” tubes to be too long for practical carry.


I have long held the 3” DA revolvers in high esteem. They fill a lot of roles, and they fill them well.
 
Last edited:

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
DSCN0006.JPG

Upper Left- SP101 chambered in 38 Special with 3" barrel.
Upper right- Speed-Six with 2.75" barrel
Lower left - S&W Model 65, 3" RB with S&W Combat grips
Lower right - Ruger GPNY with 3" barrel
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
My perspective with regard to those classifications agree with yours entirely.

The three-inch revolver is my favorite. Although a compromise in the "deep concealment" aspect, as well as in being a bit "short" of a true service-revolver or "field gun," neither compromise is extreme. This started for me in the early eighties, with my first Charter Bulldog, a 3" stainless, with the bobbed DA/SA hammer. After that, 3" has become my favorite DA barrel length.

I carried a 4" Security Six concealed for a few years and that got old. Always (maybe irrationally) saw the 2 3/4" Service and Speed Sixes as too short. I know - that's being picky and probably makes little difference.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
View attachment 28188

Upper Left- SP101 chambered in 38 Special with 3" barrel.
Upper right- Speed-Six with 2.75" barrel
Lower left - S&W Model 65, 3" RB with S&W Combat grips
Lower right - Ruger GPNY with 3" barrel

Don't DO that to me!

I'm trying to narrow this down and now I want more of 'em!

I had that grip in, in the upper/left on a SP101. Sorta odd-looking, but it was a great grip. It as unusual in that it had a reduced girth, which afforded me a better reach to the trigger. I prefer to "choke-up" on the grips and get the web of my hand more inline with the bore, but that grip was still comfortable, even though it forced me to not crawl up on the hammer.

Those are all lovely, lovely guns. If I were stranded on a desert isle (or anywhere) with only one gun, and I could CHOOSE which gun, it would be a stainless, 3", 5-shot 357.

If I were stranded on a desert isle with one gun (of my choice), OR a beautiful movie star (of my choice),... it would still be a stainless, 3", 5-shot 357. I'm pretty sure of it anyway.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I made some mistakes along the way as I started paring down to my ideal small battery. Letting this one go was one of those mistakes. I had done a lot of work to this '90s-vintage SP101, which I bought for $300, used. The obligatory (and thorough) deburring, trigger-tuning, spring kit, throat-reaming, grip-testing, forcing-cone clean-up, addition of a S&W M60 adjustable rear sight,... I had not yet addressed the thread choke, but did fab a taller front sight before moving it. I really do regret this one. I had planned to cut out the front part of the "full underlug" as well, but that was an aesthetics thing and I knew how much work filing on Ruger parts is, so I was procrastinating.
 

Attachments

  • SP101-02 (Copy).jpg
    SP101-02 (Copy).jpg
    137.2 KB · Views: 7

Missionary

Well-Known Member
When we pause long enough to remember, it is still the hand held tools that produce the custom handsome firearms.
That rear sight looks real good to my eyes !
 
Last edited: