Cas City Forum Hall & CAS-L

CAS TOPICS => The Longbranch => Topic started by: Green River Powell aka RonC on July 05, 2014, 03:07:03 PM

Title: Sighting in a pair of Great Western II
Post by: Green River Powell aka RonC on July 05, 2014, 03:07:03 PM
I bought a pair of Dakota II which are Pietta Great Western II with the matte finish from one of the members here. The action was worked and the revolvers handle very nicely. One was shooting just about 3-4" inches low and the other was so low the rounds were off the target paper. For that one, the front sight was so tall that it interfered with the flight paths of planes coming into Denver International Airport. ;) My understanding is that shooting low is typical for these guns.

I went out for testing the low shooting SAA for the third time on Thursday after filing and ultimately using a Dremel on the front sight. It took 3 trips to the range and 3 sessions of sight height reduction because I wanted to be very conservative and not take too much off at a time. Walla-Voila-Viola (my French isn't very good)!! The revolver is right on, now.

After studying from the Internet, with the assumption that if it is on the net, it must be true ::), I covered the barrel and top of the gun with masking tape and went after the sight with a file, laying the file on the table and running the gun over it. The method worked, but was very slow. I measured how much sight came off with a caliper. Off to the range, and there was improvement. I was hitting the bottom of the target paper, but was not in the target area.

Next step: brought out the battery powered Dremel with a grinding tool at the end. I covered the rest of the gun with a sock torn at the heel. The sock hole was in the perfect location to let the sight stick up. I did have to be careful because if the rotating Dremel caught the sock, I would spend the next several minutes unwinding the fibers from the tool. Because the Dremel works much faster, I had to be much more careful.

Second time out on the range _ the SAA is hitting the target.

Did the Dremel dance one more time and off to the range. At 10 yards, 10 bulls eyes. I should note that I used 100 yd rifle sight in targets so the bulls eye was big enough for my 67 year old eyes to see.

Ron

Title: Re: Sighting in a pair of Great Western II
Post by: dwight55 on July 06, 2014, 06:21:04 AM
Thank you, Sir, . . .

I have to do the same thing to a Beretta Stampede, .45LC, . . . hopefully one day this week.

I've never had time to get it done, . . . perhaps this will be the correct impetus.

May God bless,
Dwight
Title: Re: Sighting in a pair of Great Western II
Post by: Green River Powell aka RonC on July 06, 2014, 09:55:39 AM
I am pleased that my post may have helped!

It is very important to cover the barrel while filing or using the Dremel. The recommendations on the net to use masking tape proved to be critical. I put 3 layers of tape on and sure enough, the Dremel slipped and took off 2 layers of tape on the barrel near the muzzle. Phew!
I did have to clean off the tape residual afterwards, but with a little CLP, it came right off.

After the sight work, I used a bluing pen on the top of the sight and it all looks almost original.

Ron
Title: Re: Sighting in a pair of Great Western II
Post by: dwight55 on July 06, 2014, 10:33:46 PM
Well, . . . this was something different.

I got it sighted in, . . . actually did not have to do anything to the sight.  The Beretta makes a little mountain out of the sight picture (hard to describe), . . . but if you hold the little mountain where you want the bullet to end up, . . . it works.

Ya just gotta hold it a "tad" to the right of the desired POI, . . .

Makes me really appreciate my 1911 commander.

May God bless,
Dwight
Title: Re: Sighting in a pair of Great Western II
Post by: Green River Powell aka RonC on July 07, 2014, 08:45:04 AM
That is good news.

My other Great Western II, like your SAA, was right on target.

I read that the offset to the right or left can be handled by a twist of the barrel. Of course you have to have a barrel vise and the proper tools to do it.

Funny that you mention the 1911 Commander. The other handgun I took to the range with the SAA was my 1911 Commander.

Ron