Installing a New Front Sight on a Pietta 1851 Navy

Several years ago I bought a Pietta 1851 Navy Sheriff's Model .44 caliber percussion revolver. It's strictly a fantasy gun in that Colt never made an 1851 Navy with this short a barrel, nor did they make them in .44. All real Colt Navy revolvers are .36s, with the exception of a very few experimental .40 caliber guns. Regardless, it's a fun little gun but severely handicapped by the factory front sight, which is a miniscule brass cone that's both hard to see and too short, resulting in the gun shooting very high at pistol ranges.

So today, I fixed that by cutting a dovetail in the barrel and installing a taller blade front sight that I'll be able to actually see and also can file to zero the piece.

Here's what the factory front sight looked like, along with the rifle front sight I modified to use:

I have a Grizzly G8689 mini mill. I first used it with a 1/8" end mill to cut the old sight flush with the barrel. Then I cut a slot a bit less than the width of the top of the front sight base. I cut the slot 0.07" deep to match the thickness of the front sight. (The mill has digital readouts fitted to allow me to make precise cuts.)

Then I used a 3/8" dovetail end mill to turn it into a dovetail. You can see the factory hole for the original front sight in the dovetail.

Using a couple files and trial and error, I fit the new sight to the barrel.

I left it extra tall so that I can use a file to raise the point of impact to the point of aim. I'll probably zero it with a load of a .454 ball on top of 30 grains of 3Fg black powder. After it's zeroed I will shape the front of the blade and cold blue it.

Aside from the front sight I plan to slightly enlarge the rear sight notch in the hammer nose, and replace the factory nipples with Tresos that have small flash holes for less blow back and cap fragmenting. An accessory I plan to make is an extension to slip over the loading rod for better leverage. That's not needed on the full length guns but this will benefit from that. Those without machine tools can purchase one from Slix Shot.

Update on Percussion Cap Availability

Here's a video update on the availability of percussion caps, from the NRA convention.

Key points:

• Per Ethan, CCI produces caps in seasonal runs. Next run is in June, reaching shelves in July/August.
• No real updates on Remington or RWS caps.

My $0.02 is that I recommended stocking up after they become available this summer.

ATF Day

Last week my membership to Boulder Valley Sportsman's Association was approved. Today I went there and shot the woods walk course. While the camaderie of the matches held there is great, sometimes it's nice to have the range to yourself, as I did today.

This is the first station, with a turkey head and a metal strap to shoot at. Today I took two shots and the turkey and manage to miss both. At the last match I shot at the strap and hit it, which earned me a Mulligan.

The rock in the foreground is where you shot from.

Here are a few other stations, zoomed in so you can see the targets.

The round target with the cross cutout in the center is the one I missed at the last match. I banged it good today.

I forgot to take a picture of the last station, which has the longest target. It's a rectangular steel gong set out at 82 yards.

And a couple pics of the Slotter rifle* in its natural environment, my shooting pouch, and powder horn.

One thing I noticed today is that I definitely spill more powder with the horn than when I use my Peace flask with a Treso free flow spout. This is a mid-19th Century type rifle so a flask is suitable, anyway.

Today I tried out some .480 balls in .020 patches lubed with Mr. Flintlock. I've had the balls for a while so they're a bit crusty but they shot fine.

Accuracy with the .480 balls was good enough so that out of the 25 shots I fired, 22 were hits. Loading was really easy. The muzzle of my rifle is coned and I'm able to seat them below flush with just my thumb. I did not need to use my short starter all day.

After I got home and finished cleaning the rifle I relaxed out back with some Wild Turkey 101 and a Baccarat cigar.

Sure beats working!

* I bought the rifle from Track of the Wolf, who advertised it as a "California" rifle. It's actually a pretty good replica of rifles made for the California trade by Slotter of Philadelphia, PA.

Ball Starter Holders on Shooting Pouch Straps

When loading and shooting a muzzleloader from a shooting pouch, the less stuff in the pouch the better. The more stuff that's in the bag, the more you have to rummage through when reloading. Many shooters who use a ball or short starter store it on the bag strap when not in use.

The shooting pouch I have from The Leatherman came with such a holder sewn to the jute strap. However, as a lefty, it's on the wrong side of the strap because I have the bag slung across my right shoulder, hanging on my left hip. The October Country bag I've been using with my halfstock percussion rifle didn't have anything on the strap. I fixed up both bags today.

This is the short starter holder that came on the Leatherman bag:

And here are the holders I added to both bags today:

They are simply pieces of 1-1/4" wide leather strap folder over and held in place with Chicago screws. Rivets would work just as well. On the Leatherman bag, I used one of the existing holes in the strap while I punched a hole in the October Country bag strab. A drop of blue thread locker on each Chicago screw ensures that they will stay together.

The leather I used is fairly thick and rigid, so the holders stay open when the starter is removed, and they don't flop around when inserted. I made them snug enough so that I don't need to worry about losing the starter but it's still easy to remove.

Alpineaire Black Bart Chili Review

Back in the fall I bought two packages of Alpineaire Black Bart Chili from Amazon Prime. Today I decided to try one for lunch.

To prepared it, pour two cups of boiling water into the bag, mix, and then let sit for 10 - 12 minutes. Then mix it again before eating.

I let it sit for at least 12 minutes, mixed it up, and it looked like this:

It came out a bit soupier than I'd like. The texture was typical for reconstituted freeze dried meals. It was fairly spicy.

Because it was so soupy, after I ate half I tried adding some parched corn flour to it to thicken it a bit. Not recommended. I didn't care for the resulting texture.

Overall, I'd recommend it and will probably buy some more for my camping/emergency prep food stash.

Made a new short starter today

I have been wanting to try a short starter that has a flat head, which should carry better in my shooting pouch than those with a ball head. So, today I made one today from oak, a hardwood dowel, brass tubing, and brass rod. I used Fiebing’s medium brown leather dye for stain and finished it with Watco Danish oil. Tomorrow I’ll rub in some Sno-Seal.

All joints are glued and pinned, so it's not coming apart anytime soon.

Shot Another Woods Walk Yesterday

Due to popular demand, another woods walk was added yesterday to the season at Boulder Valley Sportsmen's Association. Since I've been enjoying them so much I made sure to attend. I shot my California rifle again. It's turning into my favorite muzzleloader.

This time the organizer mixed it up a little. At previous shoots, the first target was a gong shaped like a turkey head, out at about 15 - 20 yards. It's pretty challenging and I missed it last month. Yesterday he added an option to shoot at a steel strap about 1.5" wide by about a foot long, at the same distance. If you chose to shoot at the strap and hit it, your first miss on the rest of the course was scored as a hit. I.e., it got you a Mulligan. I decided to shoot at the strap and I hit it.

Yesterday I was in the groove and wound up missing only one target -- a large disc with most of the center cut out in a cross shape. I'm pretty sure I shot through the middle of it. Since I hit the strap I used this as my Mulligan, and wound up with a score of 20 to take first place.

The annual membership fee at BVSA is reasonable and it's only about a half hour away so I've submitted a membership application. It needs to be approved by the board of directors and then I'll need to attend a meeting, get a range tours, and then I should get my membership card. I'm looking forward to having another place to shoot.

Enhancing my ramrod and short starter

The Delrin ramrod I put together for my California half stock rifle only had one threaded end on it. If I'm ever out in the field with the rifle and need to pull a ball that would be a problem, so today I added a tapered steel ferrule to the other end. It's threaded 8-32 to accept accessories, including this T-handle I have.

The T-handle also provides a better grip if I'm cleaning, the patch is too tight, and it gets stuck down at the breech.

While I was at it I also drilled a 5/16" hole about 1/2" deep in my short starter, so I can use it as a palm saver if it gets difficult to fully seat a ball due to fouling.

When adding a ferrule to the end of a ramrod it's very important to not only have a tight fit, but to glue and pin it in place. Otherwise, the odds are good that at some point it will come off, especially if you have a stubborn patch or are trying to pull a ball. I cross drill a hole through both the tip and rod after glueing the ferrule on, chamfer the ends of the hole, put a little glue in the hole, and drive the pin through. Then I cut it a little long and peen over both ends, and finally, file or sand it smooth.