blackhawk sight

I got a 80's blackhawk .357 mag in stainless. The gun has the usual skuffs, but overall very nice. I taking it to my gunsmith for some internal polishing (I do the work, he just guides me). The biggest question I have is the front sight. I know I'm not a target shooter. But the sight is a little loose. Seems to wiggle back and forth and side to side. Is this normal? Or something that needs fixing.

Since it is stainless, it has the black replaceable blade sight and I have had them that had a loose blade with a slight amount of wiggle and never presented a problem.

Thanks. I didn't figure it would hurt anything. And sence I don't see myself shooting it at 100 yards, it should hurt my shooting ability.

"Wiggle" is a subjective term. Depends on your uses and range. I personally think that no amount of wiggleage is ok. I'd say to fix it. Depends on you, though. Many are content with a little bit of wiggling.

Schlock how do you fix the wiggle?

There are a few bubba methods. If it's the pinned blade style, I'd just mix up some epoxy and fill up the groove, then drop the sight in and pin it. The epoxy will take up that extra space and should stabilize the blade. The upside to using epoxy is that it usually won't bond real well to the steel, so you can remove it if need be - ymmv on this (getting dried epoxy out of that groove could be pretty challenging). The downside is that it might not stand up to shooting, so it may be a waste of time.

Your smith should be able to sweat the blade in, or I suppose you could just make a new blade that fits the slot better, or replace the front sight entirely. But, if the wiggle doesn't bother you, don't do anything.

I'm sure we've got somebody way smarter than me around here that will have better ideas than I've suggested. How involved do you want to get with your little project?

And, to be honest, epoxy repairs are usually a bad idea, and are frowned upon by many. Myself included. But sometimes Bubba takes over.

Drive out the pin, remove front blade and tap the hidden base of it with a center punch a couple of time places on both sides to "upset" the metal surface and tap it back in place with a piece of wood, or plastic mallet, replace pin. It'll be nice and snug.

What Hondo44 said is the way to go. +++ 1

Most folks will NEVER, ever, have need to remove or play with,alter their front sights, being so, just squirt a bit of super glue in and around the "loose' blade, wiggle it around a bit to work in the glue and leave it set 'upright' for the time period need to "set" it will never move for you again.....more folks damage the pin, the area around the pin , the sight body and the blade "trying" to make a repair...make it simple and easy.
Yes, neatness counts so wipe off any 'excess glue' while its 'wet' :roll:

Hondo44 said:

Drive out the pin, remove front blade and tap the hidden base of it with a center punch a couple of time places on both sides to "upset" the metal surface and tap it back in place with a piece of wood, or plastic mallet, replace pin. It'll be nice and snug.

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Peening is the best solution, but remember to go easy. The word is "tap", not smash. Give it a few taps, replace the blade. If it's still loose, take it off and give it a few more taps. It will take a bit of time, but it will come off perfect.

Hondo44 said:

Drive out the pin, remove front blade and tap the hidden base of it with a center punch a couple of time places on both sides to "upset" the metal surface and tap it back in place with a piece of wood, or plastic mallet, replace pin. It'll be nice and snug.

Click to expand...

^^This^^

I'd try to fix it one way or another. I had a loose blade on my NIB 5.5" 41 Bisley. It took only 5 shots for it to break off and go flying somewhere.