Why won't Ruger do pinned front sight on blued Blackhawk?

I see that a fellow can now buy a fiber optic front sight blade that will drop in to the stainless pinned front sights on stainless Blackhawks:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hiviz-RBLW01-Ruger-Super-Blackhawk-Front-Sight-Green-Red-White-Black/172673988496

Why doesn't Ruger provide pinned front sights on BLUED Blackhawks???

Ruger is frustrating - they offer great designs, but then add some feature that detracts from their otherwise awesome product!

I have been asking that very same question for several years. I have yet to get a GOOD answer.

The initial offering,, has the traditional welded on blued ramp.
Along came stainless, and due to the way they were mfged, it was "cheaper" to make them interchangable, with an insert. (Think of trying to see a shiny front sight clearly,) So, they have 2 designs.
When I asked why didn't they switch the blued guns to making them the same way as the SS ones,, so far,, the best offered is; "Probably because it costs a few pennies less,, and we most likely have a huge number of them already ordered."

I have been pushing for them to make them all the same for a long time.

It's a pretty simple and straight forward job for you gunsmith to mill off the sight blade and slot the ramp and drill and tap for interchangeable blades. An option also is to cut a dove tail slot in the ramp for sights.

As for me, I've gotten along with the standard front sight blade.

Bob Wright

Bob Wright said:

It's a pretty simple and straight forward job for you gunsmith to mill off the sight blade and slot the ramp and drill and tap for interchangeable blades. An option also is to cut a dove tail slot in the ramp for sights.

As for me, I've gotten along with the standard front sight blade.

Bob Wright

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And costly.....

Yeah Bob Wright, I suppose it would be easy work for a skilled gunsmith with a milling machine. But I agree with xtratoy, it would probably be expensive. Probably be cheaper to remove the blued front sight and solder a stainless one on in its place. Wouldn't look quite right, but at least a fellow could have a pinned front sight.....but then you ruin your bluing!

As I said Ruger makes great guns but then take an otherwise great product and take cheap shortcuts on it to save money! Just about every Ruger I've owned I've had to "make right" by replacing their cheap shortcuts, like alloy grip frames and ejector housings on Blackhawks, alloy floorplates and trigger housings on M77s, etc, etc! Now add the front sights on blued Blackhawks to the list!

"The initial offering,, has the traditional welded on blued ramp.
Along came stainless, and due to the way they were mfged, it was "cheaper" to make them interchangeable, with an insert."

Remember,, they started with the blued welded on ramps... not the other way around.

I went the for milling off the front blade and installing a dovetail.

ptypegreen said:

I went the for milling off the front blade and installing a dovetail.

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Me too.

LAH said:

ptypegreen said:

I went the for milling off the front blade and installing a dovetail.

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Me too.

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Got a pic?

Redington Slim said:

As I said Ruger makes great guns but then take an otherwise great product and take cheap shortcuts on it to save money! Just about every Ruger I've owned I've had to "make right" by replacing their cheap shortcuts, like alloy grip frames and ejector housings on Blackhawks, alloy floorplates and trigger housings on M77s, etc, etc! Now add the front sights on blued Blackhawks to the list!

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This.

I could write a dissertation on the on the amount of fail in the Mini-14 - event the current models - that could be a great rifle, and instead is a mediocre (and overpriced) rifle.

Forty-Four Fan, I forgot to mention my frustrations with Mini 14s' and Mini 30s! theres another two to add to the list!

Forty-Four Fan said:

Redington Slim said:

As I said Ruger makes great guns but then take an otherwise great product and take cheap shortcuts on it to save money! Just about every Ruger I've owned I've had to "make right" by replacing their cheap shortcuts, like alloy grip frames and ejector housings on Blackhawks, alloy floorplates and trigger housings on M77s, etc, etc! Now add the front sights on blued Blackhawks to the list!

Click to expand...

This.

I could write a dissertation on the on the amount of fail in the Mini-14 - event the current models - that could be a great rifle, and instead is a mediocre (and overpriced) rifle.

Click to expand...

I only have blue Rugers, so I agree with everything said!

My fix is to grind off the blue blade just short of flush to the base to retain all the bluing on top of the ramp. Then stack three Carborundum cut off wheels in the Dremel tool and clamp it in the vise. So it's like a mini bench grinder.

Then hold the gun's ramp under the 'wheel' and pull up to sink the wheel into it to cut the slot. I practiced a few times on scrap metal the first time. You can cut the slot a little too narrow and file the 1/2 moon on the bottom of the sight blade to narrow it to fit the slot which leaves a slight shoulder on each side to cover up a sloppy edge of the slot. When I got better I cut the slot full width. Then drilled and pinned in the new blade.

But most times there's enough adj in the rear sight for the original front sight. Except for those far out loads and bullet weights. Then I cut the slot and replace the blade. And you have to cut a slot for Fiber Optic sights.

When you go to a gunsmith, setting up the mill and positioning/clamping the work is what's time consuming and therefore costly. It's not worth it for one little slot.

If you use the method that Hondo44 has described,, you can get Ruger factory blades & make them work.

My personal thought on it,, and has been suggested,, would be for Ruger to make the stainless barrels in the same manner as the blued ones,, w/o a base. Then, instead of milling, drilling & pinning a blade base & all, or having to solder on the sight, drill & tap the barrel & use replaceable sight assembly, like the Single-Six is done. One system for all models,, and simple swapping of the assy would allow all of us to use whatever size we needed.

I would go a step further and suggest ALL Vaqueros NEED a dovetailed front sight.
Way too many of the fixed sight guns need a form of Kentucky Windage to be at all useful .
Dovetails are a tidy way to dial in.

Hondo44, great idea, but a little too adventurous for me! I tend to make things worse whenever using a dremel tool!