#wheelgunwednesday

The new Lipsey’s 642 UC (Ultra Carry) is the latest hotness in the revolver community. Its single biggest feature is an upgraded set of sights on it. The sights are a worthy improvement.

Not everyone who owns one of the millions of snub revolvers out there is going to buy something new to get a better set of sights though. I’ve written previously about how to improve the sight visibility of a snub revolver. https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2019/07/10/getting-more-out-of-your-snubs-sights/

The bottom line is that if you can’t see the sights on your snub, you can’t use them.

Earlier this year, I purchased an Ameriglo tritium front sight for my Taurus 856. Although I had already painted the original front sight as outlined in the previous article, I wanted to try out the Ameriglo. Installing it was not difficult, only requiring a 1/16^th inch pin punch. Some kind of bench block is helpful. The process is easier if the cylinder is removed so the gun lies flatter on the bench.

A word of warning; the screw that holds the yoke on the Taurus is not one piece assembly like a Smith & Wesson. There’s a small plunger and spring that fits inside the Taurus screw and is a separate assembly. It will come out when the screw is removed. Watch for it and don’t lose it, the screw will not hold the yoke in if the plunger assembly is lost.

The rear of the Ameriglo sight overhangs the barrel a bit and at first I thought that was a design flaw. Then I realized it’s actually very clever. The overhanging lip ensures that the hole for the roll pin holding the sight in place is always in the same spot. It works very well, the pin was easy to reinsert. A replacement pin is included with the sight but I reused the original.

When I took it to the range, I had an issue. While the sight is highly visible, bringing the whole orange area into the rear notch when sighting makes the gun shoot high. This is a common problem when folks paint the entire ramp of a revolver. The natural tendency is to bring the entire colored area visible in the rear notch. Inevitably, this means the top of the front sight is above the top of the rear notch and the gun will shoot high. As long as you’re just trying to hit the 8 ring of a B-27 at 3 yards, this doesn’t matter. However, if you’re trying to put a bullet in the face of the target at 5 yards or more, it becomes very problematic.

I had to consciously bring the top of the sight down into the notch for every shot. This reduced how much the high visibility of the sight contributed to my shooting. I was still able to make my par times but I was working at it.

To remedy this, I painted the lower part of the sight with white Appliance enamel. Fortunately, it was obvious that the tritium dot established the part needing white paint. I’m not concerned about the night sight, so I just painted over it. Masking the area I didn’t want paint on gave a good final result. The original sight with its paint is on the right.

When working on a snub’s sights, putting a large binder clip on the front of the frame will stabilize the revolver and position it properly so you can do your artistry. Put some tape or cloth around the frame if you are concerned about scratching it. Note also that the rear notch is blackened with an Ultra Fine Point Sharpie.

The system that inspired this method of painting sights is the Optical Landing System used by pilots landing on aircraft carriers. They learn to use the visual reference very quickly while landing and with some practice, using the sight paint on the front sight to achieve a good sight alignment becomes second nature too.

If I see the white, I know the sight is too high. If I don’t see the orange, I know to bring the front sight up. After doing it for a while, this becomes as instinctive as driving between the lines on the road, unless you drive a Honda Odyssey, in which case the lines probably aren’t important to you.  😊

I’ll find out how well this works at the 2024 Tactical Conference when I shoot the pistol match.

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