Help identify front sight for Ruger 45 Colt Bisley

[CowboyTutt]

Hey guys, had this installed many, many years ago. I don't remember who made it now unfortunately. Some of you have better memories than me, hopefully you can help out. Nice Ruger sixgun, tuned by Munden. Belt Mountain Sheriff base pin, Bowen rear sight, custom front sight. Very slick action. Its not going anywhere, would like to improve front sight maybe, thinking maybe Fermin Garza for further modification. If anyone can help with the front sight and who made it, would be appreciated. I have truthfully forgotten. It was made for long range shooting with the Bowen Field Grade rear sight. Old Savage could shoot this gun better than me with 360 grain 45 Colt +P loads in the old days.

-Tutt

[Sixgun]

Hey Tutt,
Looks to me like a long range front sight first brought into play by the grand old Elmer Keith who used it on a single action Colt 44 Spl. that he called the "Long Range", which is now owned by Brian Pearce of Handloader magazine fame. Elmer claimed in his book "Sixguns" it was his idea...dunno..

Each line is for a specific range by a specific load and bullet weight by holding each line even with the top of the rear sight.....have no idea on what it's set for but would not be hard to figure out. Most likely built by a custom smith who knew what he was doing.----6

[GunnyMack]

I'm not sure of its origin but I will say it is silver soldered on, high heat to remove it which will be cause to refinish the gun.

[2ndovc]

When Bowen did the rework on my SBH he sent me a spare blank with a very similar finish. Just had to drive the base pin out if I wanted to change it.
Can't tell for sure but it looks like that one is pinned to the SS base.

jb

[.45colt]

There is a drawing of that sight in " Sixguns" by Keith page 107.

[CowboyTutt]

I'm sure the original idea was Keith's. The blade was an offering from a gunsmith in various heights. I don't think it was Bowen, maybe Clements. I needed a taller front sight for the heavy +P load. I had a local gunsmith mount it, I think he had to do a little final fitting, drill it and insert roll pin. I think it would be a custom project now, I can't find anything like it so far. Too bad I don't remember who made it for me. I've used many gunsmiths over the years and this was my first project on my first gun. -Tutt

[CowboyTutt]

Ah! Friend just emailed me. He thinks it would be from Gary Reeder! I think that could be it! -Tutt

[CowboyTutt]

Well, I immediately got a response from Gary Reeder. It was the following:

No, that isn't one of ours as there is no way we can know where to put the gold bands. You have to mark them yourself, then have someone put the gold bands in there. We don't do that. Sorry.
Gary Reeder

So no, I don't know who made this for me anymore. I did not mark the sights myself, it was an offering from a gunsmith as I have previously described. It seems to work once you do your homework and keep a "brain book" or load and range data yourself based upon sight picture.

-Tutt

[CowboyTutt]

I updated the front sight and added an additional "gold bar" at the top of the sight. I ordered up some various metallic paints from Testor and a brush kit that came with the kit already from Amazon. After playing around some with various colors I went with Testor's gold paint. Testor's paints are an oil based enamel, they don't need a primer coat and it adheres to metal well. You need a solvent to clean the brushes. Also it is best to clean the lip of the bottles with a solvent to remove the paint there so the caps don't stick too tightly next time. Testors puts a thin strip of teflon tape on the lid in this area (well I think it is teflon or something similar), but its still not enough to prevent the paint acting like a glue that can make the cap very hard to remove. Remove the paint from the lip of the glass container with a solvent, and you should be fine. I used some generic masking tape to get a straight line. It still took me about 5 tries to get a good line. In the end, I think it will be a good front sight. What I learned when shooting this sight before was as delivered my eyes were naturally drawn to the brass bars and not the top of the sight. I used Bar Keepers Friend to shine up the brass bars in this photo. I hope by adding the painted on gold bar at the top, that it will help me shoot to the top of the sight more easily, while still having access to the lower bars for long range shooting, if I can even do that anymore. I'm also working on painting on some sights to my Taurus Raging Bull in 454 Casull. That gun has even more potential with its 8 1/2 inch barrel. It seems to be a good specimen from Taurus, especially after its Alpha Precision (aka Jim Stroh) action job years ago (Jim is long since retired). Regards, -Tutt

[cas]

Should be easy to identify as Clements or not if you show a picture from the side.

[CowboyTutt]

OK, but don't understand. Thank you for your consideration however. I do really appreciate it. Here's your pic. Thank you, Sincerely, -Tutt

[Scott Tschirhart]

Dustin Linebaugh did something similar for me on my old Shootist 20th Anniversary sixgun. But the face was not smooth like yours, but had a checkering file run across it to break up glare.