.44 spl sight problem

Tobie is that front sight a pinned one? The stainless Rugers have a pinned front sight and the blade can be changed to adjust height. If yours is a blued version then the only practical solution is to find a load that shoots lower. Short of having a whole new front ramp changing loads is the best bet. Some shooters have used JB weld to raise the front sight height to lower the POI. I am not an expert on Rugers or sight heights but I think we have quite a few Ruger shooters here who will answer sometime to help out. Chris   
P.S. I went the route of having a new Wiegand ramp that uses interchangeable front sight blades on my Super Black Hawk. It is for blued barrels and is soldered on.   http://www.jackwiegand.com/interfs.html

Chris,
Thanks for the reply. I just got back from speaking with our local gunsmith and he's gonna mill off the blade, mill a pocket for a replacement blade and pin it in. We measured the original blade so he can make a blank for me and I'll file it down to bring the poi to poa. I did this before to a .44 mag but the machine shop that I used is now closed. I spoke with Ruger about this last week and wrote the CEO an email suggesting that they change the way the blued guns are sighted. The stainless guns, as you said, are all pinned but the blued guns are made as a unit (ramp and blade) Ruger had one of their reps to call me and discuss this- they suggested sending the gun back but I'm leary of sending anything gun related by UPS. Ruger offered to pay for the shipping both ways but they were in plant shutdown until today. If I had access to a Bridgeport, I'd do it myself; it's about a half hour job. I appreciate the input, I really do.
I've gotta give Ruger kudos for the way that they responded- their new CEO is really pro-active and accessable- something that other companies should follow.

Sounds like a good solution and let us know how it works out. Chris

Chris,
This is an easy fix IF you know somebody with a machine shop. In Hamilton Bowen's book- he details how to do this. In my conversation with Ruger, the rep said that they would talk about this and maybe modify the process to use a pinned blade on the blued guns. He was a really nice guy, he said that he'd never heard of this problem before. In my neck of the woods, I've heard complaints about it a few times. In talking with Ruger's CS dept- they did say that there are two different heights for the blades and according to their records- mine has the shorter blade--my luck! I must reiterate here- Ruger and their reps have been nothing but superb in communicating with me. Randell Pence, the last guy to call told me that the CEO told him personally to get this gun fixed. This is my 27th Ruger and now- I'm gonna buy more. I'm the guy who made the call to send it to a smith- Ruger was really insistant upon my returning the gun so they could make it right. In the end- that's all we can ask for.

Sounds like you are on top of this and all will work out OK.  Chris

Got my Bisley back from my smith today, now comes the fun part- shootin and filing. I can't wait!

Went to the range today, took three shots to determine where to file the sight blank down to. cut off the excess blade with a dremel to get close and did the rest with a jeweller's file. spent the good part of an hour getting the shape right. Cold blued the blade but I ain' t satisfied with that part of the job. The bluing isn't near as dark as the rest of the gun. Any ideas?

See if a local gun shop or smith is doing any hot blueing and ask if they could run your sight blade in with a batch of their stuff. Cold blue very seldom matches a hot or factory blue, perhaps some of the other memebers here have a recommendation. Chris

Tobie;
You are certainly fortunate to live where there is such a thing as a gunsmith. Here in the Great Mudhole of Mississippi, there isn't even a real gun shop for over 100 miles. I was spoiled in Montana. We had everything.
As for your experience with Ruger, they do seem to have gotten friendlier since my last communication with them in the '70's. In fact, most hunting and fishing manufacturers provide very good service now. Ain't the case with most consumer goods companies.
A pinned sight would be an excellent idea on any handgun.

Mike

Mike,
Thanks for the reply. We actually have several good smiths in our area. I send my projects to a gentleman named Bill Scarpino, a really good smith. He has all the power tools and the knowledge to go with them. When I decided to dod this, I talked with Bill and he understood exactly what I wanted. I have to stte though, Ruger was very concerned about the situation and bent over backwards to make sure I was happy. I decided to mill and slot the base because I can't stand to have a gun with no personality. I have to change something- even if it's just the grips. I di dthe last one myself due to not knowing Bill.I found a small machine shop and used their Bridgeport- the deal was that I could use their machine if I'd show one of their operators how to do this. That gun was a Super Blackhawk with the 5 1/2 inch barrel- it shot high too with the bullets that I like. On this particular work, I took Hamilton Bowen's book with me and showed Bill the photos in the book. If you don't have this book- you should order it. Hamilton is here in TN and is a veritable storehouse of good practices in building a gun. The name of the book is The Custom Revolver and you can get it at his website- Bowen Custom Arms- I've read mine till it's got ragged edges. I really enjoy this forum- it's good to find folks who have some of the same interests and there's always a lot of good ideas. I usually buy my grips form a fellow in MO. He sells grips on ebay under the name of Bearpaw grips. You can search for Ruger grips and his should come up. You can tell his grips because he always puts them against a blue background. Really good guy to do business with.
Ya'll have a good day down in MS!
Thanks again for the response!
Mike

What a difference a relatively few miles can make. Your location is flush with good things for gun guys like us, and Mississippi could just as well be part of Zambia.
Mike

I understand that completely. Bill isn't "from here" He's a retired machinist who likes the relatively smal town atmosphere. I've spent some time in MS, once at Keesler AFB and then again for a few years at Camp Shelby. It wasn't TN but I have to say, the local folks were awfully nice. There are some good places to get catfish around Hattiesburg. I'm a retired Law Enforcement  Officer with 13 years of military service and about 40 yrs involved with L/E. I retired after a health issue and I'm still fighting that but life is good. We have an indoor range about four miles from our home so I haunt that place almost every day. They are a good source of guns and I get a good price. We have another shop down the road about 10 miles called Outpost Armory that is a really big store- maybe a thousand guns of all types. They are a little high on their stuff but they are an excellent source for reloading. Having to pay UPS that hazardous material charge stinks. The range gets all their reloading materials from a place called Chattanooga Shooter's Supply and they have their own truck so the powder and primers are reasonable. I've gotta run- have a dr appt. Take care- great to talk with you!
Mike

Oh well. I hope to get back to the High Country one day. Hopefully before I'm too crippled or blind to enjoy it.
Mike

First thing I do when I buy another single action Ruger is order a Hamilton Bowen Rough rider sight and replace the Ruger sight. It's a 100.00 sight worth every penny.

I recently spoke to Rose Ann about ordering one but they are out of print.Anyone have one to sell or know someone I would be interested.