Gunsmith question

[ewmail15]

Could any gunsmith here help me figure out how to remove the brazed front sight on my 1863 Merrill carbine? Barrel was badly rusted and a former owner must have tanked it, resulting in the sight becoming little more than a nub. Tried a mapptorch last night but after a few minutes and no luck I figured better to ask an expert. Thanks, Eric.

 

[ewmail15]

Still looking for help.

 

[JOHN42768]

No expert, but how about dremel tool since you say already worthless

 

[ewmail15]

I'm going to try to fabricate the sight piece and weld it onto the flattened (with Dremel) sight base. Would anyone with a 2nd model send some profile pics like the attached pic, along with dimensions l w h and w at base and where it thns down halfway up?

Is there a special type of steel used for the tip? My Sharps carbine had the hardened steel base, but I had to pick up a piece of German silver for the sight.

 

[Booner]

I went on a search to try and find out how the original sights were mounted on a Merrill. As expect there's not a lot of information on this weapon. I did find a post by someone who shoots with the North-South Skirmish Association, and he went into detail about what he had to do to get his carbine in shooting condition. He recommended epoxying a front sight of brass to zero the weapon at 50 yards. The purpose of using epoxy is to be able to render the weapon back to original condition if that need arose.
That sounded like good advise to me. -when working on original weapons, do no harm-

I've got an original Smith, and it's front sight has been modified and barrel has be re-lined. I purchased it as a shooter from someone in the N-SSA so the weapon has a reduced value as a historical weapon, but if I would ever sell it, I would like to think it would be to a shooter and not to a collector, so that is where it's value lies.

 

[ewmail15]

Maybe if anyone with a Merrill 2nd model could post a few pics of your front sight (from the side and from front), then I'd have all I need to start fabricating a piece.