Ranch hand sights

[kagia]

I've had my ranch hand for a while now and haven't used it much because I hate shooting it with no stock and the factory sights.

I just put a Boyd's stock on it and I'm ready to pull the trigger on a new set of sights.

Now that these guns have been out for a while, I'd like to know exactly which sights provide the best poa/poi. What sights are you running on yours?

Also, I read a couple years back in that massive wanstalls thread that the sights must be tapped out/in a certain direction only. Is this true? Which way are you supposed to tap them? I went back and tried to find it in that thread, but wasn't able to find it again.

 

[Can-down]

That massive thread should be culled for the good info and stickied.
Dovetail sights should be drifted out from the left towards the right when looking down on the barrel from the rear of the gun.
The new sight would go on in the opposite direction from the right towards the left.

I can't recall the sight combinations but what you want is at least a .5 inch tall front sight. Basically the tallest sight you can find in what ever bead size and style you want.

I ground down and reshaped the stock rear sight with a dremmel to get mine to hit point of aim.

 

[Can-down]

Read post #2972 by Shell Shucker in the epic thread,

You could PM Shell Shucker as well if he doesn't respond to this tread as I believe he has the info you are looking for....

 

[Sun_and_Steel_77]

Can-Down has the direction for removal and installation of all things dovetail correct.

kagia, do yourself a HUGE favor and order the rear peep that replaces the goofy safety and a front fiber optic sight of your color choice from stevesgunz.
He is completely aware of the Ranch hands POI issues and has done the legwork for you regarding front sight height.
When I installed my rear peep groups instantly shrunk from around 6" to 2-3" at 50 yds. (This is with a fullsize buttstock of course)
The front sight height was dead on @ 50 yards holding the top of the post in the 6 o'clock position.
The biggest problem with the ranch hand is the ridiculously short sight radius. The rear peep completely fixes the issue.
It takes about 15 mins to install and stevesgunz will ship to canada.
I have tried the fiber optic front post on two ranch hands now my previous .44Mag and the pictured rifle in .45Colt and both were dead on.
As a side note, I also tried the stock front post with the rear peep and it didn't shoot anywhere near as high as the stock set-up, completely acceptable.

There is one negative about my set-up that does deserve mention. When carrying my .44mag last hiking season I managed to drop the rifle (happens often when scrambling) and break the fiber optic pipe from the top of the front sight. I wish the Rossi sights were hooded like the Marlins.
The crazy thing is I actually enjoy shooting it more now with the fiber optic pipe gone as it makes for a really visible fine front post! POI changed very little if at all.