Sighting in the baby Colt

Posted on December 27, 2025 by Editor

Look closely, the target is 25 yards downrange.

I’d already replaced the rear sights on my other Colt revolvers, and the other day I finally got around to the baby of the bunch — my .22 caliber King Cobra.

Look carefully at the photo of the pistol on a pillow in my truck bed and focus downrange. You’ll see a tiny target between the firewood shed and the azalea bush on the left. That’s what I was aiming for.

That cluster of shots you see in the close-up photo below is what I was left with after installing the new rear sight. I left the elevation at zero and didn’t adjust the windage from what it was at the install.

It looked about right to me when I eyeballed it. Turns out I wasn’t far off.

Not bad for a first run through.

The rear sights on Colt pistols as they come from the factory are — as everyone knows — pretty much garbage. Adjusting windage is a two-part process: you first have to loosen a “hold-tight” screw atop the sight and then turn another screw on its side to move the sight or point of impact right or left; then you have to re-tighten the first screw, the hold-tight screw.

As I said, it’s a messy process.

The tiny hold-tight screw is a flimsy thing that won’t remain locked down — even with the recommended use of lock-tight.

Shame on Colt. New, reliable sights run about $100 and are well worth the expense.

On the two replacement sights I have used — Kensight and Wilson Combat — there’s a single screw to adjust windage — as it should be, but isn’t, with the Colt factory sights.

Both Kensight and Wilson make fine products that are easy to install. Kensight, out of the Atlanta area, offers better shipping terms, so you save a few bucks over the Arkansas produced Wilson. But, as I say, both are excellent replacements for the Colt mess.

You won’t go wrong whichever you choose.

Outdoor Furniture Refinishing

Posted on April 16, 2025 by Editor

Sanding off the crud

The picnic table was here when I moved in more than seven years back, and the summer and winters had taken their toll.

So, finally, after years of putting it off, I spent a day sanding at an old man’s pace while Hazel kept watch and looked on.

Rot had eaten its way up one of the legs, so that had to be replaced; otherwise the old table of treated wood while poor cosmetically was in surprisingly good condition.

I found a suitable piece of lumber for the new table leg in my wood pile that was the right dimensions. Two quick cuts with the circular saw was all it took and then I screwed it in place with decking screws.

A No. 40 disk on the sander cut through the grime and got the wood ready for a coat of Cabot seal and stainer. I opted for a stain with a cedar tint, thinking, correctly, I believe,

The table after the first coat of stain.

that the tinting might help cover some of the many imperfections in the table’s surface.

To help keep it in better repair than it has been these past few years I’m considering putting paving stones down for a small patio like surface alongside the fire pit. Time will tell whether I ever actually get around to that job. Maintenance and chores around the place, while in ready supply, no longer hold the charm for me that they seemed to in years past. But, as I say, time will tell how much more actually gets done.

I trust, though, that I’ll at least have the will to add a few more coats of sealer and stain, though prettier weather returns tomorrow that promises to be nearly perfect for a motorcycle trip; so I’m not making any promises/

Breaking Rocks in the Hot Sun

Posted on April 3, 2025 by Editor

Hazel was a loyal companion during my efforts over two days to gather stones to line the fire pit, which made the job more enjoyable but the loads no lighter. Click image for a larger view.

It’s a start.

For the past couple of days I’ve been hauling rocks from wherever I could find them to my fire pit alongside the swamp. It’s a work in progress.

A rich source for the stones has been the stream that runs along part of my western boundary before spilling through a culvert that runs under my drive and then into Horny Hog Ridge Creek. I hauled out a dozen or more stones from the stream yesterday and added them to the growing circle. It’s slow work, but I’ll get there.

I keep telling myself there’s no rush, but getting a few stones in place has a way of projecting what the finished project might look like and then the rush to completion is on. It’s a battle to fight the urge to overdo it.

But, then again, maybe the photo is overdoing it. It is, after all, a work in progress: there are many more stones to go. As fortune would have it I live in the mountains.