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This is a front sight "bead" of sorts that I fashioned from a tiny piece of wooly mammoth ivory. It is fitted to the front sight of a Standard Manufacturing Sherrif's Model. The gun is a "working" gun, actually the one I carry with me most of the time if I am carrying a gun, so the nicks and scratches are just how things roll. She ain't a safe queen.

With my old eyes, SAA sights especially, are difficult to pick up some days. Colored inserts and/or glow-in-the-dark sights do help, but they don't lend themselves well to the SAA type guns. I recently tried gluing a tiny ivory bead to the existing sight on one of my Ruger Blackhawks and found it quite an improvement.

There are a lot of tricks to working with ivory, not the least of which is that cyanocrylate (Super Glue) is the product recommended for sealing the ivory when you are finished shaping it. I found that with things this small, it is also probably the best substance to glue it into place.

Also, unless you are a jeweler, and maybe even if you ARE a jeweler, it is best to place the ivory piece you are working with before final shaping.

Now, mammoth ivory is quite legal to trade in most places. The reasoning being that, as wooly mammoths are extinct, no amount of ivory trade will make them MORE extinct than they already are. Unfortunately, there ARE a few places... mostly bastions of liberalism out East... where mammoth ivory is NOT legal. Oh well.

I haven't done a great deal of experimentation with this particular sight just yet. With my favorite factory load, holding with the bead perched atop the ears of the rear sight groove, the strike of the round is pretty much right on the money at 21 feet. I was able to hit an empty "Buzz Ball" with it, at least.

Sight regulation with the SAA is a whole 'nother can of worms that I won't address here, but if you got one that consistently hits high with a load you really want to use, this could be your solution as well.