I'm restoring a Navy Arms (Pietta) 1851 Navy round barrel in .44 cal for my brother-in-law. It has an AE (1979) date stamp. He bought it at an auction for $65, and it was in very rough shape: the grips were just rough carved (one was oversize by 1/4" on one side!), the cylinder would not index and rotated both directions at half-cock, the brass was badly corroded, the barrel had never been finished (machining tool marks still prominent) and it was absolutely filthy. Surprisngly it's cleaned up very nicely; the action now works after just thorough cleaning and oiling, the grips are finished and fit just right, the brass polished up good (except some of the proof, date and mfgr's marks are now a bit light) and the barrel is now pristine (on the inside - this especially surprised me as it clearly had been shot and never cleaned in several years). I've removed all the tool and machining marks on the barrel, except for around the front sight.
So, finally, here's the question: how do I get the front bead sight out so I can reblue the barrel assembly? Is this just a matter of the right tool and lots of leverage/elbow grease?
