Dovetail cut and front sight screw up, maybe

[wizard71]

I purchased a dovetail cutting kit from Midway USA. I came with a hard steel cutting jig, good instructions and a small safe file.
I slid the front sight in the jig to see if it was the right size, it looked OK. Using the jig and two "C" clamps I cut the dovetail--- no problem.
However, when I put the sight into the dovtail the blade was a good 1/16" off the barrel. I didn't want to cut the dovetail deeper. I was worried that I'd cut into the bore.
So I filed down the base of the sight until it the blade meet the barrel.
Now the dovetail was too big.

I centered the sight in the dovetail and used low temp solder to fill the gap. The sight is tight and looks pretty good.

Sorry to be so long winded.

Is what I did OK or did I really screw up big time? :idunno:

 

[Vaino]

You could make a new sight....they're really not that hard to make.....Fred

 

[Dreamwalker]

What if you need to move it?

 

[Bill Hall]

Not the best fix, but I've done worse (JB Weld :redface: ). Chances are you're going to be ok. Since the front sight is centered, you should be able to get all or your adjustment from the rear sight. When I install sights, I center the front sight with calipers, and do all windage adjustment with the rear sight.

Now, if you brown the barrel, the solder will probably show. And since you paid all that money for a dovetailing jig, I assume you want better craftsmanship than that. I think you will be more satisfied with yourself if you replace the sight, while re-visiting what went wrong in the first place. We are here to learn, not just cover up our boo boos.

Once you figure out where you went wrong, you can order a new sight and go from there. If you want to make a new sight, Fred Lehto would be the guy to ask for the how-to. He's helped me along the way. Good luck. Bill

 

[wizard71]

snowdragon,
I was concerned about what you said about browning the barrel and the solder showing up.
I was able to remove the sight and the solder. But rather then order a new sight I was able to make a very small shin out of some scrap brass. Which worked fine and look a lot better. After sanding with a little 400 silicon carbide paper you can't even see it. Plus if I have to I can still shift the sight right or left.
And I know what I did wrong I didn't cut deep enough before using the safe file for the dovetail. Now carefully on to the rear sight
Again thanks for all the great input.

 

[jdkerstetter]

You just figured out what you did wrong? I thought that was already determined. Not going deep enough was just your first mistake. Your second mistake was taking metal off of the bottom of the front sight base effectively making it shorter front to back. Since you had already measured your slot for the longer base it ended up not fitting properly or loose.

It's happened to many of us. If you don't end up with a loose dovetail once in a while you're not working hard enough to get tired and make mistakes. :wink:

You'll know better next time and hopefully you've taught somebody something here. Enjoy, J.D.

 

[Bill Hall]

Just a thought about your concern of the front sight dovetail being too deep, for your future builds. I never give a thought about dovetail depth with front sights, as long as it doesn't cut into the bore (but that would be really really deep :shocked2: ). Pressure is at its lowest at the muzzle, so getting the metal too thin between the dovetail and the bore isn't a big issue. Another inch or so and the ball is leaving the barrel anyway. Pressure and barrel strength are not so much of an issue at the muzzle, compared to the breech end of the barrel. Just something to think about in the future. Bill

 

[M. De Land]

There is a fix for even this I have used. You shim the top of the dovetail shoulders.Making up for what you filed off from the bottom.This move the sight body down and still tightens it.
You cut out two shim tabs longer than the sight is wide and fold the end over the sight body on the side you are going to drive in. This will keep the shim or shims from sliding out as you drive in the sight. If it is tight enough and positioned correctly than straighten the tabs and score them on a 45 degree angle to the barrel and sight base, with a sharp dry wall knife. Be careful and don't slip off. All you need to do is scribe a good line your not cutting it off with the knife point. Do the same to the the other side tab.Bend them up and down a few times and they will break off flush with the sight body. Blacken the edge of the shim with a little bluing solution or magic marker and it will all but disappear. MD