File recommendation for sight dovetail?

[sdilts]

I used a belt sander to grind the teeth off. Works very well.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

I used a hacksaw and file only on these.

 

[JT1200R]

I filed the depth then used a triangle file (one side with no teeth) and did the dovetail.

 

[büchsenmacher64]

I used a hacksaw and file only on these.

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Nice job!

 

[Crows-R-US]

No grinder.

When you buy that cheap file, spend another couple bucks for a disc for a 4-inch side grinder & use it hand-held to polish off the teeth on one side of the file.

 

[Rifleman1776]

If you anticipate doing a lot of dovetails, splurge and buy the gunsmith safe file from Midway or Brownells et al. For the occasional home project, buy a small 3 corner file at the hardware & grind one side smooth.

Bingo. Right on point. That's what I did, works fine and, I'll betcha, my hardware store file would last generations of regular use. And, an inexpensive tool for what you need.

 

[Billy Boy]

I bought the dovetailing file that Brownells sells. It's got two sides for filing and one smooth side so you're not deepening the dovetail while trying to file the wings.

Do yourself a favor and buy this file. It's not cheap but will save you headaches in the end, vs simply making a dovetail file by grinding down one flat of a regular triangular file. I tried the latter, and it didn't work, and the dovetails I made looked like s.h.i.t.

The strength of the Brownell’s file is that it is PARALLEL - no taper, perfect dovetails every time, in about 1/3 of the time you could set up the milling machine.

 

[Sam squanch]

GET THE BROWNELL’S FILE!!!! It’s worth the $$!

 

[Shawrco]

I use the milling machine to get close then the Brownell file to final fit... If you swap sights around a lot, the file is a useful tool to have. I don't think two dovetails are alike!

 

[Century to late]

I've used Brownells for many many dovetails. It's the only way to get it done correctly and a guide. The guide will kill the file not the barrels.

 

[Kapntx]

I prefer to create a plain rectangular slot and then use a cold chisel with a 60 degree angle bevel to create the actual dovetail. This works fine on muzzleloader barrels which seem to be slightly softer than smokeless barrels. After you roll back the small lip of metal with the chisel you can remove the upper part of the lip with s plain mill file. Leave a little of that lip sticking up. If whatever you are installing fits loose you can tap the lip down with a hammer to tighten the slot.

 

[Century to late]

I prefer to create a plain rectangular slot and then use a cold chisel with a 60 degree angle bevel to create the actual dovetail. This works fine on muzzleloader barrels which seem to be slightly softer than smokeless barrels. After you roll back the small lip of metal with the chisel you can remove the upper part of the lip with s plain mill file. Leave a little of that lip sticking up. If whatever you are installing fits loose you can tap the lip down with a hammer to tighten the slot.

I tried that once and got nothing to lip up maybe to hard of steel?