Front sight installation

[leadhoarder]

I bought a Lyman peep sight set from a forum member a few months ago. I am just now getting around to installing it. The rear sight went on easy,

I tapped the factory front and rear sights out easily. When I went to install the front sight it slid in a little too easy. Granted this is a used sight so it is likely that the previous owner filed it to fit. The front sight does snug up once it is a sixteenth or two too far to the left.

Google searches yield the two most common techniques for dealing with this being shimming or using red loctite to hold it in place. Will red loctite leave it where it can be removed and cleaned up if I choose to do so later? I know it is finger snug when centered but if push on it hard with my fingers I can move it past center.

 

[oldwood]

If you're talking Locktite, the Blue grade is for stuff that might eventually require movement , say for adjustment , and just apply a bit more when the sight is where it needs to be. The old time way ,is to take a punch and peen the corners of the dovetail in the barrel just enough to tighten the sight in place. Both treatments work , but one's traditional and one's modern. You can use both if one is iffy.......oldwood

 

[Flintandsteel]

Just peen the barrel dovetail around the sight. Use a round nose punch if you want it pretty, a center punch if you don’t mind the divots.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I like to turn a too small sight over and lightly peen the bottom to spread it out a little, you will be surprised how much the metal will spread out with just a few taps.

 

[Col. Batguano]

You can tin the bottom of the sight with solder (or the dovetail base) as well. That may (or may not) require you to file the top of the sight to get it perfectly flush

 

[andy52]

Personally, I think peening the sight base would be the better way to go I'm not a fan of wacking on a barrel if there's any other way to accomplish the task. The only exception would be peening a tenon in place

 

[leadhoarder]

How does one peen the bottom of the sight base?

I know a lot of folks around here are good craftsman. I know my way around tools but I am more of an assembler.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

How does one peen the bottom of the sight base?

I know a lot of folks around here are good craftsman. I know my way around tools but I am more of an assembler.

Support the sight on a solid steel vice or anvil. With a flat nose punch on the base top, smack the punch with a 2 lb hammer. If that does not tighten the fit, peen it again.

 

[MIOutdoorsman]

I had to install new sites on my GPR and my front site was also loose. I ended up putting a shim under it and it has stayed rock solid every since (4 years or so). I got suggestions from folks on this forum for peening the underside of the site base here too, but I was too afraid that I'd peen too much and make the site very difficult to put in, or screw things up for some future site that happens to be a wee bit bigger than the current one. I made my shim out of a piece of brass that I had that was used to measure sparkplug and other gaps...

 

[leadhoarder]

Looks like a coke can shim is going to work. The rifle was staring at me while I took a lunch break so I tried foil first but that was too thin. It took me a few tries to get the coke can shim to stay under the sight without coming out the side but I think I got it now. It slid most of the way in towards center. I will try to tap it into the final alignment this evening.

 

[user 34300]

This needs to be a sticky.

The cleanest thing to do is the turn the sight upside down between vice jaws. Use the side of a hard steel rod with a hammer to upset some of the edge of the bottom of the sight upward. One side is enough. The sight will now fit tight.

Shimming with paper or whatever is fine. Loctite is fine, as is epoxy,

But, please do not maul the barrel. It looks horrible and can not be repaired. "Just peen the barrel dovetail around the sight. Use a round nose punch if you want it pretty, a center punch if you don’t mind the divots. " Please don't! Trash a $200 barrel or a $2 sight? Easy choice.

 

[andy52]

Granted this is a brass base sight but the same can be done with steel. This sight was a little loose just like yours and I peened it in place on the barrel. You can see the two peens I made with a punch on both sides of the sights. Just don't get carried away and keep the punch on the sight.

 

[Eric Krewson]

For my method I turn the sight upside down, place one side on the the anvil of my vise while I use a small ball peen hammer to peen the base lightly near the beveled edge.

 

[James Kopp]

I had the same issue with my Hawken.....Just take a center punch and peen the dovetails slightly and it will snug right up......

 

[leadhoarder]

I had to revisit this. The shim I used proved to still be too loose. I tried a second and I could not get it started. I tried peening the bottom and that worked well.

I put it in a vice protected from the jaws with some wood and I peened it and it installed tightly. However, I later went to change the insert and the piece that unthreads was bound up tight. I think I distorted it while I had it in the vice.

I bought a new front sight and it was just as loose as the previous one. I read a post on here from Bubba(50?) where he used a socket as a tool to slightly distort the dovetail on the barrel. One firm smack with a hammer tightened it up and I have high confidence that I will not have to work on it again.

As a side note I bought this tool for drifting sights and it works extremely well for making adjustments.
https://www.uniquetek.com/product/T1716