How bad did mess up my dovetail?

[Tom A Hawk]

Wondering if you braze in a steel filler and recut.

 

[EC121]

A filler of some type was also my thought. Solder-it Paste solder would hold a filler to raise the sight. A dovetail should be no more than .063". I use a caliper to check the depth while cutting and filing to keep the flat square.

 

[LME]

Layout fluid is your friend.

I believe I'd be making a filler and insert new shorter sight.

Maybe oversized picture makes it look worse than it is.

Sorry Snyper, I didn't realize you had 'reacted". I wouldn't have edited if I had seen that first.

.Layout fluid is definetly your friend and a milling machine is your lover!

 

[William Lincoln]

"A" for effort. you can get a master welder to fill that area in and regrind
the profile. Being a Traditions there are plenty of cheap barrels around.
As has been said, first measure your bore wall at the dovetail for safety.
When doing a dovetail, go slow and start narrower than you need. Widen
with file slowly to press fit. I have seen gunsmiths screw-up with dovetailing--
so don't feel bad--just forge ahead with the above recommendations.

 

[Steve Martin]

I hate to say it but I agree with what others have said about your barrel...the dovetail cut is waaaay too deep. I honestly would NOT shoot that barrel.

 

[2 shots]

solder or filler is not going to make it safe if you went too deep. as said measure for safty sake.

 

[SnyperX]

I will probably look at a replacement barrel. I see Deer Creek Products sells CVA drop in barrels I am going check if that might work.

As they say, you gotta break some eggs…..

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Welp….took the plunge and said “F’IT” and tried my hand at doing a dovetail. Yeesh. It ain’t purty, but the rear sight is on my Hawken. Any “constructive” criticism would be appreciated.

I give you credit for admitting you ended up with a poor fit. WTG there! The dovetail is way too deep, I would have someone knowledgeable determine if it is still safe to shoot. Second item.... when you file something like this you need magnified vision to detect when you are starting to remove material in an un even fashion. That stair step could be avoided if you go slow and check your work magnified with straight edges.
Hope you did not compromise the barrel.
Larry

 

[William Lincoln]

The CVA barrel might fit well. It is also a Spanish barrel. CVA guns
have "Bergara" barrels ,if from Spain. These are top barrels. But
traditions Ardessa has a different factory deal in Spain. Do some careful
measurements and photos for the seller to compare the replacement
with, before shipping. I have had good honest dealings from DeerCreek.

 

[Sidney Smith]

You had better hope you didn't file too deep. If so, you might have ruined the integrity of your barrel. Some will say, "well its only in a small area considering a bore is round, and a dovetail is flat". True to a degree, but if you just filed with no thought to the amount of metal left under the dovetail, then you could be in for problems. I was always told that a tenth of an inch of metal should be about minimum for a rear tenon, or even a rear sight within ten inches of the breech. Less than that an you're risking trouble. You can get away with a few thousandths under a tenth of an inch, but if you filed that dovetail to a depth where say you've only got .050 tbickness of metal under the dovetail, then that barrel is trash.

Now my dovetails don't always look pretty, but I always make sure to measure beforehand. You measure the thickness of the object that's going into the dovetail. Let's say a tenon that's. 060 thick. Then measure bore diameter, then barrel thickness. Subtract bore diameter from the barrel thickness, then divide the sum by two. Then subtract the .060 or whatever the tenon or sight thickness. If the remainder is less than .10 then you've got to do some work on the object to make it thin enough to fit.

Rifles aren't usually an issue especially if you have a small bore, however, large bore rifles and shotgun barrels normally have less room to play with so you've got to be careful.

 

[kje54]

I will probably look at a replacement barrel. I see Deer Creek Products sells CVA drop in barrels I am going check if that might work.

As they say, you gotta break some eggs…..

Yup, I'm on the side of the "get a new barrel" group. Better safe than sorry.

 

[rocullen]

Don't forget....make a "safe" file if you haven't.
Safe means one side of the trianglular file has been declawed; the file part sanded down or removed so other way.

 

[flntlokr]

It MAY be possible to fill the cut with weld, and re-do the dovetail. Worth checking out with someone who knows something about both welding and guns. A late friend of mine used to do stuff like that on muzzleloaders. You are probably better off getting a new barrel, and cutting that one down for a pistol or carbine build.

 

[Kansas Kid]

If the factory drill marks are still there you didn’t go deeper than they did. It will be okay.

 

[Whughett]

Well it holds the sight doesn't it. Better than I’d do which is why I wouldn’t even try it.

 

[Billy Boy]

Welp….took the plunge and said “F’IT” and tried my hand at doing a dovetail. Yeesh. It ain’t purty, but the rear sight is on my Hawken. Any “constructive” criticism would be appreciated.

View attachment 120200View attachment 120201View attachment 120202

Buy a parallel (no taper) single side dovetail file from Brownells. Life will be good, and so will your dovetails.

 

[hawkeye2]

Forget welding, brazing or silver soldering (with real silver solder and not just silver bearing solder). The heat required for any of those operations will result in shrinkage in that area resulting in a tight spot in the bore and or a bowed barrel.

 

[JamesT]

Welp….took the plunge and said “F’IT” and tried my hand at doing a dovetail. Yeesh. It ain’t purty, but the rear sight is on my Hawken. Any “constructive” criticism would be appreciated.

View attachment 120200View attachment 120201View attachment 120202

Whats the outer dimension of the barrel in this location? Top flat to bottom flat. What caliber is the barrel? How deep is your dovetail at the deepest point measured from the top flat? A little math here will provide a wall thickness before and after your procedure. I will say I have never seen one that deep and hate to say but I think its done for. Lets us know what you measure.
James

 

[Rich44]

First of all I would like to thank you for not wanting to use a plastic rear sight. Just does not seem like what I would want to do either. Also wish to thank you for your knowledge in knowing that when you make a mistake, that is a great opportunity to learn from, as you have started this post.

It sounds like you might not have a set of veneer calipers to measure by, It would be nice to have a set to measure what thickness you have at that area as stated in other answers to your question of saftey. That would answer your question of is it safe to shoot. It may not be as bad as the picture shows. The talk about a safe triangle file is very much needed as that really helps a new job being done. And yes a Dovetail Sight Filing Fixture would be of help also.

If the barrel is still in the safe range, then you would need to find a larger rear sight or make your own. As you would not want to file any more without a workable plan of a sight to use. And then carefully proceed at that point. Filing more careful. Looking for another sight or barrel will give you time to decide if you wish to correct or farm the job out. If you do get another barrel, than this old barrel could be used as a pratice barrel. Anyway good luck.

 

[oldwood]

OOOPPS........