I hate doing dovetails

[54ball]

Especially on finished guns. On finished a gun I tend to be too careful. When I'm too careful things happen. Kind of like the guy who comes to a complete stop entering the interstate and looks both ways.

If I had it to do over again I would have just screwed it up in 15 minutes instead of taking most of the day.

I had plenty of warning. My saw cuts did not go as well as usual. And I guess my safe side triangle file is worn out. For some reason today it just was not making the under cut. I should have stopped right there.

Then I had to lecture my teenage daughter.

Put my gun stuff up, ate supper, then I searched for my cold chisel which apparently is somewhere, like the dark side of the moon.

Got flustered.

Then my son called me in his room, his light fixture has mysteriously quit. Could not fix it tonight so it's on the list for tomorrow.

When I got back to the gun I was ill, did not have all my stuff but I thought I could work through it. Well I got crooked. When I squared it it up it would barley hold. I was putting on one of those shallow brass sights Jaeger sights with decoration in front. My depth was fine I just ended up cutting it too wide.

Tomorrow I'll have to tape the sight to the barrel. Go shoot it to make sure the windage is right and mark it. Then I'll break down the gun and solder the the sight into it's dovetail. That's about all I know to do. Oh it's a smooth bore.

I had to take my shop down about 6 months ago. I need it back. This vise on the kitchen table is not working out.

Oh folks if things are not going your way and especially if you get flustered and distracted... Stop

I need to be in the woods. That's why i was doing the sight in the first place.

One of the mysteries of life. I can do a zillion underlug dovetails and they will all look like works of art. Yet I do one sight dovetail and it looks like hammered manure.

 

[necchi]

Oh folks if things are not going your way and especially if you get flustered and distracted... Stop

Sage advice, :wink:

 

[tenngun]

been there done that. If its any consulation the old timers screwed the pooch too

 

[excess650]

You could try just putting solder on the sight and see if it provides enough resistance. Another thought would be to place that sight on a hard surface and peen behind the sight blade(with a flat faced punch) to stretch the sight.

 

[Rolfkt]

I cut the dovetails first and make the sights afterwords to fit the dovetails.

Best regards
Rolf

 

[kaintuck]

dixie gun works sells a nice dovetail jig.....I like it....others don't~ but i do!

and, yup, cut the barrel, the file the sight to snuggy fit......kinda like ALWAYS buying you honey sexy undies a smaller size...... :stir:
then THEY take em back for the right size bigger.... :stir:

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

And I guess my safe side triangle file is worn out. For some reason today it just was not making the under cut.

Brownells has the best files for cutting dovetails, spendy but worth every penny.

 

[excess650]

I cut the dovetails first and make the sights afterwords to fit the dovetails.

Best regards
Rolf

ummm, yeah, but that advice is not helping the original poster's current issue.

 

[Bruce Bogart]

Along with the "stretching by peening " the sight I have turned he sight over and take a graver and raise a few burrs on the underside. Has worked for me.

 

[rich pierce]

Bogie nailed it. It's easy to stretch a sight 1/16" by peening. You'll have to re-flatten it though.

 

[Pioneer flinter]

Hey 54 I like to shorten the base of the sight a little bit then cut the dovetail to match if for some reason it is a little big I can allways order a new sight.

 

[54ball]

well, i flipped the sight over in the vice peened the base flattened it and fit it to the gun.

It's on there and on there tight but I'm still not happy with it. It's a big sight and looks good on the gun but if you turn it just right and look, you see daylight under the sight, like it's riding high in the dove tail.

i think my angles on the undercut are not quite matched to the sight, but it is on there and tight but I'm not happy with it.

I think I'm going to invest in some good triangle dovetail files.

I usually cut a dovetail and raise it a little with a cold chisel but this was one of those fancy sights and I was out of practice in cutting a perfect dovetail.

 

[44-henry]

I would either make, or buy a different sight that could be made to fit. You could probably also silver solder some material on the bottom (or the whole dovetail for that matter) and fit from there. Were all human and everybody makes mistakes, at the end of the day it is how good you are at covering them up that matters most.

 

[54ball]

I massaged the sight a little with a brass drift and hammer. The sight is now down in the dovetail like it should be and still appears very tight. So, I may have me a new smooth rifle but with a few scratches :grin:

If it stays tight during the sight in I should be good to go. As tight as it is it should. I hope.

Brass is forgiving so it looks like I lucked out. I'll update and let you all know how the shooting goes.

 

[Birddog6]

I have allot of days like that. They start out like crap & progressively get worse..... Most of the time, whatever I was going to do important, I just set it aside & wait for another day.

I suggest ya do this. IF you can mount that sight in the vice upside down, then take the small ball part of a small ball peen hammer & start peening the back of the part going in the dovetail & expand it.
OK, so if it don't work, you are out a sight..... Not a big deal. :idunno: But if it Does work, then ya are good to go. PLUS you can still move the sight it ya need to. Then solder it later when ya are Sure where ya want it.

Keith Lisle

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Those files are the best investment you can make for getting crisp dovetails.

 

[galamb]

So, I may have me a new smooth rifle but with a few scratches :grin:

Not "scratches", "battle scars".

"Ya, this here happened when a nasty bear decided to tangle with me - he lost that one."

Trust me - that's what happened :grin:

 

[M. De Land]

Boy do I know what your talking about! I've cut many dovetails in my milling machine over 30 years and some days I guess your just not holding your mouth right or something because I've had them come out to wide and out of perpendicular and double checked the lay our before making the cut.
Only gun cranks and gun smiths that haven't screwed up just aren't doing anything because "crap happens" to the best of them.
The difference between the good ones and the hacks isn't the lack of making mistakes on occasion but in how they fix the boo-boos.
I've even had to TIG weld several sight bases over the years and re-cut the male to fit my oversize barrel female I have goofed up on.
Never could do one by hand as tight as I can in the mill though.
The check is no day light showing when viewed from the side. Course I have been know to "fix" that with a bit of blue loc-tite which I like to do any way as it seals them up from rusting underneath even when fit perfectly and is all but invisible. Mike D.

 

[Pete G]

There is a very easy fix to this. Place a cold chisel about 1/16" or a little more behind the dovetail and give it a whack. It cuts a nice decorative groove and tightens up the slot all at once. I have started doing this to all my rifles after sighting in and it has become sort of a trademark.

 

[kaintuck]

I like that! :hmm: :hatsoff: