Installing New Front Sight

[Nuthatch]

I over-filed the front sight of a rifle I recently bought while sighting in and am now replacing it. It's a brass TOTW that slides into the dovetail notch on the barrel. The new sight is square at the base, however. So I'll be filing the base a little bit at a time to match the dovetail on the barrel. Conceptually, I get what I need to do. But since I have never done it before, I don't know what I don't know. Are there any resources that describe this process in a tutorial of some kind? Failing that, any tips?

 

[tenngun]

Square as in not made as male end of dovetail?

 

[Sidney Smith]

Use calipers to measure the dovetail in the barrel. Transfer those measurements to the new sight using a sharpie or some other indelible marker, then file the sight base, making sure to not go deeper than those marks. File a little at a time until you can get the sight to enter the dovetail maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the way into the dovetail. Then tap into place and you should be good to go.

 

[deerstalkert]

measure the bottom of the dovetail mortise and compare with th base of your new sight.
if it matches you are lucky.
if it doesn't you need to find center of the male base and mark equal distance from center as your goal.
put the male base against the mortise and mark your angle.
start filing, making sure your strokes don't rock. you can see the cut either full length or short when you do them. do not file all the way to the angle lines.
when close start fitting base to mortise. should be a drive in fit or you will have to stake the mortise to hold it.
clear as mud??

 

[deerstalkert]

SS said it better!!

 

[Nuthatch]

Many thanks, gents.

 

[Nuthatch]

Worked great. Had to bend the sight just a tad in the rear since my dovetail wasn’t the straightest. But it punched in beautifully for a first time. Again, thank you.