Loose front dovetail sight

[Rfp10000]

I noticed the front dovetail sight on a Pedersoli Remington 1858 Target revolver is loose.
Leaving aside any comments on this particular gun or Pedersoli , does anyone have any solutions they’ve used with this sort of problem.

The blade just floats out to the left or back to what looks like the correct position in the dovetail with the slightest pressure.
Oddly I have another Pedersoli gun with a rear dovetail that has been almost impossible to move.

 

[SDSmlf]

You can peen the dovetail in the barrel with 3/4” to 1” socket. Lay the socket across the dovetail and then lightly tap the socket with a hammer to tighten up the dovetail. Once you and the gun are happy with the front sight’s position, you may want to stake it with a center punch.

 

[Rfp10000]

You can peen the dovetail in the barrel with 3/4” to 1” socket.

Would you take the sight out of the dovetail to do this first part?

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Yes.

 

[Rfp10000]

Yes.

Thanks

 

[Rfp10000]

Once you and the gun are happy with the front sight’s position, you may want to stake it with a center punch.

How exactly would I do this 2nd part ?

 

[SDSmlf]

Would you take the sight out of the dovetail to do this first part?

Definitely. Here are a couple photographs, guess worth a thousand words each. Should make it self explanatory.

 

[Rfp10000]

Perfect , thanks … saw this also BTW…

 

[SDSmlf]

How exactly would I do this 2nd part ?

It’s something you can do AFTER you have the gun sighted in. Do you have a center punch?

 

[Rfp10000]

Do you have a center punch?

I have a set of Harbor Freight pin punches . I see they have a cheap center punch also.

 

[doubleset]

Another common approach I've used (also suggested to me by TOW as what they normally do) is to "dimple the base of the barrel dovetail with a center punch in a couple of places (center of dovetail, not too near the outer edges). The dimpling pushes up enough steel to tighten against the sight base when you slide it in. If your dovetail edges are munged up, I do the trick with the socket. If the top of the dovetail is otherwise okay, I'd do the bottom dimpling. You could also dimple the bottom of the sight base, but that's trickier to do without messing up the sight. (Edit: Ah, I see this last suggestion is in the Brownell video.)

 

[doubleset]

(Oops. Messed up my response and doubled it.)

 

[Rfp10000]

Another common approach I've used (also suggested to me by TOW as what they normally do) is to "dimple the base of the barrel dovetail with a center punch in a couple of places (center of dovetail, not too near the outer edges). The dimpling pushes up enough steel to tighten against the sight base when you slide it in. If your dovetail edges are munged up, I do the trick with the socket. If the top of the dovetail is otherwise okay, I'd do the bottom dimpling. You could also dimple the bottom of the sight base, but that's trickier to do without messing up the sight. (Edit: Ah, I see this last suggestion is in the Brownell video.)

Thanks … plenty of good stuff … I must have dropped the gun while it was in its padded case, probably in the car, and didn’t even notice it happening .