Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Front sight that won't budge

Anybody have any tips for removing a front sight that absolutely refuses to budge? Standard Marble's type blade in a 3/8" dovetail on a Winchester 1885 that I suspect was installed with the help of a 10 ton hydraulic press.

So far I've applied Break Free with an eyedropper and let it sit from a couple of hours to overnight. Using a brass punch I started with a small mallet, then a 16 oz. claw hammer and now I am literally up to a 3 pound sledge, hitting it as hard as I dare without risk of breaking my hand. It has not moved one iota. And I am trying to move it from left to right as you look down the barrel.

So, I'm open to most any suggestion shot of milling it out. And by tomorrow I may be amenable to that idea.

I can think of two things, number one did you try the other way? The other would be heat; it may have been installed with loctite. I would also try something better than Breakfree as a penetrant - Kroil or PB Plaster and give them an hour to work at least.

Roger on the locktite, seen many sights with a red layer on the bottom. Hit it with a propane torch until the oil smokes on it and then give it a whack. I’d lose the brass drift too, they’ll still deform the normally soft steel in most front sights and leave brass marks that are hard to remove on stuff. I always fit sights to be tightly installed with a hard nylon punch and an 8oz ball peen. Used a cloth patch folded up under the tip of a steel punch to remove tough ones with much better results than brass.

Thanks for the tips, I'll give all of that a try.

Warm the end of the barrel with a hair dryer and stand the rifle muzzle down in a small container of which ever penetrating oil you choose and let is sit overnight. I have had good results with Kroil, after the soak secure the barrel in a vise and use a dead blow hammer and a bronze punch (brass will leave a mark if you plan to re-use the sight) to drive it out.

Finally got that son of a %&#*! outta there.

Got some hardened steel punches at the hardware store. Couldn't find any Kroil but they had Liquid Wrench - specifically made for penetrating and loosening rusted on nuts and such - and that did the trick. Heated up the barrel and sight with a hair dryer and put a few drops of liquid wrench around the dovetail. Waited about half an hour and whacked it with a padded steel punch and it finally moved. Still took a few good whacks to get it out.

Strange that this one was so hard since the rear sight was easy to move, it came out with just a few taps of a brass punch padded with a strip of leather I have specifically for that purpose. Getting a new Lee Shaver globe front sight next week and will fit that to make sure it goes in relatively easily.

Glad to hear that you got that sucker out, Jim!

I'd suggest that you get some Kroil to have around for the future.

I've used Liquid Wrench and Kroil. Kroil is MUCH better in my experience.

John

Glad you finally got the sight out, sounds as if it had been driven into the dovetail without having been fitted. When installing the new globe sight do your fitting work on the sight dovetail though a few stokes of the file in the barrel dovetail may help remove any problems (galling) caused by having to drive the old sight out so forcefully. A drop of oil also helps with the install and precludes problems like you had with the old sight.

Glad it worked out, heat can be your friend. Not my first choice but has worked many, many times when Kroil etc. did not do it alone.

I know everyone is waiting with bated breath for the final outcome....

So, got the Lee Shaver globe front sight yesterday. Dressed the edges and bottom of the empty dovetail ever so lightly with a small triangular and flat file to remove any possible burrs and started the new front sight in. It started by hand easily enough for maybe a tenth of an inch and then just took light taps with a small mallet and nylon punch to get fully centered. It has plenty enough tension to stay put but won't be hard to get out should I ever change it.



Still wondering if some factory worker at Miroku deliberately jammed in an oversize front sight just for spite...