Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Loose dovetail

Im trying to install the correct front sight on my Remington 121 and some dumb azz has filed the dovetail and opened it up enough so the sight wont be tight when centered.

Any way to tighten this up?

is there any way to D&T it for a small set screw?

No, Im hoping I can peen it a bit with a punch to tighten it up. Think that would work?

Use a center punch on the bottom of the dovetail. It will raise some metal against the bottom of the sight blade.

Clemson

DON"T do that,.....

....until you try SHIMMING underneath the new Male Dovetailed insert.......sneak up on the shim thickness,....you might be surprised how little you need.

When it's good and centered, tight and Skookum.....all ready to shoot,....wick in some lOCTITE 290 ( Green) or better yet,....Black dyed acra glas,.....

It should be mechanically, and Metalically locked up,....the goop is just to seal and sanitize the deal.

GTC

While turning the critical muzzle end of the barrel into a Pre-stressed oval profile.

Great plan, that.

GTC

Yup, found that the last couple I did were really happy with a sliver of casing from a .22 rimfire empty....

Ryan

Take a hammer and a punch and work the punch across the top two edges of the dovetail, from side to side. It helps if the face of the punch is highly polished with slightly rounded edges.

IMO, the shim is the best way to do this. Nothing worse than an otherwise crisp dovetail all whacked up with a punch, when a nice, never seen shim would have a done it. All of the above methods work,but they all require moving some metal around, which can have bad results. Just my bits worth, if its worth even that!

R.

Long's we're on the subject,....maybe we can do a brief "Prayer Meeting",....
"Come to the Light of Common sense", kinda' thing.

Here's the layout:

Q. I ordered a .375" Dovetailed ivory beaded nekkid glamor girl sight, ...snivel, it's to tight, the male dovetail is distorting the minty, pristine cut on the barrel

A. File,....or use coarse emory on a surface plate,......
........reduce the HEIGHT of the damn thing,....e.g. remove material from the BOTTOM of the male dovetail feature. Sneak up on the fit, if you have no patience, leave this sorta' work for folks what has.

The "Loose" scenario being the inverse of same logic, ergo: SHIM the thing

Crisp Dovetail Dittos

GTC

A man's got to know his limitations and I respect that. If a person isn't very skilled in the use of common gunsmithing tools, then he should stick to simple things like shims.

Why resort to sticking with shims. Shims should be your FIRST option. You can get a set of feeler gauges from an auto store for nothing, and you don't whack up a good dovetail, even if you polish and round the punch.

You shouldn't need to adjust the top of the dovetail more than a few thousandths which if done right will be hard to spot. And even if it is, it's the accepted fix. An ill-fitting or contrasting shim will be at least as visible and will absolutely scream bubba.

If you need more than a handfull of thousandths you make a properly fitting sight or add metal to the bottom of the sight. You could solder steel shim stock to the bottom of the sight with low temp silver solder and trim to the base of the sight, fit and blue. Done right, the solder line will be just about invisible.

Center punching the bottom of the slot works if the fit is almost tight enough, it doesn't get you much.

Punching and hammering the dovetail is the BUBBA way to do it, and it will come loose after you adjust it as the sight will mash your BUBBA work back to its loose fitting..

The best way is to drill and tap the sight blade and put a set screw in that will press on the bottom of the slot. if you can't do that then don't f--k with it.

I bought a savage 24 that some idiot had center punched the rear sight dovetail and knocked a hole into the bore.

I'll fitting or contrasting has already been covered. Use the appropriate size and color it properly and it won't be a problem.

99% of people ca get to an autozone and get shim stock and do it themselves for nearly free.

Not so many have soldering setups, or drill and tap fixtures, or the money to take their firearm somewhere to have it done.

Hubert, maybe I'm stoopid but starting with Dunlap and going on with other teaching smiths that's the recommended way. He, and others, recommend the center punch method too. Now of course you're not supposed to be an idiot and hammer away without a care with either method. If Dunlap et al. are bubbas, guess I want to be one too.

You can D&T if you don't mind the looks and have room for it but it's one more part you don't really need. Functional but not elegant.

BTW, I've done it most ways you're supposed to, and some ways you aren't. And yeah, if you just peen the edges it'll look funky and work loose.

Savage, shimming is better than having the sight fall off but I don't think it's the best way. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so it's fine if it meets your wants. Sorry if I was strident, shims anywhere are a pet peeve.

Soldering may look nice in the long run, but as far as ease of workability, and permanancy, you can get it just fine with shims. If it seems a little tight then add a thousandth or 2 and it becomes mighty permanant.

Truth be told. The bubba should have taken it to someone whom knew what they were doing instead of grinding on it.

Using shims should be one of the last resorts. There will always be time to stick something in the hole if all else fails, but until then, there is nothing to moving small amounts of metal with the proper tools.

There are many jobs in the gunsmithing trade that require moving metal from one spot to another in order to obtain a perfect fit. It comes with the dinner, and since a Remington 121 isn't in any immediate danger of becoming valuable, then I can't think of a better project to learn on. If a guy needs help in doing this he can PM any of the working gunsmiths on this site for advice.

As far as choosing, preparing the "Right Tool" goes,....I reckon this is what Malm is getting at ?



There's beating on things, and than there's Metal Striking.

Choose the right tool dittos !

I better edit to add:

Malm said, " It helps if the face of the punch is highly polished with slightly rounded edges. "

.....that's what I'm trying to convey here,....stumblingly it would seem.

GTC