Just for thought

[shifty]

   Ok just suppose a young fellow with good strong eye sight wanted to build a 50 cal 1" across the flats barrel 30" long and he wanted the longest  sight radius possible on this barrel what would you say is the closest to the breech end of the barrel could he  cut a dovetail for the rear sight and the breech area still be safe.

[mark esterly]

i think his own eyes would determine that.

[L. Akers]

I agree with Mark but if you care about such things, the NMLRA rules state that for open sights the rear sight must be a minimum of 6" forward of the breech end of the barrel.

[shifty]

    Sorry guys i had to modify my post i wanted to say how far to the breech end can   he cut the dove tail and the breech still be safe.

[Daryl]

How deep is the dovetail?  I've seen some really deep ones - had one on a 12L14 bl. that bulged in the underlug dovetail - could be felt when cleaning.
The dovetail was too deep and a .50 but on a 7/8" bl. I was using 75gr. 3F and never shot without the ball on the powder.
I removed and junked the bl. putting a 7/8" .40 Goodoien bl. on that rifle.

[ron w]

use a plug that has enough material in it to mount the sight in the tang right in front of the barrel.

[shifty]

How deep is the dovetail?  I've seen some really deep ones - had one on a 12L14 bl. that bulged in the underlug dovetail - could be felt when cleaning.
The dovetail was too deep and a .50 but on a 7/8" bl. I was using 75gr. 3F and never shot without the ball on the powder.
I removed and junked the bl. putting a 7/8" .40 Goodoien bl. on that rifle.

   
    Well i just know looked at the barrel that he wanted to use and the dove tail is already cut it measures .090 deep and centered 2 1/2" form end of barrel,barrel is 50 cal and  1" across the flats. So that gives him about about .150 thickness of the barrel under  the dovetail ,i told him don't use it was i right.