Inletting ivory into front sight?

[LH]

I've got a little piece of ivory that I want to inlet into the front sight of my  .58 english rifle but I cant figure out exactly how I want to do it.  Anybody ever done this or have links to how to do it?  My front sight is .010" steel partridge style so I'd be attaching the ivory to the vertical rear surface.  I thought of dovetailing it in,  but I'd like for the ivory to go all the way to the top edge of the blade.  ???Sumbody hep me!   

[Black Hand]

Forget the ivory and soft-solder a piece of brass to your front sight.  I suspect that the ivory (in the size you would need) would be quite brittle.

[keweenaw]

The trick here is to not have the rear of the sight completely vertical.  Dub off the top rear to some angle, like 30 degrees and then dovetail in your ivory.  This will have the advantage of catching more light and making the sight more visible in most light situations.

[Gary Tucker]

L.H., Some time back I put a gold line into the front sight of a rifle.  I tried various methods and the one that worked was pretty easy to do.  I drilled vertically down into the front sight blade.  Drill all the way through [or nearly]. Take what ever material you want to inlay and turn it down so that it snugly fits into the hole you just drilled.    With the gold I just penned it in after I got it in place.  With Ivory or bone you may want to use some type of glue.
After that you simply file away the rear end of the sight blade until you expose the insert.  Be sure not to file away too much blade.  You want to keep it less than 50% of the hole filed away.
Hope this helps.

[frogwalking]

When I was younger and shot squirels with a Colt .22 semiautomatic pistol, my sister lost an earring.  She gave me the  other one which had a gold post.  I flattened the post and it was just the right size to solder to the back of the front sight.  It worked great in the dark woods.  Does your wife have an odd earring?

[Roger Fisher]

When I was younger and shot squirels with a Colt .22 semiautomatic pistol, my sister lost an earring.  She gave me the  other one which had a gold post.  I flattened the post and it was just the right size to solder to the back of the front sight.  It worked great in the dark woods.  Does your wife have an odd earring?

Only a suggestion here! Take a close look around the floor of the truck cab maybe theres one rolling around there

a fairly wide blade & cut down with a fine saw or v fine file making a vertical slot in the part of the blade you look at while sighting.  Epoxy s sliver of that 'ivory' in to said slot and angle the top away from your eye. Picks up the light better.  You will see it just fine when the light is behind you but not when shooting towards the light!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I almost always use pure silver for the blade of my front sight.  I file a fine angle on the rear corner toward the muzzle, so that I produce a little square as seen when sighting.  It picks up light really well even after I cannot say for sure if I can see the game to make the kill.  On trail (woods) walks it works very well too.  In the open field when target shooting, I blacken it.  A wipe with the thumb and I'm back to silver again.  I think I saw Gary Cooper or Fess Parker wet his thumb and then his front sight, to produce the same effect.  How can you argue with that? - two famous frontiersmen!!

[David Rase]

Here are some photos of an ivory sight I am making for a pistol in the works.  I start by making a tapered slot in a piece of .050" thick steel.  I then file a slight draft in the slot making the underside of the slot slightly larget then the top side.  The draft is the key to locking the ivory insert into place.  Then I fit a piece of ivory from the underside being careful to match both the taper and the draft.   Once I have the ivory insert fit into the slot I file the underside of the ivory flush with the underside of the base.  Once the sight is tapped into the dovetail on the barrel the ivory insert is locked between the barrel and the sight base.  I have used this design on several rifles and pistols and have not experienced any loosening of the blade from the base.  I do keep the blade rather shallow to avoid breakage.

DMR

Top view of sight looking straight down

Underside view of sight

Top view of the sight base and the ivory insert separated

Side view of the unassembled ivory insert and sight base

The ivory insert being pushed up through the bottom

The ivory insert completely installed into the steel base and ready for installation into a dovetail

Sight installed on an Ed Rayl brass pistol barrel

[Ben I. Voss]

Hmm. Tactical flintlock night-sights? Cool!

[Brian]

I almost always use pure silver for the blade of my front sight.  I file a fine angle on the rear corner toward the muzzle, so that I produce a little square as seen when sighting.  It picks up light really well even after I cannot say for sure if I can see the game to make the kill.  On trail (woods) walks it works very well too.  In the open field when target shooting, I blacken it.  A wipe with the thumb and I'm back to silver again.  I think I saw Gary Cooper or Fess Parker wet his thumb and then his front sight, to produce the same effect.  How can you argue with that? - two famous frontiersmen!!

That was Gary Cooper as Sgt. York - right before he did the turkey call.

[Roger Fisher]

I almost always use pure silver for the blade of my front sight.  I file a fine angle on the rear corner toward the muzzle, so that I produce a little square as seen when sighting.  It picks up light really well even after I cannot say for sure if I can see the game to make the kill.  On trail (woods) walks it works very well too.  In the open field when target shooting, I blacken it.  A wipe with the thumb and I'm back to silver again.  I think I saw Gary Cooper or Fess Parker wet his thumb and then his front sight, to produce the same effect.  How can you argue with that? - two famous frontiersmen!!

That was Gary Cooper as Sgt. York - right before he did the turkey call.

Yes and he was shooting a 'cussin' rifle At least in the film!

[Robby]

Pretty neat idea Dave. Makes me think of other applications, that's a good thing! Thanks!!
Robby

[David Rase]

Pretty neat idea Dave. Makes me think of other applications, that's a good thing! Thanks!!
Robby

Robby,  What are the other applications you are thinking about.  Inquiring minds want to know.
DMR