Dovetail Repair

[Muleskinner]

I have a rifle with a rear sight that just is barely loose,you just can move it with your thumb so the dovetail  needs to be tightened up,whats the correct method to do this? or do I peen the sight to correct this? thanks in advance

[billd]

You can put some solder on the bottom of the sight base to slightly raise it.  Or if it's a brass base, just peen it lightly and expand it.

Bill

[Jim Kibler]

One option is to stretch the sight a touch with a cross peen hammer and clean it up with a file. 

[Muleskinner]

Its a steel base sight.....Im not sure if I know what cross peening is I have used a punch before on other dovetail sights to make a couple of dimples to tighten them but it really didnt work that great.....thanks for the repys and keep em coming guys

[Long John]

Mule,

A cross pien hammer is like a ball pien hammer excepth that it has a face kind of like a real dull cold chisel instead of a ball.  A ball pien spreads the metal out in all directions where as a cross pien hammer spreads the metal out perpendicular to the axis of the edge of the pien. 

You would place the offending sight in a vise or on your anvil and strike the bottom surface of the sight base with the pien edge perpendicular to the length of the side base.  The metal has to go somewhere!  While the sight base gets a little thinner the sight base gets longer at the same time.  It works like a charm!   I have tightened up numerous sights on rifleguns owned by friends with a single smite of the hammer.

Best Regards,

JMCe

[kutter]

If there is a flat area in front of the sight blade, you can stretch it using a drill bit and a bench vise.

Take a drill bit large enough in diameter so when you place the smooth shank of it accross that area, it is higher than the sight blade. The drill bit works well as it is harder than the sight base mat'l generally.

Put the sight and bit in that position in your vise,,the drill bit verticle,,the sight horizontal with the bottom of the sight against one of the vise jaws. The other vise jaw against the drill bit.
(It helps if the vise jaws are smooth, especially the one that the bottom of the sight base is up against)

Now tighten the vise and squeeze the drill bit shank into the sight base. It'll impart a nice smooth round imprint into the base accross the top and at the same time stretch the base out longer.
If it needs to go a bit more place the shank once again in position ahead of the first try and give it another go.
 
Sometimes the base will curl a bit from the treatment and you'll have to gently flatten it out again.
The imprints if carefully done will be nice straight round bottom lines. A 'thick & thin' line can be done if you do 2 trys and is sometimes seen cast into the store bought sights.
 
You can 'gain' quite a bit of length to the sight base this way and then refit it.

Takes less time to do it than explain it.

[smylee grouch]

All those ideas sound good. I have used the solder method too and that worked also. I just tinned the bottom of the sight with solder but not out to the edge so you wouldnt see the solder and when reinstaled.  Smylee

[cmac]

You can also knurl up "teeth" using an engraver or sharp center punch on the dovetail or on the sight

[Ky-Flinter]

Since it's "just barely" loose, why not sight the gun in to determine the correct position, then peen the dovetail edges of the barrel flat to secure the sight in place?

-Ron

[Don Getz]

The easiest fix, if the sight is just slightly loose, is to remove the sight, then peen down both sides of the dovetail, then
slide (pound) the sight back in.........so easy to do..........Don

[Dphariss]

I have a rifle with a rear sight that just is barely loose,you just can move it with your thumb so the dovetail  needs to be tightened up,whats the correct method to do this? or do I peen the sight to correct this? thanks in advance

Use a center punch to raise some bumps in he bottom of the dove tail. Try about 10 small dimples and see how it works. Do not make huge divots.
Or peen the sight larger and then file out any bash marks.
Or just stake it one its in the right position.
Dan

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I bought an expensive spirit level target sight for my Sharps rifle, and found the sight's base was too small.  So I placed a piece of hardened shim stock in with the sight, and tapped it in.  It is invisible, and really tightened up the sight, without having to move any barrel or sight base metal.