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I need to replace a rear sight. Are dovetails tapered for sight installation direction. Conflicting information online.
wolfbait said
I need to replace a rear sight. Are dovetails tapered for sight installation direction. Conflicting information online.
Yes–narrower on the left side of slot, wider on right. Which is why it’s driven out toward the right.
That is what I have heard. But a gunsmith used a precise micrometer on a pre-war 1894, and both sides of the dovetail were the exact same size.
wolfbait said
That is what I have heard. But a gunsmith used a precise micrometer on a pre-war 1894, and both sides of the dovetail were the exact same size.
Might be because someone had driven sight out to left, this widening slot. Not a bad idea, either, as I’ve encountered several of them SO constricted on the left side that it was impossible to center front sight with ordinary hand tools, leading me to suspect the factory installed them using an arbor press, or some other tool with mechanical advantage.
All the Winchester blueprints I have seen on barrels showing dovetail dimensions, indicate a total taper of 30′ or 1/2 degree. As mentioned, widest dimension is always on RH side, tapering narrower to the LH side. This taper only amounts to about .004″ over the length of dovetail slot.
Winchester verified width at inspection with a special made gage.
Steve
seewin said Winchester verified width at inspection with a special made gage.
I have a mid-’30s 52 that should have failed that test, because it’s one of the guns I referred to that has a slot too narrow to allow perfect centering of a 93 A front sight. After I gave up trying to hammer it in, I bought a Williams sight pusher for the express purpose of installing that sight, & even using it, the sight is still off-center to the right, so had to compensate with the rear sight windage adj. Can understand how this might happen using a sight of some other make, that might be oversize, but with a Winchester-made sight?
November 7, 2015
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seewin said
Might have been the sight and not the rifle.Steve
Agreed. Winchester employed thousands of filers and none of them were in danger of getting a paper cut. Hand fitting was the norm during much of Winchester production and certain parts were a bit oversize to allow fitting. I suppose that’s why I am in awe of certain drop-in replacement parts for modern firearms that actually require NO fitting.
Mike
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