Drive rifle front sight: drive it out right to left?

From the left to the right most times

For all the talk of tapered dovetails in 50+ years of messing with guns I've never found a single one. I'm sure they must exist..... somewhere.

BBBBill said:

For all the talk of tapered dovetails in 50+ years of messing with guns I've never found a single one. I'm sure they must exist..... somewhere.

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I've been a gunsmith for 35 years and have never seen a tapered dovetail either.

Larry said, at end of video- Sights should always be drifted in from the RIGHT SIDE?

The hand fitting may open the right side , sort of like a bevel, making it easier to start the sight into the dove tail.

BBBBill said:

For all the talk of tapered dovetails in 50+ years of messing with guns I've never found a single one. I'm sure they must exist..... somewhere.

Click to expand...

Same for me, but I always try driving out from the left, in from the right, first. Sometimes I end up reversing that, but even then the dovetail wasn't tapered. They just came out easier that way.

BBBBill said:

For all the talk of tapered dovetails in 50+ years of messing with guns I've never found a single one. I'm sure they must exist..... somewhere.

Click to expand...

What about the other half?

I think people tend to say left to right just to offer reassurance that said drifting won't bugger stuff up. At some point sight adjustment is going to require a tap in either direction - so there's your answer. Once a dovetail sight is out you'll appreciate it's symmetrical and doesn't matter.

Sig pistols are backwards regarding their sight / pin installations, right to left, contrary to most.

Oh come on. Turn sight upside down and you can tell it's made to install one way. A magnifying glass shows it was installed one way. No one has filed a taper to a female dovetail. For the first timer it comes out the same way your reading this. Shame on the rest for making such a big deal

Tapering a dovetail would defeat its main purpose. I think maybe the OP is thinking of pin driving convention? He didn't say. OK, dummy, read the rest of the thread. I got it now. Never mind.

The few times I've dealt with sight dovetails, the dovetail cut in the barrel didn't seem to have a taper. But, the actual sight's dovetails did have tapers and were installed from the right, tapping them to go to the left.

I've seen the corners of a few sights and/or dovetails beveled very slightly, but never tapered. The bevel was usually only about .005" by .010"long. Just enough to get the sight started in the dovetail.

Pretty much it is push it out the same side it was pushed in to. Not because the dovetail is tapered but things may have opened up a titch mechanically on the installation side.
If you didn’t install it look closely for witness marks.
Some sights have the corners of the wedge rounded a bit on one side for easier starting.