Tightening up a front site

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Jeff H

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I have an aftermarket front sight that is just a little lose in the dove tail. For now, I put some red loctite on it but I'm not sure that it will hold. What are some other options to secure it?
 
Remove the sight, turn it upside down and place on a steel support like a vise jaw. Use a center punch to carefully put a couple of dimples on each side of the underside of the sights "wings." Trial fit it in the dovetail. If it has enough resistance, apply red loctite to cleaned surfaces and assemble. If the sight is not quite tight enough when you trial fit, add another dimple to each side and try again. There should be good resistance when the sight is inserted 1/3 to 1/2 way into the dovetail.

Do not dimple the dovetail channel on the slide! Only the bottom of the sight "wings."

On final assembly, use a caliper to insure the sight is centered. It will be very difficult to remove after the red loctite has cured.
 
Remove the sight, turn it upside down and place on a steel support like a vise jaw. Use a center punch to carefully put a couple of dimples on each side of the underside of the sights "wings." Trial fit it in the dovetail. If it has enough resistance, apply red loctite to cleaned surfaces and assemble. If the sight is not quite tight enough when you trial fit, add another dimple to each side and try again. There should be good resistance when the sight is inserted 1/3 to 1/2 way into the dovetail.

Do not dimple the dovetail channel on the slide! Only the bottom of the sight "wings."

On final assembly, use a caliper to insure the sight is centered. It will be very difficult to remove after the red loctite has cured.

Thank you Sir. If the red loctite doesn't hold , I will look into dimpling. Either that or a feeler gauge gets sacrificed for a shim.
 
Put aluminum foil layers in the bottom of the dovetail so the sight is a snug fit. Push or tap the sight into the dovetail slot.

No loctite needed.
 
I would get a replacement front sight that can be properly fitted to your gun, then skip the red loctite. If I use loctite on sights I usually go with the low strength (purple) or with the blue which is more medium strength. I don't consider red suitable for use on any gun parts that you ever might want to remove or even adjust in the dovetail
 
No Loctite, no dimples, just tighten the dovetail... Take a small brass drift or punch and hammer and very gently tap the highest portions of the dovetail down until some resistance is felt when sliding the sight in. Tap some more and make fit as tight as you want...
 
Just be careful with the dimpling because if the sight is a cast part you can break it quite easily if not fully supported. It all depends of the distance between the dovetail's bottom and the sight's bottom - if minimal then dimpling it will work, but if you can clearly see a gap then put a shim. As for the advise above me - I'm sorry, but this is a Bubba approach. You will distort the lines and it will look ugly - it works OK, but one can tell from a mile away what has been done to that gun.
 
Never really thought of that. Have you found it to be a "permanent" fix? Does it stay in place until you remove it or does it gradually loosen up after many rounds fired?
it stays tight, you really just fill the gaps. when you drift the sight in the extr will sheer of, if you wanted it to really stay you could flux the barrel dove tail and sweat the sight on.
 
Mizar, Ha ha ha, a "Bubba approach" You have got to be kidding. I did not say hammer the snot out of it... It takes very little to tighten a dovetail from clearance to interference. You barely move any metal with this technique. IMO dimpling is like a bandaid as the surface contact area around each dimple is very small and temporary in nature. Once you install sight the dimple with be moved back as it is softer than barrel steel. However you do it is fine w/me. Dimples, hahaha... Shirley Temple has dimples.
 
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My limited experience.... & observations.
Dimpling and locktite is what we called a Michigan fix. Yeah, it works.........
Can not seeing foil working, too pliable & will not stay in place for me without ripping.
Feeler gauge as a shim option, yeah ,that'll work.
So will tightening the dovetail, carefully!
So will "soft" solder.
Silver solder requires a lot of heat and nasty flux that turns to "glass".( Do not like to see gun parts red hot.)
In my experience, any locktite can be disabled using heat.
 
I want to tanks everyone who responded. This was a good read.

While my sight was lose to me, you couldn't move it by hand, but a (too) light of a tap with a brass punch would get it too move so that is why I started the thread. The red loctite I put on didn't break in 100 rounds today so I guess that is good. HOWEVER, at the range today, the gun shot 4-5" right at 10 yards, so that is no good. I had a hell of a time hitting the dueling trees. o_O

So, back in the shop and drifted the sight .04"-ish to the right. More red loctite for now. Once I finally get it so it shoots centered, I'll be happy. the look into a more permanent fix with a shim. I don't feel good enough about my gunsmithing skills to try to tighten the dovetail .
 
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