Front Sight Replacement Desert Eagle Mark I

My Desert Eagle Mk 1, stainless, was previously scoped. the Mk 1 has a dovetail on the barrel. The scope mount that was installed required that the original sight be removed.

I have the replacement sight from Magnum Research, and read somewhere that the DE, like most front sights, should be drifted in from the right. I presume that means the shooter's right side.

The new sight is the proper sight, and is very close in size to the dovetail for the sight on the barrel, but just a bit too large to get started into the dovetail and then drive home with a plastic punch -- I think.

Any instructional advice would be appreciated. I would like to do this myself, if I can. I don't have a sight press for this pistol, though. Should metal removal be required?

rc:

Follow up. I went down in flames on the first try. Kept removing metal from the bottom of the sight, but never reached a point the sight would fit, even with "persuasion" until my calipers tell me the sight's dovetail base is now too shallow for the barrel's dovetail. The top surface of the barrel is curved, accentuating the depth needed for the sight blade to clear the dovetail slot, and still have the dovetail fit. If I keep going, I might get to a point the dovetail will fit, but it would be impossible to press the sight in far enough to clear the convex curvature of the barrel surface, without now removing metal from the bottom of the overhang of the sight blade. (sigh)

Perhaps I got the wrong replacementsight (somehow, I don't think so). It looks like, for this pistol, what was needed was a refitting of the "waist" of the sight's dovetail to the barrel's dovetail, preserving the overall depth of the sight's dovetail.

Twasn't that expensive a part, or too severe a lesson learned, but I guess I will hand the pistol off to a decent gunsmith (if I can find one locally). In the mean time, I will remount the scope.

Thanks for your advice. It was, in principle, sound, but in this case, I somehow didn't have the required skills to make the proper fit.