Weird Dovetail Size

[gunboat57]

Can someone tell me what would fit in this dovetail? The rifle is a sporterized US Krag. When I bought it, the previous owner had installed a military rear sight and the dovetail was not being used. Could it be European? It's about 14mm.



Second question, how do you specify the size of the female dovetail? Is it the max width of the cut like I've shown?

 

[BBBBill]

That is correct. Max width and the angle. Most are 60 degrees, but there are others. 65 degrees is common for some handgun cuts. Problem with measuring that way is that dovetail cutters dull quickly leaving the corners rounded and short of the target dimension. The wire method is deemed to be the most accurate way to measure in those tight corners.

 

[25cschaefer]

I had a similar problem on the AMT Lightning I am building, odd size (way big) and use the wire method to determine that it was a 73 degree dovetail. I'm making a cutter so I can make a sight.

 

[LAGS]

I had to Hand make the Dovetail base for the custom rear sight I built for Armoredmans CZ 527.
It was an Odd European wide dovetail.
The first I got the width right but missed the angle, so it was loose.
The second one I made was correct on the angle but a little wide at the base.
He was able to jewlers file the sight to get it to fit properly.

PS
He has only sent me the old rear sight to build the new sight off of, and not the rifle.
So it was sheer luck I got it correct on the second try.

 

[Urban_Redneck]

NECG carries wide dovetail base sights. Might save y'all some work.