Win 62A Front Sight

[D.B. Cooper]

Looking at a coworker's gun he inherited. The front sight was removed and a Weaver 4X scope installed. There is no dovetail cut into the front of the barrel for a front sight. It appears to have been glued/brazed on, similar to a modern 10/22. The only replacement front sights I can find are for a dovetail cut into the barrel.

Were there two styles or what I'm looking at?

 

[LoonWulf]

Looking at a coworker's gun he inherited. The front sight was removed and a Weaver 4X scope installed. There is no dovetail cut into the front of the barrel for a front sight. It appears to have been glued/brazed on, similar to a modern 10/22. The only replacement front sights I can find are for a dovetail cut into the barrel.

Were there two styles or what I'm looking at?

Its possible theres a well fitted and finished over dovetail insert.
This is one I did on a m60 barrel i installed on a 795.
Finshed over its hard to see, and ive seen them done well enough to be all but invisible even unfinished


Its also possible the barrel was cut back removing the front sight dovetail.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Its possible theres a well fitted and finished over dovetail insert...Its also possible the barrel was cut back removing the front sight dovetail.

Well crap.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Oaky. So here's what I'm looking at. @LoonWulf was correct. It looks like there was a blank inserted and then ground down. It's not well-finished. (Pics below.) I measured the barrel length (23" w/ cloded bolt/action) thinking it may have been cut, but I doubt it. The crown is in good condition, and jusdging by the grinding on the barrel near the front sight, I doubt a home-grown barrel cutting and recrowning would have come out so good.

Scope is a Bushnell Sportview. Probably not a great product, but I'm biased against the brand.

Is it possible to return this to an iron sight configuration? What would that entail. How would I remove the fitted metal blank? Am I barking up the wrong tree? (It seems like a monumental task.) I suspect it would be far more than the gun's value to take this to a gunsmith for this retrofit job.



Below are pics of the barrel, muzzle, and front sight area, as well as the overall gun. It's definitely a shooter class gun, as opposed to a collector piece. (Unless there is something I'm missing.)

 

[LoonWulf]

That was probably the front sight, probably broke off.........just drive it out and drive in a new one.



I have that one if u want it.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

So you're thinking that someone just ground the old sight down?

 

[codytrucker]

My computer is hooked to a 48 inch tv in my living room . So i can see your barrel at about 5 times life size or so . I can see where it is dovetailed in . You should be able to tap it out , left to right ,with a brass punch .

 

[LoonWulf]

So you're thinking that someone just ground the old sight down?

Yeah, seems likely...those look like file marks to me. If you want to fix it, I'd draw file it a bit more then give it a polish to remove as much as possible with the blank in place to keep from rounding the dovetails edges and to make the process a little smoother. Then drive it out as @codytrucker suggests.

One fun trick for finding edges of fills, plug screws, and other joints, is to swipe with cold blue, usually you'll see the outlines of the individual parts.