Rock Island v. Springfield rear sight dilemma

A couple weeks ago, on this board, I found that I had an early Springfield rear sight on an early Rock Island rifle and a Rock Island rear sight on a Springfield that had been refurbished at Rock Island during WW1. Removing and replacing the leafs with the attached drift slide, slide, slide cap, etc was pretty straight forward. Now I realize that the grooved slide screw would be "correct" for the early Rock Island rifle. It's now on the refurbished Springfield, with the early Springfield slide that was on the Rock. How big a project is removing the slide and slide cap. The slide cap pin looks pretty small and easily buggered. Also, how does one remove a drift slide from the sight leaf? Looks like the drift slide pin riveted to the back prevents removal and would prevent replacement with a new drift slide. Any suggestions or encouragement would be appreciated.

the sight slide is held together with a screw, the stop screw, is held in with a pin,
to remove the stop screw, you need to drive the small pin out.
i use a small push pin tack to do this.

The secret to disassembling the rear sight slide rests with having a tiny pin punch to drive out the pin and a small straight-blade screwdriver to remove the screw. In my case, I took a regular small pin punch and very slowly ground down the pin diameter on my grinder. The screwdriver is available from Sears in their Craftsman brand. It has a plastic handle and is a perfect fit.

To disassemble the sight, proceed as follows:

(1) Remove the sight from the rifle.

(2) Flip the leaf all the way backwards on the base.

(3) Place the leaf on a block of soft wood with the graduations facing up. I recommend soft pine.

(4) Use the screwdriver and slightly loosen the screw on the left side. If the screw won't come loose, you can stop right there. Your sight is frozen up and won't come apart.

(5) Use the pin punch and a small hammer and drive the pin on the right side down into the block of wood. You need only drive the pin down just far enough so that you can catch it on the back side with a pair of pliers. Then, use the pliers and pull the pin out with a twisting motion.

(6) Remove the screw on the left side.

(7) Using a plastic mallet, tap the slide cap towards the left and disengage it from the dovetail on the right. That removes the slide cap.

(8) The slide binding screw can now be removed by simply turning it counter-clockwise. But, be real careful!!!!! The screw shank has a groove cut in the threads and is very easily twisted in two. If you feel resistance, put some fine lubricant on the screw and rock it back and forth gently to gradually unscrew it.

(9) The drift slide can be removed by simply sliding it out the top end of the leaf.

(10) Re-assemble in reverse order.

Hope this helps.

J.B.

John, Thanks for the very useful information.