New to the Forum. Have Some Early Type 38 Questions

I recently Purchased two , from what I can tell, Early production Type 38 Arisaka's. Both are in need of some attention and I have been stripping them down and trying to see which one will be a shooter and which one is good fro only collection purposes. I believe that distinction has already been made considering one has an intact Mum and the other is scrubbed. My big question is how do you remove the early blade style front sight, the one without the protective ears? The rear sight base has a chunk missing out of it and I wanted to replace it. I have the rear sight base removed and are sliding on the barrel( don't worry i used a brass hammer) I just can't get it off with front sight on the barrel.

Supposed to be one or two pins that are tapered and must be tapped out from the right side. After you get it or them out, work the sight off slowly, do not tap, twist. If you can see the pins, use fine sandpaper to remove the finish.

I've never done this, just recommendations from anther site.

I gave it a few good stern hits and it doesn't seem to want to budge. Unfortunately I think it is stuck and I'm not too interested in heating up to try to drive the pin out. The Shooter however, cleaned up very nicely and seems to have some strong rifling. Excited to see how it shoots

The instructions I read were it takes some very stout hits to loosen the pin. Just make sure you are hitting in the right direction. I'd keep at it.