Drifting front sight M1917

[Patrick Chadwick]

So my questions to you guys is has anyone here had a similar problem and come up with a solution to it, and was the front sight install in this way on the 1917 rifle or did someone just screw up?

Yes, someone screwed up. But thanks to "Eddy", who posed for the following shots, your problem can be solved!

A foresight block, without blade, looks like this: Note the hole for the fixing pin.

Attachment 52038
A correctly assembled and mounted foresight should look like this, from the side:

Attachment 52039

Note that you can see a sliver of daylight below the dovetail base and the recess in the block. They were made like that so that the blade is located on the top face, and does not bottom in the dovetail slot. And note that the block was pinned in position (more later).

From the front, the sight assembly should look like this:

Attachment 52040

M1917 connoisseurs will observe that the foresight blade was staked. Staking will make it more difficult to move the blade - but not impossible.

You need some carefully applied force - a small C-clamp is good:

Attachment 52036

Which you then apply to the foresight assembly like this:
Attachment 52037

You should be able to push the blade so far to one side (from left to right, looking down on the foresight) that it is nearly falling out of the slot, and can finally be pushed out with a BRASS NOT STEEL drift.

As your blade is the wrong way around, it is possible that it will snag on the ear and cannot be pushed out completely. In this event, you will have to drive out the pin and drift off the foresight block. Something that is not easy to do without marring the finish on the barrel.
I hope that will not not necessary!

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.