Krag Front Sight Attachment

[no4mk1t]

Is the Krag front sight secured to the barrel solely by the friction fit of the shallow dovetail, or is it also silver soldered or something similar?

Information

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[m1903rifle]

Most people say that the front sight was brazed to the barrel using a brass alloy. Requires a much higher temperature than silver solder. If you are trying to install one, I think silver solder would work just fine if you use the correct flux. Remember to clean all the excess solder off the steel before you touch up the bluing.

[no4mk1t]

Actually looking at replacing the barrel with one of the Criterions from CMP. Would then need to remove the front sight base for installation on the new barrel, or so I thought. I see now that S&S makes a front sight base.
So silver solder is the way to go?

[DocCasualty]

I note your last post is a couple of months old but lacking a reply, I thought I would offer a couple of thoughts in case you're still in the planning stages. I recently restored sights to my Krag as the former owner had changed them out to a modern front ramp and Williams rear sight.

As noted above, the originals were brazed so that will take a higher heat to remove it. I could not find an original sight so went the S&S route. I had a gunsmith remove that ramp sight which was soldered on and fit the repro for me. He told me that the repro was too large for the Krag's dovetail and had to work that to make it fit. I forgot to ask him if he ended up silver soldering or not, as it ended up being a custom fit. I'm going to email him and find out for curiosity's sake. I'm not sure if this situation is the common experience or not and have made a few posts around the 'net seeing if anybody has other experiences to share.

Here's a pic of the repro sight seated, which I just picked up the day before yesterday from the shop. You can see there is a little step-off at the edges that you don't see with the armory originals. I'm beginning to think the correct way to work with these repros is to shave them down to fit the way they're supposed to. As the gunsmith is a good hour and a half away, I left the rifle and sight (after I buffed and blued it) for him to take off the old sight first, so neither he nor I really had any idea what the fit would be like, and then fit the repro. Actually we didn't even know what it was going to be like under the ramp and thankfully the original dovetail was untouched.

[DocCasualty]

Just an addendum to my post above. The front sight is drifted in and not soldered, as the dovetail was milled to fit it.

[no4mk1t]

Thanks for the reply and info Doc.
Still gathering parts and material. Just got the rust blue solution and carding wheel in yesterday. Still need a stacking swivel and screw, the barrel, and new wood.
My existing barrel still has the original sight, so I'll fit the base and contour to match the original.

[DocCasualty]

Hope you'll be able to post some pics along the way of your build. Sounds like a great project!

I went to the range yesterday for the first time with this Krag and am very happy with the results. Shoots nice groups at 100 yards, pretty much on center for windage, though a little high with the 100 yard peep, centering in the 5-6 ring. Battle sight is about 12" high at 100 yards, which I'm guessing is pretty typical.