Another Loose Rear Sight

[boomer656]

Finally got my carbine out to the range this morning. Started out shooting nicely, but the more I shot, the worse I got. Eventually I noticed the rear sight was shifted way off to the right, and a little bit of thumb pressure slid it right out of the dovetail.

I searched the forum and found a post from a few weeks ago with the same problem. Although I have a background in machinery & repair, I'm reluctant to give the receiver a whack with a punch. Blue thread lock is cheap, so I do believe I will go that route.

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[WarPig1976]

I’ll just throw this out there. When I build a BP pistol/rifle I peen the sight base itself not the dovetail on the barrel.

[rcathey]

I was the poster that advised giving it a whack. Maybe a poor choice of words haha. I do that type of “technical peening” in my day job working with extrusion dies (often more expensive than the average Carbine) quite often so it wouldn’t make me too nervous.
I can certainly see the attraction to the thread locker though and would probably also suggest that in hindsight. Most any glue would be reversible with just a bit of heat.

[usabaker]

I'm reluctant to give the receiver a whack with a punch. Blue thread lock is cheap, so I do believe I will go that route.

Brass shim stock is your friend

[painter777]

+1 Blue Loc Tite

First use flat tooth picks to shim it in place, adjust as needed, when hitting where you want it use a pencil to index/mark the top of the dovetails.
Clean any oil off.
Replace rear sight per index marks.

I've used it on 2 carbines I shoot hard. No problems, good tight bond, no problem seeing the Loc Tite.
The Dove tail area doesn't heat up enough to loose the bond.

If you ever need to remove it a hair dryer or heat gun will give off enough heat to break the bond.
Now this is Blue Loc Tite. I have no experience with their other brands.

[boomer656]

I was the poster that advised giving it a whack. Maybe a poor choice of words haha....

Nothing wrong with your guidance/instructions. In my case, I have no frame of reference as to how hard a 'whack' to give it Even if I did, I'm sure my calibration would be off.

[boomer656]

+1 Blue Loc Tite

First use flat tooth picks to shim it in place, adjust as needed, when hitting where you want it use a pencil to index/mark the top of the dovetails.
Clean any oil off.
Replace rear sight per index marks.

I've used it on 2 carbines I shoot hard. No problems, good tight bond, no problem seeing the Loc Tite.
The Dove tail area doesn't heat up enough to loose the bond.

If you ever need to remove it a hair dryer or heat gun will give off enough heat to break the bond.
Now this is Blue Loc Tite. I have no experience with their other brands.

I won't need any shims for this. I can press the sight by hand into a very snug fit into what I believe is its original position. Before I put the loctite to it, I'm going to take it out for a few shots to confirm the position is correct. Assuming it is the correct position, I'll clean both surfaces and apply a thin coat of blue loctite. I suspect most of what I apply will be squeezed out when I press the sight in place. A little clean up and it should be a done deal.

[painter777]

Boomer,
Your post brings back a good laugh for me.
Had a rare day at the range with my always busy grown son.
A perfect sunny day, with the range all to ourselves. After pinning up some targets out at 50. I'd shoot a string of 5 carbine rounds and we'd note where they hit. Then he'd use the same carbine and shoot a string of five, again we'd note where they hit. After warming up, we'd use our hits as an average... then fine tune the rear adj site. OK now we're on target, let the games begin. He went first putting all on center in about a 5" circle. When I took over my last couple shots started walking off the target. So I made sight adjustments then handed off to him. Yep his next 5 were back in the 5" circle. When I took over... Again my hits started walking off the target. Re-adjust rear sight, he hits just like his first 2 times. ??? I'm up and again After my 2nd shot I'm flying off paper. After clearing the rifle and thinking to myself that it just isn't my day... I realize the rear sight is sliding off !
It was my sight adjustments that would keep him on for 5. After that 5 it would start moving on me, but I didn't realize it at the time.
To this day he's still bragging about out shooting the ole man.

He got his pay back the next time out. I had used Loc Tite on the sight so that was fixed. Again we did our you shoot 5, I'll shoot 5 to see if sight adjustments were ok.
When we were good to go....... When I hand him the carbine, I'd move the peep up the ramp without him seeing me do so. While he's wondering WTH happened, I'd move the peep back down the ramp without him seeing what I was doing. Did that all day to him and didn't tell him about it until months later when we had Christmas dinner.
Teach him to mess with the 'Ole Man'.

Cheers

[boomer656]

I didn't have anybody to screw with ..... at least not intentionally. My shots kept moving to the right -- adjust ---- the same, more to the right -- adjust -- the same, more to the right --- adjust --- nothing on the target at all. That's when it finally dawned on me that something other than my eye went seriously south. I didn't think of it at the time, but my target wasn't terribly far away from a gentleman to my right that was being very serious about sighting in his rifle (22 target). I hope I didn't give him a flyer off on the left side of his target to contemplate.

[Bruce McAskill]

Oh no, Charles you have gotten devious in your old age. You traumatized your poor son for months till Christmas to tell him? I LIKE IT!!!!!!!