How I did it: filling sight blank.

[coyote nose]

I put tang sights on all my old levers. I thus need to fill the rear sight slot, and dont care too much for the big slot fillers you can buy. I thus do this trick I learned off of my brother. You can do this on round barrels as well as octagon. Place the gun firmly in a padded vise. I have done this with assembled as well as disassembled rifles, but if you are doing this with the buttstock also resting on a surface make sure you support it well.
First oil the area on the barrel around the rear sight blank (helps limit you getting a lead smear around the area you are working on), then place a pure lead slug in the dovetail (I use round ball or conicals from my 1851 navy). You may have to flatten the sides of the slug until it just fits into the narrow part of the dovetail:

Next start gently tapping with a hammer, tap straight down at first so the lead flows into the dovetail undercuts and holds tightly. Dont whack it, just gentle taps. Lead flows easily.

As the lead expands and gets thinner, start following the barrel contour. Note when you hit the left side the lead will flow out of the right....keep doing this and alternating taps with the hammer.

As it thins out the edge of the dovetail will actually cause the lead to break off where it is not needed, you can speed this up buy breaking it off yourself as it comes loose.

You are almost there....keep tapping and following the barrel contour. watch the lines on an octagon barrel. If you tap too hard and move the line in, simply tap the other side and the lead will flow back out and straighten things up. Dont tap the barrel, tap the lead. tap straight down too, Get the lead out! In this photo below see how super thin the lead is on the side facing us? I use my fingernail to scrape it off, then keep tapping

Here it is almost done. A few more taps to straighten things out and too sharpen up the edges as the steel dovetail edges bite into the lead and shear it off. Use you fingernail to scrape if necessary..the lead is so thin at the edge that it just scrapes away easily.

Now, you are done. You can do final tweaking by CAREFULLY, using a flat needle file, filing the lead dead flat. I put very fine sandpaper on the needle file and LIGHTLY do a few strokes, but really this is not necessary. The lead, when done will be bright and gaudy, especially on a blued gun. It will oxidize dark in a surprisingly short time. i speed it up by using a toothpick to apply cold blue...it darkens the lead immediately. Just dont get it on the barrel. In my final photo you can see where I actually got a little around the lead and onto the barrel...it looks like a little dark line on either side of the lead. It is not that big of a deal on this particular gun because it is cold blue and as I wipe down the gun with an oily rag it will eventually come off the steel (but the lead will stay oxidized).

Thats it. With time it blends in with the barrel and I think it looks sleeker than a protruding steel blank.
Have done this on my Dads 1892 back in the late 1990s and it is still good and tight as the day I put it on.

[deerwhacker444]

Very Interesting..!

[Modoc ED]

It's different. What happens to the metal underneath the lead over time? Even with the cold-blue treatment, will the lead oxidize over time?

Good post. Thanks for the pics.

[kimwcook]

Neat little trick. Thanks for that.

[Ysabel Kid]

Very interesting!

[Tycer]

That's how I do it. Yancey gave me the idea, said that's how they used to do it.

[AJMD429]

Awhile back, someone here did a similar thing using brass (for a stainless gun), but I've lost the link. The lead seems a good idea for a blued or browned gun, though.

[TedH]

Neat!

[crs]

TedH;
Thank you for the post and pix.
It is great to be able to do such gun work, but since I never learned to do much more than clean a rifle, I address the problem in a different manner for my tang sighted rifles. I install a Marbles folding "hunting sight" in the dovetail and keep it down when not in use. If the tang sight ever gets boogered while hunting, just fold it down and flip up the barrel sight and you are back in business. Naturally, the folding barrel sight must also be sighted in, but that can be fun too.

[pete-driver]

I did it with brass on my 1895. John

[rjohns94]

very interesting thanks for the post

[coyote nose]

It's different. What happens to the metal underneath the lead over time? Even with the cold-blue treatment, will the lead oxidize over time?

Good post. Thanks for the pics.

Well, I dont know what happens long term, but I did this to a Winchester 1890 once and about 3 years later when i sold it, I took the tang sight off, drifted the lead out and reinstalled the original rear sight. I recall no rusting problems.

[adirondakjack]

I did exactly that three years ago. I had mounted a Marbles tang peep sight right before a CAS match, and lacking any dovetail blank stock, I used a .22 bullet I'd recovered some time before.

I beat the bullet into a "brick" that roughly fit the slot, a little too tall, the right length, then peened it into the slot. It's been there at least two years with no issues.



If ya use a brass scraper as the last step, you can blend it very close to perfect without hurting the bluing

[AJMD429]

I did it with brass on my 1895. John

I couldn't find your post from back when on that brass filler - how did you do that one? Peened or fitted or what...?

[pete-driver]

AJMD429,
I bought a piece of brass bar stock and just started cutting with a metal file until I got real close. Then I tapped it in from the side. After that I cut off the excess with a hacksaw and went back to the file. The final finish was with 200 grit sand paper. The hardest part was just going slow and being patient. John

[Scott Young]

i have used brass, bronze and aluminum. i have tried steel, but i prefer the brass and bronze for looks...you have to finish the steel. i suppose you can use stainless. i like the lead; i never thought to use it.

[Pete44ru]

My $0.02, regarding the posted slot fillers: Quite a bit of "all right" !

Thanks, all, for posting.

It's gettin' so's we be needin' a tech section here, purt-near soon.

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