Photo Tutorial: Making Dovetail Slot Fillers From Old Sights

[Pete44ru]

I buy old longleaf rear open/iron sights every chance I get, usually by asking gunsmiths, etc for "take offs", for a few $$ each, & sometime free for the asking.



Pick a male dovetail / forward portion of one of the sights, that suits you & the rifle it's going on; then trace the factory front contour/design on a paper for transfer to the rear half of the dovetail's top later



Cut out the tracing of the front edge design, flip it over/rotate it around, and align it at the rear half of the sight's male dovetail, outline the design at the new/rear location with a Sharpie, and cut off/away the unused rear portion of the old longleaf.





Grind/file the excess from the pattern to match the front as closely as possible, & cold blue it before install. (done)



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[AJMD429]

Those look SO much better than the 'factory' dovetail-fillers...!

I did see a brass one someone put in a stainless barrel and filed 'flush' with the barrel to look like a little brass bow-tie smooth with the barrel contour.

[3leggedturtle]

That's great instructional video. Now that you mention it, I see lots of misc rear sights at lots of gunshows and gunshops. Also remember someone using a nickel too.

[cshold]

[FatJackDurham]

Wicked!!!! Thanks! I will try that!

[olyinaz]

That is a fantastic idea.

[Ji in Hawaii]

I did that to my Winchester Trapper after I mounted an AO Ghost Ring sight on her a few years back.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Every time I have ever added a tang sight to someone's older Rossi with the .400 dovetail that is exactly what I did to fill the dovetail. just use the old sight.

[1894c]

as someone just said--that is a GREAT idea...thanks for sharing... :)

[Pete44ru]

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Thank you all........



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[COSteve]

Done

[Sigmar]

As per another thread that you had commented on this is what I'm doing with mine. Now for another ignorant question, do you cold blue the whole piece or just where you exposed fresh metal ? Also on removing the sight inside the dovetail it exposed fresh metal so I guess that will have to be touched up as well.

[Pete44ru]

As per another thread that you had commented on this is what I'm doing with mine. Now for another ignorant question, do you cold blue the whole piece or just where you exposed fresh metal ? Also on removing the sight inside the dovetail it exposed fresh metal so I guess that will have to be touched up as well.

YMMV - I mostly just cold blue (several coats) where the filed-on filler has bare/white metal exposed, and I suppose the inside of the bbl dovetail could be done as well, but since it's usually hidden by the new filler blank, why bother?
I'd just apply a small drop of oil in there @ blank installation, to preclude any rusting.



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[Shasta]

Great job on those sight blanks! They really look much nicer than the ones available from Marble's.

I have a stainless steel Taurus LA .22 rifle for which I made a filler that follows the contour of the barrel. It is made of highly polished mild steel, and I really like the way it looks...




SHASTA

[Pete44ru]

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I like it - especially for a stainless barrel app.


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[Sigmar]

Thanks much for the reply. will post pics when I'm done, well as long as y'all can handle looking at a new remlin

[Canuck Bob]

Great DIY post.

My peep sight 94 32 Special came with just such a DIY filler. It really dressed it up.