WW II M1 carbine question

[atr]

A friend of mine brought over a WWII carbine which he found when cleaning out his dads house. His dad was a WWII vet who had passed away. The carbine looks in great shape but he brought it over to me with a question about the rear sight. The rear sight has the knob windage adjustment and the slide elevation adjustment. That whole assembly is set in a dovetail slot milled into the reciever. There is a small amount of side play in the slotted assembly, that is the assembly moves slightly (L-R) in the slot. It looks like the dovetail assembly was "staked" into the receiver slot. IS THIS NORMAL? It does appear to me that this was designed this way but I have no experience with this type of weapon..

thanks
atr

[Haggway]

Alot of the early carbines had a flip up site. The retrofits, and later ones came with the site you described.

[zomby woof]

Sounds like you have the Type two sight. It has lots of side play. I prefer the type three, it has less play.

Enjoy the carbine, they're fun!!!

[Mooseman]

Agreed...It has the type 2 sights that were used to replace the L flip sights when the guns were re-arsenaled. Staking was normal.

Rich

[Cmemiss]

In 1960-62 I was one of the 3rd Inf Div. IG small arms inspectors and worked in the Div. Ordnance whenever we weren't out in the Div. inspecting. I staked a lot of M 1&2 Carbine sights before we turned all the M-1 rifles, carbines and Browning MGs in and reissued the M-14 and M-60.

[shotman]

you can " re stake" light or you can take some blue lock tight and set it. the blue will not be hard to remove. the carbine is not a target rifle so dont think it is a one holer. the Blue LT will keep it from the rattle stage

[atr]

thanks guys,,,,much appreciated !!!
atr

[torpedoman]

CMP has all your answers, even to questions you did not know you wanted to ask.
http://www.odcmp.com/Sales/carbine.htm
good info and how to's on you treasure.

[mud lake]

I had one that was loose in the dovetail and I mixed up a bit of two-part epoxy (J-B Weld) and used it to level up and secure the sight. It was not evident and worked just fine. I hate to stake as it mars up the surface which is okay if you never move it again but if you have to....? I know, file it down and touch up the blue, etc. but still I hate to do it.

[Mooseman]

Another way is to dimple the flat of the dovetail with a few center punch strikes in the middle and then tap the sight back into place. It raises the metal and tightens the fit.

Rich