Marlin 1881 front site blade

[remy3424]

Hey fellas, I am looking for a little help. My father has an old Marlin 1881 in his line-up and it is missing the "blade" in the front site. I am not sure if that was brass or just steel, but what maybe matters more is, "how is it secured"? Press fit, staked, soldered??? Does anyone have these blades available or is a "make your own" part? Any advice or information would be very much appreciated.

[pietro]

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The original front sight would have been a steel sight blade with a male dovetail base that mounted in the female dovetail in the barrel top near the muzzle.

Dovetail sights are driven out towards the RH side of the gun when viewed from the rear, and installed in the opposite direction.


When R&R'ing a dovetail sight, the barrel should be firmly held in a padded vise, sited close to the dovetail - the sight blade is drifted in/out with a solid (metal) non-marring drift pin & a solid strikes from a heavy hammer (not a household hammer).


There are multiple different front sight heights available, as well as sight blade tops (Plain blade, Ivory bead, Gold bead, etc, etc)

If you google "1881 Marlin front sight for sale", you should be able to locate a proper replacement sight.



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[remy3424]

So, what holds the blade in the dovetailed base? The base is still on the barrel.

[Winger Ed.]

So, what holds the blade in the dovetailed base? The base is still on the barrel.

Sounds like its broken off.
The blade was probably Silver soldered or welded to the base when it was made.

[John Taylor]

Soft solder will hold it. I have made more than a few for the Winchesters using German silver or brass and soldered them together. I don't know how they were held in original, no trace of solder on any that I have looked at.

[pietro]

So, what holds the blade in the dovetailed base? The base is still on the barrel.

Dovetail front sights mounted into a barrel dovetail are a one-piece integral unit that's held in the barrel dovetail by a close friction fit - which suffices, since a guns recoil is in a front/rear direction, and not to the side.

New dovetailed front sight blades are microscopically larger than the female dovetail it's intended to be installed in - which can usually require a slight stoning/filing if the sights blade male dovetail (NEVER file a barrel/female dovetail) for a good fit. (loose fits are best tightened via either shimming the bottom of the dovetail slot or peening it slightly from the top).

Some ramp-mounted front sight blades are flat blades pinned into a slot in the top of the front sight ramp that is inline with the bore.

(Among others, my 1903 Springfield, Winchester 1895 & Savage 1899 were all were issued with pinned front sight blades.)


Here's a tutorial on dovetail front sight replacement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcp97wXg6k8


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