Odd dovetail size ?

[haterock 2]

I have just mounted a Lyman No.2 tang sight on my Italian made Sharps 1874 (Chaparral). I want to remove the rear buckhorn sight, and replace it with a slot blank or a fold down sight. The dovetail is measuring 0.480 and all the sights/blanks that I have come across are 3/8. Do You know if its possible to get something in this size?

Regards

[Sixgun]

I've seen several different sized dovetails on the old rifles. Colt Lightnings have an odd size which is slightly smaller so it was easy for me to just file down a normal sized one. With your larger dovetail, that presents a harder problem.

A buddy of mine is a nationally known sight dealer and he has boxes of all kinds of stuff and I bet if you can't find a new one, he has something that would fit. His name is Ken Bean of York, Pa. Just Google his name and city- the info comes up.

You might try Buffalo Arms, http://www.buffaloarms.com as they have lots of oddball things.-----------------Sixgun

[pokey]

take a chunk of brass and a file..............

[Pete44ru]

Or, a clean, unlubed lead boolit - and swedge it into the dovetail slot, then file or burnish off the excess that exceeds the barrel contour/config.

The lead will color with oxidation/age.

.

[haterock 2]

Thank You for the suggestions. I Think I will try with a piece of brass, and if that fails I will try the lead.

Regards

[Don McDowell]

7/16 is the standard Sharps dovetail.