Rossi sight question

[kooz]

Who makes a white stripe front sight blade that will fit in the dovetail of a Rossi ?

[O.S.O.K.]

Just order an XS sight and use a brass drift to tap the lips of the dovetail down a tad - it doesn't take much at all. This is what I did and it worked fine.

[kooz]

So Rossi must cut them a little bigger than 3/8". How loose of a fit was it ? can you see daylight or is it just a couple thousands ?

[AJMD429]

Rossi usually (not in a recent Braztek/Puma I got, however) uses a "European" dovetail that is a tad wider.

You can peen the edges to narrow yours to fit an 'American" blade, or you can shim under the blade with a bit of aluminum can, plastic card, etc. (preserves the lips of the dovetail better).

Some sight manufacturers make both European and U.S. widths, if you look in Brownell's catalog, but on my Rossi's I've just slipped a piece of thin aluminum flashing or cut from a soft drink can under the blade.

[kooz]

Thanks for the info. Mine is a new Braztek/Rossi, so maybe I'll luck out and it will be a standard size.

[COSteve]

I've replaced the sights on both my Rossis and rather than using a shim or peening the barrel, I just turn the sight over and strike the bottom of the dovetail perpendicular to it in 3 places along each edge. That displaces enough metal on the bottom edges of the dovetail so that it'll fit tight.

If its a bit loose the first try, use your cold chisel again either deepening the original strikes or adding new ones. Don't forget to protect the finish on the top of the sight so you don't mar it when striking the bottom. I've found that 2 layers of black electrical tape works great.

BTW, works great on both the front and rear sights, however, check the squareness of the sight in the dovetail. If it's a bit crooked, remove it and then strike another grove in the appropriate place to straighten the sight out when you drive it back into the dovetail.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Rossi usually (not in a recent Braztek/Puma I got, however) uses a "European" dovetail that is a tad wider.

You can peen the edges to narrow yours to fit an 'American" blade, or you can shim under the blade with a bit of aluminum can, plastic card, etc. (preserves the lips of the dovetail better).

Some sight manufacturers make both European and U.S. widths, if you look in Brownell's catalog, but on my Rossi's I've just slipped a piece of thin aluminum flashing or cut from a soft drink can under the blade.

Not really. The older InterArms imported Rossi's had odd size dovetails for the rear sight. (about .400"). Marbles did make an oversize semi-buckhorn for those gun bur they dropped it. That's because by the late 90's Rossi had re-tooled and are now cutting standard 3/8" (.375") x 60 degree dovetail slots for both the front and rear sights. The problem now is Rossi doesn't spend a lot of time fitting the sights they just jam then in hard. Doing this usually results in the dovetail slots in the barrel get swedged out. You can see this, too. If you look at the side of the barrel you will see how the tops of the slots are pushed up. If your replacement sight is loose the first thing to try is swedge the tops back down with a hammer and brass drift. If that doesn't tighten it the next thing to try is strippling the bottom of the slot and the sight base. If this doesn't work then a shim may be in order but don't use aluminum or brass. It's too soft and will eventually loosen. I use old feeler gages for shim stock.
In some cases for the rear sights none of the above will work. For instance the older Interarms imported Rossi's with the .400" dovetails. For those I use the Rossi sight base and leaf and build with this blade on it.

[Roland]

Would a set screw method with loctite work?

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Would a set screw method with loctite work?

It just depends on how loose it is.