Shiloh Rifle Forums

Hi All,

Today I received some parts I ordered recently, including a nice Lawrence sight (staff only) which I just put on my Business Rifle - it looks great. I also ordered a semi buckhorn sight (staff only), and a dovetail filler kit. My original plan was to install the dovetail filler kit on my half octagon bull barrel rifle, and the semi buckhorn staff on my bull barrel 50 90 in place of the full buckhorn.

The dovetail filler is marked .488, and the part number is 900-488. I played around with barely trying to start the blank in the dovetail and I could tell immediately that it is going to be very tight going in. My understanding is these dovetails are .450, and the blank has a set screw, so my question is why would I want/need to hammer in an extremely tight blank, especially one that has a set screw which will keep it in place. The chair for the sight I was going to remove from the rifle can be installed by hand (and of course it has a set screw), so I am wondering why a blank with a set screw would need to be so oversize.

Perhaps they have a part number 900-450?

I know - call them, which I will do, but I posted here to see if anyone else had a similar experience.

By the way, I put the semi buckhorn on the half octagon bull barrel rifle, and I think it looks great too.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Found an old thread from 2007 where Kirk says the rear dovetail is .490. Is it possible that the rear dovetails on newer rifles (2016) are smaller than that? One would think the .488 blank I received would slide into a .490 dovetail (and require the set screw to lock it in place), but there is no way it will slide into my rear dovetail. I know the front dovetails are indeed .450, and I think my rear dovetail is likely the same. I will remove the sight again and measure the width of the chair just to compare it to the width of the blank. Again, any inputs are appreciated.

I just installed a dovetail filler in one of my rifles and I had to file a tiny bit off the sharp edge of the filler to get it to fit. It's difficult to cut an absolutely sharp inside corner on a dovetail. That's what worked on mine.

You have to do just a touch of hand work to fit them guys. Notice filler has sharp corners compared to dovetail and the sight base you took out??

Kirk,

Once I heard from several of you that it required some material removal, I decided to proceed (some of you may understand a reluctance to immediately start modifying a new part, not that I haven't done so most of my life). Anyway, it required quite a bit more than simply touching up the bottom edges, but I got her done and it is in place. For those interested in the numbers, the chair measured .470 and the blank measured .480. Once I had the edges of the blank at or just below .470, it still was not about to go in without some force, and in the end I removed material from the entire beveled surfaces. Now it pretty much slips in place, very similar to how the chair does. That was a personal choice, I decided I was not going to hammer in a blank on a very expensive engraved bull barrel rifle.

Thanks for your replies.