10/22 front sight removal

[drifts1]

▲▲▲ Forget the vice. I layed mine on the floor, kinda, on two rolls of masking tape. Made sure the front sight was over the middle of the roll of tape. A few hard whacks with a real hammer and it came out.

[AreWeFree]

I had a tough time with this. I clamped my barrel tightly in a vise and used a steel punch and heavy hammer near the bottom of the dovetail. It moved a few thousandths then wouldn't budge at all. I tried soaking it in penetrating oil but it didn't help.

I ended up using a hacksaw down the middle and out it went. Seriously just cut it out, it's a $6 part you wont want to re-use anyway.

[Brandon04GT]

Here's a better idea:

Use a Dremel with a cut-off wheel and grind a slit down the center of the sight. Then, it should tap out fairly easily. Make sure you are drifting them out from the correct direction also.

Save yourself the aggravation and just use a Dremel. You dont have to cut it all the way down; just 3/4 the way will do. No one will want to buy your stock front sight so I wouldnt worry about destroying it.

[aaaslayer]

seriously?? No need to use a dremel or heat, just grab a big *** hammer and a STEEL punch not brass and punch the sh1t out of it. You won't break it believe me. Don't do it on carpet or anything that'll bounce the rifle back. Do it on a nice hard surface like cement or a wooden workbench. I did it on the floor of my garage on the cement. The rifle is fine no scratches or breakage.


BIG HAMMER

STEEL PUNCH

GO CRAZY

[Fishslayer]

▲▲▲ Forget the vice. I layed mine on the floor, kinda, on two rolls of masking tape. Made sure the front sight was over the middle of the roll of tape. A few hard whacks with a real hammer and it came out.

That might work with some but not all. Ruger isn't really known for holding tight tolerances.

[pukahead]

I have a universal pistol sight tool. Made an adapter fitting for the front sight and was able to press it out. Didn't know about the left-to-right taper, that'll help in the future!

[beardog308]

I took mine to a smith to save me from myself. It wouldn't budge with a punch and was worth the ten bucks.

[rocketsci]

^^^
I thought about both of those options (pistol sight tool, going to a smith), but I'm going to give the penetrating oil a shot first this weekend. Wish me luck!

[Eljay]

Definitely try the penetrating oil, especially if you have Kroil.

That being said I tried all the standard recommendations and ended up dremeling it out. Sometimes there's really no other option.

[Brandon04GT]

lol @ this thread.

BIG HAMMER

STEEL PUNCH

GO CRAZY

This sounds like an accident waiting to happen. One slip and there goes your barrel's finish.

Dremel a slit like 3/4 though the center of the sight and it will drift out with a punch and moderate effort. End of story.

[rocketsci]

The hacksaw is definitely an option as well.

[rocketsci]

Dear Lord, this took a long time to do!

I swear, that sucker was stuck in there with Loctite or similar. I tried the penetrating oil, no dice.

Then a Dremel to cut 3/4 of the way through the sight. No dice, although I did see the front and back of the sight bend up away from the dovetail once the slit was cut. Still no dice, sight wouldn't budge.

Finally used a fine-tooth hacksaw to slowly extend the slit created by the Dremel. Got to between 1/8" and 1/16" left of the sight above the dovetail. I was finally able to drift the sight out!

Sigh.

Thanks for all of the advice!

[drifts1]

Hopefully installing the new sight wont be as challenging.

[fullspeed1]

Mine pushed out pretty easily with a solid punch, along with a few whacks to the rear leaf sight. Waiting on Williams peep sights as a replacement.

[SkyStorm82]

Mine pushed out pretty easily with a solid punch, along with a few whacks to the rear leaf sight. Waiting on Williams peep sights as a replacement.

My front sight came out easy enough also. I was going to use the dremel if it didn't though.

Is the rear leaf sight in a dovetail too? I just left my rear sight on the barrel.