Front sight pin.

[metalcruncher]

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[mrbigsteel]

Assuming that you don't need to remove too much material. See if you can grab the eyelet side of the pin in the jaws of a drill chuck. Then spin the pin in a wrap of sandpaper until you get to the desired diameter.

[shafferds]

use a pin gage to get the exact opening size or see if you can use calipers. than measure the pin diameter near the base and you can use sandpaper to take down the pin to desired dimensions.

[SVT-40]

The "pin" portion acts as a rivet and holds the front sight base in place. The tip of the tail is squashed to hold it and the front sight base in place. There must be a notch in the barrel for the pin to fit through.

The fit must be very tight in order to hold the front sight base in place. I don't know how you are going to squash the tip of the pin without also squashing the loop for the sling clip. You might have to drive the pin into the hole.

Do you have the ability to squash the tip of the pin? If not maybe you should contact a smith who can. maybe someone who has experience squashing AK type rivets?

See the "dimple" in the tail of the pin in the pic below. Also the "loop" portion must be placed properly for the sling clip to fit properly. See the second pic below. It should not rotate.

[SkyHawk]

Put a small length of steel dowel through the eyelet before pressing it in? You may smash the outside of the eye a bit, but at least you wont deform the eye. You may have to turn down the dowel to get the right diameter for the eye.

I agree this may need someone with a set of specific tools.

Do you have the old end of the pin, was it mushroomed?

[SVT-40]

Do you have the old end of the pin, was it mushroomed?

Yes it is. See the first pic in my above post.

[metalcruncher]

Put a small length of steel dowel through the eyelet before pressing it in? You may smash the outside of the eye a bit, but at least you wont deform the eye. You may have to turn down the dowel to get the right diameter for the eye.

I agree this may need someone with a set of specific tools.

Do you have the old end of the pin, was it mushroomed?

The old eye broke off and left the rest of the metal pin in place. I paid a local metal shop to remove the pin. They have/had the remnants.

Based on the above feedback, I'll sand the pin down and use a metal dowel in the eye to tap it into place. Probably not mushroom the pin since the rifle gets to the range once a year and I don't use a sling.

Just want to say that I'm very happy that I have a place to go to receive feedback from other curio/milsurp people. Thanks for all the help gents.

[ar15barrels]

Rather than fitting the pin to the hole, fit the hole to the pin.
It’s much easier to open the hole until that pin will just tap in than to reduce the pin.

[metalcruncher]

[ar15barrels]

Randall- since the sight isn’t coming off the barrel (I’m not going to force it), won’t boring out the pin hole run the risk of damaging the barrel?

You do not WANT the front sight to come off before you try to make the hole bigger.
You want to enlarge the existing hole in the barrel AND sight base until the pin will enter.
This is how almost all pinned on barrel parts are fitted.

[metalcruncher]

Solution was to drill a hole where I could get the pin to fit. Hard part was to drill a recess where the pin steps up to a larger diameter before the eye. Oiled up and back in a heated safe. Sonoma county is very humid this time of year.

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