Hand cutting a dovetail

Jeff H

NW Ohio
ONCE.

The right file, patience and knowing when to stop are all important, but THE most important thing is determining top-dead-center on the barrel. I can spot an out-of-plumb down-spout, out-of-level ridge-line or unsquare window opening from down the road, but can't get a scope on straight to save my butt.

Setting things up with winding sticks is an absolute necessity for me when locating a sight these days. Even then, I get it set up, "glue" it on with RTV and ignore it for a few days. Then, I go back, shoulder the rifle and look at the sights. If it looks "right" two days in a row, I commit. I've only D/T'd for the past several years.

A bad file stroke is sort of like pulling a shot, you KNOW it when it happens, but at least you can STOP mid-stroke with the file.
 

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
This Ruger Wrangler is shooting almost 3" to the left at 15yds. I sent several emails to Ruger but they have not said a word. Not much else I could do to get this close.

I watched a vid of a guy doing a muzzle loader by cutting into the barrel with multiple slots to depth then chisel off the cuts. Then he filed the dovetail to actual depth and grove with files. It did not look hard. But he had a nice 1/2" flat to reference off of. And the safety file he used are not cheap.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
I have several times. It is all in the set up. I have my father's machinist tools, so can be squared with the Springfield action. Check a couple of days in a row to make sure eyes are calibrated. Used a hack saw to cut the square slot, filed it flat but short. Used a Brownell's safe dovetail file to do the ends. I did a four month "tool and die" apprenticeship trial after high school. The old German guys with the white shirts, black ties and denim aprons beat filing into you.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
This Ruger Wrangler is shooting almost 3" to the left at 15yds. I sent several emails to Ruger but they have not said a word. Not much else I could do to get this close.

I watched a vid of a guy doing a muzzle loader by cutting into the barrel with multiple slots to depth then chisel off the cuts. Then he filed the dovetail to actual depth and grove with files. It did not look hard. But he had a nice 1/2" flat to reference off of. And the safety file he used are not cheap.

I'd skip the chisel, but everything else sounds good. You could make a triangular file a safe-edge file with a grinder and some patience. I do tend to get myself into long, involved projects of this sort, so I may not be the best influence. Still, if you have the determination,...

You could clamp the barrel in a set of vise jaws and level off the side of the frame - ostensibly square to the overall gun, but not necessarily, and leveling with a machinist's level. If you don't have one, someone may loan you one, but I've used an inexpensive 6" level before.

I would make up a set of jaws to hold the round barrel, plus serve as a depth gauge, the top of the jaws being where you want the bottom of the dovetail. Rocking the file will be the killer and having an equal depth reference on each side of the barrel would be helpful.

I better shut up before I get you into something dumb I'd wade into. It's always the long way 'round when I do it. Stubbornness is what gets me through, but it's like a curse.
 

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
Ruger Wrangle, at that price Point. For what it is. Heck go for it! You might learn something!

Myself, I'd just tap on the front sight with a brass hammer till it shot straight.
 
Last edited:

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Is the barrel "clocked" correctly in the frame?
For most revolvers that have a barrel screwed into the frame, the fix is to rotate the barrel in the frame to get the front sight in the correct position.
If the barrel needs to be treaded farther into the frame, sometimes the shoulder in front of the threads needs to be set back a little. And sometimes that requires the breach to be refaced to maintain the barrel to cylinder gap.
The process can get involved and a trip back to the factory for warranty repair would be cheaper.
 

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
Another possibility is that the muzzle crown is not square with the bore. A bad crown won't hurt accuracy, but it will change the point of impact.

If it were me and I bought the gun new, I'd call Ruger, tell them it does not shoot to point of aim, and I want them to fix it or replace it.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Another possibility is that the muzzle crown is not square with the bore. A bad crown won't hurt accuracy, but it will change the point of impact.

THIS. I was gonna say crown it first.

Oh, and forget trying to cold-chisel chrome-moly barrel steel. Muzzleloader barrels are soft iron.
 

JustJim

Well-Known Member
Remember, the difference between a file and a file with a safe edge is a couple minutes with a belt grinder. I've got three-square files safed on one and two sides, as well as flat and half round files safed in various ways (and let's not get into needle files). Just don't overheat the file while grinding. As a kid, i cut the dovetails in my first flintlock with a file I safed by rubbing it on concrete, and then on an arkansas stone.

I'd try turning the barrel first to align the sight, but if you must. . . . the Mauser factory, ca. 1916, was putting sights on by eye. The action was clamped in a fixture that leveled it, pointed at a vertical line (think plumb bob) in front of a north-facing window. The sights were aligned with the window.

The times I've installed a front sight on a revolver, I did something similar. Pick a surface to use as reference ( on a Blackhawk, I used the left side of the frame (the shooter's left). Level the frame (vertical) and barrel (horizontal). If the barrel tapers, level it off the bore (I've often wondered if a laser in the chamber could be used for this). I use a banded front site, tinned on the inside of the band. The barrel is prepped for soldering before this stage. Align the blade with the vertical reference (plumb bob). Much easier for me than cutting a dovetail by hand and hoping to have it vertical. When shooting shows the sight is where I want it, I sweat it in place. A screw could be used in place of solder.

Honestly, making a banded front sight with files and hacksaw is easier for me than to hand-cut a dovetail on a round barrel and getting it perfect.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I've done a few. Some came out decent, some looked like some clown was trying to learn how to cut a dovetail- which is what I was doing. I suggest you find some round stock to practice on. Just a hunka 3/4" mild steel, establish your level and mark out your areas of operation. Better to spend and evening or 2 doing that than going at it cold IMO/IME. BTW-Power tools are not the answer!!!!!!!!
 

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
I've done a few. Some came out decent, some looked like some clown was trying to learn how to cut a dovetail- which is what I was doing. I suggest you find some round stock to practice on. Just a hunka 3/4" mild steel, establish your level and mark out your areas of operation. Better to spend and evening or 2 doing that than going at it cold IMO/IME. BTW-Power tools are not the answer!!!!!!!!
What no Dremel???? ;)
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I have done alot! But not on centerfire steel barrels! 1440 and L1211 steel ML barrels! I cut & file the dovetails by hand and slowly fit the sights into them! I never used the cold chisel method!
Never seen a 17th or 18th century gun with that type a dovetail travisty!
 
Last edited:

Ian

Notorious member
I've over it. I use a straight end mill followed by a tiny dovetail end mill in the milling machine or single point tool in the shaper after using a machinist's precision level to get the barrel square and plumb to the world and clamped down hard in the good, square machine vises. Yeah, I know, 20 Large in tooling to do what a $3 file with one edge knocked off will do, but like I said I'm over it, done a few by hand with the $60 Brownell's file and they turned out well enough but I've had more fun at the dentist.
 

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
I'm going to try to get a hold of a friend from long ago. He is a tool and die maker at Forster. Or was. He has done a bunch of stuff for me in the past. The more I look at this the more I don't want to do it. Man I wish I had my old job back. We had a full machine shop setup. I could use anything I wanted on my time. I have one other option a guy I know that has a Speed engine shop. He has everything there also. But have not talked to him in a couple years. if I buy the cutter I am sure he will do it. Or just tell me to go do it. He has done that before. But he asks me to yell at him before I do any actual cutting to make sure it is right.

So for a 3/8 dovetail what bit will I need to get for a Bridgeport mill?
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
What no Dremel???? ;)
Even I wasn't that stupid...okay, after I messed up good I wasn't that stupid! I've tried milling attachments in a lathe and using a heavy benchtop drill press as a mill. Neither will suffice. As someone else mentioned, a barrel band front sight would be ideal, but making/finding one low enough for a fixed sighted revolver is right up there with getting that "oil boy" job with the Swedish bikini team, not a chance in the world!