doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How to remove ivory sights

Does any one know a good way to remove old ivory sights before rust bluing? Without breaking them.I speak of the kind of sight that's pressed into a tapered hole in the rib. Real ivory thats been there for 80 years or so. Thanks for your help

I believe they make pliers to pull them out. I know I broke one off on a Model 21 and since it was plastic, my smith just pushed it down into the rib. Then he tapped it out and put in a new one. I have never had trouble with it since. If it is plastic, they should drill right out if you snap it off.

Brownell's sells (or at least did, haven't had a catalog for several yrs) a little collet affair that you slip onto bead sights & tighten up for installing or removing, one of these would likely work.

If they are real ivory the blueing won't do much to them

I use a side cutter pliers with any bevel removed to get the edge down close to the base and rib. Then with a piece of thin leather or card under the pliers to protect the rib, gently lever it up and out as you grab the bead at the junction of it's underside and the rib. The tiny mid rib beads are better left in place as they are apt to break as come out and as Amigo Will says to play it safe, leave the beads in place if they're subborn and carefully rust blue. Other than some slight discoloration from the chemicle and carding, it won't harm it. You can brighten it back up again when done with a careful touchup twist of some clean 0000 steel wool, then buff a little with some simichrome or the like to bring back a glow to it. I place a piece of masking tape over the bead with a small slot in it for the bead to poke out through when cleaning it up after blueing. It avoids any slips or mars to the new blueing at the end of the job. Avoid any heavy handed carding when going over the beads. Stay away from the bead(s) with the torch if you're heating the barrels up by that method to apply a hot rust solution for obvious reasons!

Boiling them first in your long tank, as you would to rust blue them, will often loosen them for removal. Kutter's method with the angled side-grip pliers (e.g. dikes)will often wiggle them out easily, once boiled. Different expansion rates between the synthetic sights and the surrounding metal may be doing it, or the heat may be breaking down any fixative that's holding them in. Not sure which, but it usually works.


Robt.

You mean the middle sight with a tapered post, right?

Some front ivory sights are threaded and all one piece, so there's that to be aware of.

5E,

Yes, and the front ivories that are made with the tapered (unthreaded) metal collar like Lyman's or Marble's. It's always best to assume that the front stem is threaded when disassembling, unless you know otherwise.

Robt.

I left them in for the last two barrels that I browned including the water boiling. They stayed in fine and had no problem.