Shhh..Unconventional front sight mounting on 617

irishbob · #1 12-31-2016, 06:43 PM

Felt pretty good after swapping out front sight on my 617....
punch the pin out; remove front sight and replace with new one; use cool new drill bit with Dremel and drill hole slowly from both sides (as these front sights aren't pre-drilled); put pin back and pewpew on my way.

So I wanted to try a Hiviz front sight now.
Punch the pin out
Remove the front sight
Put new one in
Start slowly drilling....snap goes the bit with a piece lodged in the unfinished hole.

Not to worry! I bought two bits...flip revolver over and start slowly drilling from other side.
Snap goes THAT bit as well, with a piece lodged in that side too.

I look over my shoulder both ways (empty garage) and say Why not, this will work fine as is!

200 rounds and didn't move. It'll probably outlast me.
(no clue why it happened 2x, first effort to put new sight in was flawless)

spdguns · #2 01-12-2017, 11:02 PM

Yikes! With the tiny stuff, I have had better luck with carbon steel bits than the carbide. The carbide is brittle and breaks easier. I hope it stays in there for you.

ontargetagain · #3 01-13-2017, 10:13 AM

Probably heat caused by the friction locked up the bit or if not kept perfectly perpendicular to the sight bound up the tiny bit.
But at least you got it mounted and you aren't bleeding LOL
Karl

steelslaver · #4 01-13-2017, 12:01 PM

Thing about carbide tooling is it will not flex much without breaking. You MUST have work piece firmly mounted and use a drill setup with no run out. I only ever use them in my mill and with the small ones very carefully.

You might try spraying the bit with freon or soaking in dry ice to make it even more brittle then use a tiny punch to shatter it enough to remove it. Then use a slightly larger cobalt drill to clean everything up

Another method is to clamp the positive end of a battery charger on the work piece. Dampen the stuck bit and hole with a bit of salt water and then use the end of a small nail clamped to the positive terminal of the charger to keep touching the stuck piece of drill. This will slowly remove metal by electrolysis (reverse of plating).

Good luck