front sight barrel screw hole stripped, can this be tapped??

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sgt.rock

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I have a parker-hale model 1200 in .308 that had the front sight removed by
the previous owner. (which was subsequently lost in a move). I bought the gun from him, and found a correct front sight on the EE here on Nutz.
I brought the gun to a smith here who said that it probably wont stay put because the threads on the hole are stripped on one side, So no screw will stay put if given a knock or bang.
He put it on and it felt decently solid, BUT, when I got to the range, I had to move the dovetail to sight it in and OF COURSE THE SIGHT POPPED OFF!!
He also said that I would have a hard time finding a replacement screw that was a little longer to engage the threads down deeper because the ENGLISH makers often used odd sized threading and mine is 8/36. The screw is just not long enough to engage the threads that are ok down deeper in the hole.
(although he said even that might not be enough to hold it.)
So I am at a crossroads here, I really want to make this into an open sight gun, as I enjoy the challenge and convenience of open sights, but I dont know what to do from here. Tapping a new or larger hole would be hard I think as every tap/die set I have seen have "tapered" taps , and I think I would need a flush or straight tap. Has anyone here encountered such a problem before????
I thought of getting the hole enlarged and using a slightly larger screw, but then I have the problem of the larger screw not fitting down the hole in the sight. PLEASE , IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEAS OR THOUGHTS ON THIS I WOULD SURE APPRECIATE IT. The sight has 2 posts for stability and the screw goes in the middle of the posts. So there are 3 contact points from the sight to the barrel. I'll await the gun gods replies and say a prayer in the meantime.
Thanks all for any and all help.:eek::confused:
 
Sweat the ramp in place. Easy, fast, strong.
Or, convert the dowel pin setup to a pair of screws. This would involve identifying the appropriate screw size, tapping the barrel holes, opening out the dowel pin holes in the ramp, counterboring the holes in the ramp for the screw threads.
 
My preference would be to go toa barrel band front sight, although the ones made by Ruger, Brno, and NECG are not adjustable for windage. A cheaper solution would be to go up a screw size and re-drill and tap the hole with a bottoming tap. Gunsmith supply stores like Brownells carry a large screw selection including a set of blank screws so you can make your own. I see they have 8-36X1" screws if the threads at the bottom of the hole are still good.
 
Brownells sells very nice banded front sight ramps. These will require fitting, and are not inexpensive, but are an excellent and elegant solution.
PH barrels are rather small diameter at the muzzle, and the original screw doesn't have too many threads engaged at the best of times. Perhaps the original threads could be recut with a bottoming tap, and a new screw fitted. The combination of a slender muzzle and three holes contributes to a situation I have often seen in PH rifles, fired with a bit of frost or snow in the muzzle - the muzzle is easily bulged, or cracked, the crack running through the holes. PH barrels seem to be on the hard side, and at low temperatures seem more likely to have problems than those of other makes.
 
Another option to sweating it in place is to use a two part epoxy like Acra-Glas. Follow the directions carefully and it should work fine. This is some tough stuff.
 
can anyone describe the process of "sweating it" in place?? I am still learning, and I would like to get a feel for all my options before I make a decision about how to remount a new front sight. These all sound like good options, I just would like to know as much about each of these before commiting to one.
I assume that the acra-glas would be at the very least "semi-permanent" so I am just making sure I make the right decision. Thanks all for your guidance and patience with this "semi-dumbass" newbie. Nice to have guys looking out for the beginner
 
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