NP-22 Project Dovetails

Craftsman 441

CGN Regular
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Location
Wainwright
My latest project is making a Norinco NP-22 a bit more like an early Sig P226.

The project started by making myself a new solid guide rod out of 1/2" stainless bar. A quick 30 minutes on the lathe and I was done. It might not affect function, but it looks great.

Next the angles on everything got softened with 400 grit paper and the slide got filed to resemble a 226 more closely. The Nork slide is really sharp around the front and the Sig is much more rounded. No sweat, I was done at the end of another lunch break.

The takedown lever, hammer, ejector and sear got replaced with genuine Sig parts. They all simply dropped-in and the trigger is quite a bit crisper now. Also, the hammer doesn't fall so far when I use the decocker lever - a big plus and so much safer. I'm still waiting for a short trigger to arrive from Brownell's. I don't see why it won't also drop right in.

The big job started when I pushed out the old Chinese sights and tried to install Siglite night sights. They slid through like a hotdog tossed down a hallway! I CAREFULLY MIG welded the dovetails full and filed everything smooth again. Now I need to cut dovetails that are 65 deg x .200" and 65 deg x .270" for the front and rear sights, respectively. Now I am stuck.

Here is my problem: Where do I get the cutters at? I tried Brownell's, Midway and even Fastenal, all without any luck. I am thinking that I may have to cut slots using an endmill and then file them out so they fit the dovetails on the sights. Has anyone else run into this problem and what was your solution? Anyone know where I might find the cutters I need?
 
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Another solution

My latest project is making a Norinco NP-22 a bit more like an early Sig P226.

The project started by making myself a new solid guide rod out of 1/2" stainless bar. A quick 30 minutes on the lathe and I was done. It might not affect function, but it looks great.

Next the angles on everything got softened with 400 grit paper and the slide got filed to resemble a 226 more closely. The Nork slide is really sharp around the front and the Sig is much more rounded. No sweat, I was done at the end of another lunch break.

The takedown lever, hammer, ejector and sear got replaced with genuine Sig parts. They all simply dropped-in and the trigger is quite a bit crisper now. Also, the hammer doesn't fall so far when I use the decocker lever - a big plus and so much safer. I'm still waiting for a short trigger to arrive from Brownell's. I don't see why it won't also drop right in.

The big job started when I pushed out the old Chinese sights and tried to install Siglite night sights. They slid through like a hotdog tossed down a hallway! I CAREFULLY MIG welded the dovetails full and filed everything smooth again. Now I need to cut dovetails that are 65 deg x .200" and 65 deg x .270" for the front and rear sights, respectively. Now I am stuck.

Here is my problem: Where do I get the cutters at? I tried Brownell's, Midway and even Fastenal, all without any luck. I am thinking that I may have to cut slots using an endmill and then file them out so they fit the dovetails on the sights. Has anyone else run into this problem and what was your solution? Anyone know where I might find the cutters I need?


Take a slightly oversized end -or dovetailed end mill
and grind it to your above specs. You have the skill !
Needless to say, you need a narrow fine grinding wheel.
A few test-runs will tell you where you may need to take off more.
I had to do that once. I hated it. took me 2o minutes, but worked out very well. I used a normal HS cutter, as I suspected carbide ones may shatter
even at low speed because of irregular weld and hardness.
It was not an NP 22 I worked on.
 
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