I posted this in the Shotgun Section to help a shooter whose XS sight fell out of the dovetail base. Old news to most of you, but maybe this will be helpful to someone
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You are going to bend a little of the metal on the corners of the dovetail to tighten its fit. It will not take much metal movement (unless the sight or dovetail has been damaged or was filed too much and is really loose).
Securely hold the sight* in a vise (being careful not to damage a Trit insert or other delicate area). Use a small flat tipped punch (1/8” to 1/4” diameter is OK in most cases) and tap the punch with a light hammer (no bigger than a standard claw hammer).
See the area inside the red circle. The
area you want to move/bend is indicated in blue. I always try to only move metal in the center section of the sight's male dovetail so when the sight is installed into the base the spots you've pecked on is not visibly.
Go slow and hammer lightly, you can always tap on the punch again, but if you go too far you may have to use a triangle file to cut down your bent metal before the sight will start back into the base - or replace the sight and start over again.
* Sometimes you may have to peen the top corner of the base instead of the sight, the idea is the same - but I always prefer to work on the least expensive part first in case something gets screwed up and I have to replace a part