Hi all,
Just thought I'd post this here for future reference...
My D460 plastic front sight (nylon family is my guess) had mostly stripped threads in the mounting hole, thanks to yours truly.
The single 5mmx10mm dog point screw that "holds" the front sight in place was not performing all that well even before the threads were damaged. I was not impressed - the D460 is a fine rifle and too good to be cheapened by wobbly sights.
FYI, there's a very slight ridge lengthwise across the top of the barrel to stop the sight from rotating and a circumferential groove for the screw point to engage which locates the unit fore-and-aft. This is important because it also sets the location of the lever retention assembly, which has a limited adjustment range.
This would be a decent system if the raised ridge fit nicely into the sight recess. Mine does not and that was contributing to some flopping around which I took exception to.
Since the unit also retains the end of the cocking lever I didn't want to go without it entirely, and I was willing to buy a new one.
Before I did, I poked around and found a M6x10mm dog point screw. I didn't even bother to undercut the lead thread (to act as a cutting edge a la tap), just checked to see if the slightly larger screw point fit into the circumferential groove....
It was a decent fit, and the M6 threads juuust fit in the free bore above the old M5 threads and gave a good, strong bite in the stripped area. I used a very short allen wrench to keep from overpowering the nylon, and it required significant finger strength to finish the job.
The end result was to give the sight unit a very stable hold on the rifle barrel. Much better than the original. Because I'm able to apply decent pressure via the larger screw, it isn't going to shift position short of a hard, twisting impact. Maybe not even then.
If I had another D460 without stripped threads, I would improve it by doing this anyway.
I'm not trying to turn a simple thing like using a bigger screw into a big deal (because I just re-read the post and it was starting to sound that way ha ha!) but if anyone out there is having trouble with their front sight, you may want to try this.
Just thought I'd post this here for future reference...
My D460 plastic front sight (nylon family is my guess) had mostly stripped threads in the mounting hole, thanks to yours truly.
The single 5mmx10mm dog point screw that "holds" the front sight in place was not performing all that well even before the threads were damaged. I was not impressed - the D460 is a fine rifle and too good to be cheapened by wobbly sights.
FYI, there's a very slight ridge lengthwise across the top of the barrel to stop the sight from rotating and a circumferential groove for the screw point to engage which locates the unit fore-and-aft. This is important because it also sets the location of the lever retention assembly, which has a limited adjustment range.
This would be a decent system if the raised ridge fit nicely into the sight recess. Mine does not and that was contributing to some flopping around which I took exception to.
Since the unit also retains the end of the cocking lever I didn't want to go without it entirely, and I was willing to buy a new one.
Before I did, I poked around and found a M6x10mm dog point screw. I didn't even bother to undercut the lead thread (to act as a cutting edge a la tap), just checked to see if the slightly larger screw point fit into the circumferential groove....
It was a decent fit, and the M6 threads juuust fit in the free bore above the old M5 threads and gave a good, strong bite in the stripped area. I used a very short allen wrench to keep from overpowering the nylon, and it required significant finger strength to finish the job.
The end result was to give the sight unit a very stable hold on the rifle barrel. Much better than the original. Because I'm able to apply decent pressure via the larger screw, it isn't going to shift position short of a hard, twisting impact. Maybe not even then.
If I had another D460 without stripped threads, I would improve it by doing this anyway.
I'm not trying to turn a simple thing like using a bigger screw into a big deal (because I just re-read the post and it was starting to sound that way ha ha!) but if anyone out there is having trouble with their front sight, you may want to try this.
Last edited:
