M14 Forum

m1jerm

Anyone have a m1 carbine rear sight removal tool I can rent for a day or two? I can't see blowing a hundred on something that may only get use once in the lifetime of my carbine owning life.

Its an adjustable sight and you can read more about it down in Steel and Wood under Big 5 carbine woes.
Big 5 carbine woes
I have tried a few methods of driving it out, but it just isn't budging with all my attempts a punch driving and jerry rigged removal tools. Happy to pay shipping and you can recoup some of your expense on the tool.

THanks in advance.

Gus Fisher

I have worked a LOT of M1 carbine rear sights without the RS tool and honestly don't plan to go out of my way to ever get one.

Here's a couple things to try first.

Is there a set screw in the front of the RS base? These were sometimes found with the milled RS's. You have to loosen that screw before you can get the RS off the receiver. It's normally on the front right side and can be hard to spot because the RS ramp can obscure it. You move the windage knob all the way to the left and back all the way to the right to ensure there is no set screw. BTW, here is a link to the manual for the Carbine and if you scroll down to page Page 7 of the manual and look at the picture in "Figure 7. Adjustable Rear Sight Assembly - Machined Type."

http://kmike.com/M1/TM9-1276_1947.pdf

Also, the RS is taken off the receiver from the left towards the right side. So you have to use a brass drift and hammer to hit the base of the RS in the area of the dovetail.

Also, if the RS is particularly difficult to move, I would use "PB Blaster" on it and let it soak in for a couple of days. This will loosen even industrial strength Loctite or other epoxies, if someone used that to hold the RS tight.

m1jerm

Gus,
Thanks a bunch for the advice. In the end, after a lot of banging and even an attempt to fabricate my own tool with a wood box and c-clamps, I gave up and bought a tool. I didn't pay full retail so I at least have that going for me.
Also, I plan on renting or reselling the tool to recoup the loss. In any case, setting up a cheap and easy method of sharing some of these tools through this site might be a nice project to pursue.
Thanks again. I have also just invested in a SG Garand from the CMP, so I have a few projects going right now, things are going to be interesting for a few months.