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Front bead replacement question


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I wanted to replace the OEM front bead with a tritium unit. Reading this forum about how best to remove the front bead, I ground down the OEM bead and had planned to drill into the remaining material and tap to install a new tritium front sight. Starting with the smallest drill bit that I had available, I began working my way up to the drill bit I needed to begin threading. With very little effort, the remaining material fell into the gas block. The hole is way too big for my tritium site that needs a 5-40 thread pattern.

 

Based upon the size of the OEM hole, it looks like the smallest tap that I can use is a 10-32 (which seems to be huge in the front bead world..). Does anyone make a front sight bead with 10-32 thread pattern or larger. I searched around and did NOT find one this large..

 

Now if the above if out of the question, then here comes question #2. If I need to fill the OEM hole and re-tap, I think that I can handle the task. I believe that using a pre-1984 penny curved to cover the inside of the hole and mig welding to fill in the hole is possible. So here is where my next question comes in.. The tritium front sight that I bought is setup for a 5-40 thread pattern. When I compare this size to the OEM size hole, it does not look anywhere close to being as strong as the front bead that came OEM. So what do you guys think? Will the Meprolight tritium front sight that I got be strong enough if I re-fill the OEM hole and use this new one? It sure does look "flimsy" compared to OEM..

 

Link to Meprolight sight:

http://www.midwayusa...ctnumber=185189

 

185189.jpg

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Or you could just get 10-32 threaded plug and run it in there til it's almost flush inside, then drill and tap that to the correct size for your tritium bead. I would use red locktite on the plug's threads, and blue on the bead insert... AFTER making sure your sight is oriented correctly.

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I wouldn't go that route if I were you. The GB gets really hot and it really should be drilled and tapped. The better way to do it would be to drill and tap a hole behind (closer to the butt end) the existing bead location. That staked front sight is kind of like a rivet.

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