I hate pins.

So one of my rifles came with a rear sight leaf that had the a broken sight leaf pin in it and it has been a muther hugger to get out. I've broken at least 4 1/16" punches and only managed to move it out about 1/4 of the total distance I need. It has to be oversized because before I even started punching it (before any swelling) it was incredibly stiff. I used liquid wrench, and keep punching but don't want to buy any more punches.

Does anybody have any ideas on how I could get it the rest of the way out? I am trying to do everything except drill it out. I don't want to risk damaging the hole any more since it is a matching part of the rifle.

In addition, does anybody know the exact width of the pin? It seems like a 3mm to me but was wondering if anybody knew for certain?

Also if anyone has any correct pins I'll be in the market for some here in a bit!

Thanks in advance!

3mm? That’s huge, are you sure this rifle has a pin and you aren’t simply hammering on the milled leaf pivot? Just a guess off the top of my head the sight leaf pins are closer to 1mm which would make your 1/16 punch larger than the pin. Also did your punches break or just bend? Most 1/16 punches aren’t tempered nearly the same as larger punches and simply bend a lot, for starting purposes it’s always good to keep a short punch around, take one of the broken or bent ones and cut it off about 3/8-1/2 from the start of the main body diameter and that will give you a much stiffer starter punch just to get things moving. I’ve never encountered a sight pin that was very seized at all though, so double check what’s going on here? A picture might be worth a thousand words.

Best to post a picture.

Well there's honestly not much to show, just a broken pin sticking out of the leaf on one side and the hole on the other. It's not a milled solid leaf; it has the pin hole in it. As I said I did manage to move the pin partly out.

I could be very wrong with my 3mm guess. I'm no metric expert. Either way the pin was too large and whoever installed it... I don't know how they did because it's horrendously tight.

The 1/16" punches I have are smaller than the pin, but the only punches I have that fit the hole. They bent at first, then I straighten them out, and repeat. One punch broke short and like you said it had more strength and that's how I got it to budge as far as it did. I've removed lots of these pins before but none have given me the fight that this one has.

Any idea on a larger punch or even one thats the same size as the pin itself? I'm getting desperate and the drill is looking more and more appealing.

I use a Snap-on 1/16" pin punch part no. PPC402A for removing rear sight leaf pins. Never had one that didn't tap out easily so I'm not sure what's going on with your sight. I have found a small amount of heat to be helpful on various other jobs I've done when removing tight fitting pins/parts. Obviously too much heat isn't a good thing so you would have to be very careful. Melting the solder or discoloration of the parts is a possibility if done incorrectly.

What year and code is the rifle?

moconfed said:

What year and code is the rifle?

Click to expand...

It's a 1936 S/42. Not all matching but alot of the parts are and I'd like to keep the few matching parts in good shape.

I'd put it through a couple of heating and cooling cycles while using a penetrating oil in between.

Boiling hot water is excellent for this; it will heat the area thoroughly, won't affect bluing or solder. Dries instantly.

If you pour it on let it air dry for a minute, then hit it with your oil of choice. The latent heat and the nature of oil will draw the oil into the tiniest reaches of the assembly.

Having a good solid bench set-up, proper tools and good lighting should be a given.

Sounds like the pins are probably 1.5mm then. I typed up a response last night and then pushed a button and the whole thing disappeared, don’t you just hate that!! If it’s that tight there is a chance that someone replaced it in its life with a non standard pin that is possibly oversized because this should not be an interference fit pin. I’ve only ever used some brass punches turned down to the exact size and they’ve never given any trouble even with just brass. Good luck and Merry Christmas!

You mentioned not all parts match. Does the rear sight base match the receiver? What is the barrel code? Is your front sight base cut for a hood?

moconfed said:

You mentioned not all parts match. Does the rear sight base match the receiver? What is the barrel code? Is your front sight base cut for a hood?

Click to expand...

The barrelled receiver (including sights) are all matching. So therefore no sight hood slot as it is an early war K98.

Sounds like I'll be looking for punches on steroids and using a bit of heat to encourage it.

Thanks fellas! Wish me luck!

I measured several pin samples from Mauser Oberndorf rifles (S/42G, Standard Modell, Portuguese 98k) using a metric micrometer. All measure 1.8mm. Probably a metric wire gage. They measured .071” dia. using a standard micrometer.

Sight leaf: One hole loosely accepts a #50 drill (.070” dia.) Another will accept a #49 Drill (.073” dia.) The next larger size drill will not fit. I suspect that the as-drilled hole size is .071-.072” dia. and that this small sample demonstrates fabrication tolerance differences. I don’t have a small metric drill set to use verify hole diameters.

I noticed that one of my pins was bowed. This serves to add some interior spring tension in the larger hole measured.

I wonder if someone tried to use a tapered pin? Try to drive out from both sides?

Heat suggestion is good. Maybe grind or break off the pin so that the leaf can be removed from the base? Clamp the leaf in a vice so that the hole region is exposed. Heat with a torch and try to remove the pin before the piece cools. Not much heat will be needed to expand the hole. (If the steel glows red it is too hot.) The vice will serve as a heat sink. Even better heat dispersal if the vice has copper jaw protectors to provide more efficient heat dispersion.

Also had posting issues when I tried to post a more detailed version of this twice yesterday. The system automatically logged me out and the post was lost.

Sir, 3.3mm is over 1/8” that doesn’t make any sense. That would be a 1.8mm pin if it measures .071.

A few years ago in a similar incident another new member confused the 1/8" large holes drilled into the rear sight ears with the diameter of the rear sight leaf pin and banged the snot out of the rear sight until it needed to be replaced.
Newbies regularly confuse the very small pin diameter (about 1/16") with the sight leaf's protrusions that hook into the rear sight ears.

flynaked said:

Sir, 3.3mm is over 1/8” that doesn’t make any sense. That would be a 1.8mm pin if it measures .071.

Click to expand...

Big oops. 1.8mm is correct. I also confirmed the number by a conversion calculation. Misread the dial on my Mauser-made metric micrometer which is set up differently than on a standard instrument.

Hey it happens, I once had a custom driveshaft built for my truck 1” too long because I thought I was being all accurate and so I skipped in 1” on my tape measure to avoid the hook end and forgot to subtract that inch, I sure felt like an idiot when it bottomed out in the slip yoke! Haha .