Hi Rb,
Here's a few more pictures of the damage.
The left side trunion is chewed up pretty bad.
The right side seems to have its outer bearing surface intact - however it looks like the remainder of the internal pin is stuck in the hole (a 3/8" segment of the pin was removed already).
Question is, can this be salvaged?
Are the trunions actually part of the same casting as the leaf sight itself?
Or are they just sleeves that are also pressed into a larger hole in the casting?
Now that I see how the system works, all I really needed to do was press the hinge area down, compressing the spring, and those trunions would have slid out rearward from under the ears on the sight base. (Still not sure what the internal pin actually does, though).
This is a Bolt M/M - otherwise matching 43 CE.
The leaf sight and range slider, and the button's underside cross-sliding piece all are S/N'd and matched to the rest of the rifle.
I guess I could try to find a replacement leaf sight piece that was not S/N'd, but then that would call into question in the future, if it were original.
If at all possible, I'd like to try to un-do the wrongs I've committed to this piece of history!
Ouch! Thank you sir, may I have another?
Seriously, scoldiing taken, and well-deserved.
Chalk it up to the "tinkerer" in me, overtaking the "collector" in me.
I did find a non-numbered replacement leaf online.
If I retrofit that with my numbered slider and button - that's probably the best I can do, right?
Has anyone had any success finding a replacement part such as this with a matching serial number?
Would have to be from another production year, but that would not be an obvious tell-tale later on, since the year was not on any parts except the receiver.
And isn't the rear sight system pretty much "carryover" during the war years?
What are the chances of someone having a 2516 s/n leaf from another year?
I do feel terrible, and want to make it as right as I can.