Yes I did read it, and was more confused for my effort.
It doesn't matter what the rule may or may not be, because you don't know what rule the maker used. Just make sure the barrel is leather protected in a good solid vice. Visibly check to see if you can determine the best route to exit. Can't tell? Take a brass punch and start tapping in your best guessed direction. If that fails go the other direction. Just be careful!
That's because in reality there's a lot of variability in dovetails and whether they're tapered or not, etc. And everyone tends to comment on that from the perspective of his own ideology, often not letting facts intrude.
There are other threads on other forums where you'll also see a lot of the variability mentioned. The take-away is that your dovetail is your dovetail, and may or may not be similar to someone else's dovetail on a similar or different gun.
said plainly what i tried to say.
Yes, your explanation makes perfect sense. But doesn't this account of the taper indicate that the only role of the taper is to make it easier to insert in the dove tail prior to driving it in with a punch? The sides of the barrel dovetail itself are parallel, and the sight should fit tightly in that parallel-sided dovetail without being tapered. I KNOW that I have sights that are NOT tapered and fit perfectly tightly in the dovetail, and of course can be finely adjusted with a punch. So why bother with that taper except to ease the initial insertion since it doesn't provide any necessary function in holding the sight firmly in the dovetail?
The BARREL dovetail is NOT tapered. ALL currently manufactured SIGHT INSERT dovetails have a taper & are made to go in from right to left & have been made that way for as long as I have been cutting dovetails in guns & installing sights. Why do you think the OP's sight is facing backwards? It's because it was put in from left to right (backwards) & the narrower end of the taper was the only way it would start into the barrel dovetail. Thus the sight itself is BACKWARDS! That's why direction matters. Maybe you should pay closer attention to what you are measuring & how the manufacturers are doing things before all the "Yada, yada, yada".
Just a heads up to the OP. Beings your sight was installed backwards, it will be easier to drive it out to the left so you aren't fighting the taper. Then install it properly from the right side.
You've said this before, and I've pointed out specific examples where it's not true -- specifically in this thread. One of them now graces the front of my Traditions Crockett rifle. But never mind that, and I know that tapered sight bases as you describe them have been commonly used throughout the history of dovetail sights.
