Hey UC, glad you got a chuckle.

The blueing job is just awaiting purchase of a bottle of Birchwood-Casey cold blue (I know I have some around here somewhere, but can't find it. Maybe I loaned it to my brother-in-law?)

That 4mm screw is pretty beefy - a lot heavier than standard scope base screws. Time will tell. Might be thinning them round bolt heads to reduce mass a little, but I kinda got used to them already.

I thought about using the dovetail but the stud approach seemed practical and easier. I can make new "ghost rings" with the drilled and tapped holes slightly off center to adjust windage if needed, or just different styles and thicknesses if I want. Screw off one and screw on another.

That dovetail is not quite what it seems. The picture doesn't show it well, but it's very shallow andonly the rear of it is undercut. The front is flat. The original sight wedged in under the undercut side then was screwed down. I would have to do a little file work on the barrel to make a true dovetail,and decided to keep it "as is" so the original sight could be restored if so desired.