Just a word of caution to all of you, when I removed my rear sight today I was suprised to find rust on the spring and other parts of the sight assembly that is impossible to get to when cleaning. Thankfully the amount of rust was slight but I would never have thought to take it apart and clean it had it not been for the new peep sight I put on.
I am VERY meticulus about cleaning my rifles (I thought)but never thought of looking under there.

Eric[:@]

I myself when purchasing a new gun total remove all parts lube and reassembly.
I remember your post on the peep sight you are going to mount on the hawkens and what I found that you should check before installing the peep to the tang,see how easy it will be to pick up the rear peep,I found if you use the rear wood screw I had to dig my face into the stock to pick up a clear picture of the front sight. the older t/c hawkens had a small extra screw that was drilled and tap on the tang, this set-up will not work with the hunter peep only with t/c vernier tang sight.
I would tape the sight and check it before drilling and tapping
good luck with the peep I really like mine on the hawkens and the new englander

Eric, like you probably do, Iremove my TC Hawken barrels and soak / then pump flush clean them in a large bucket of hot soapy water then rinse it...water gets all over the outside and under the rib, into thesights, etc.

To prevent rust buildup under those areas, Ipower flush the seam of the rib, and all around & under the front/rear sights, and wedge pin tenonwith aerosol WD-40 spray...so far, so good !

Thanks for the heads up in this matter. I personally admit I do not remove the sights unless I am replacing them or there is something that needs repair. I am going to look into this. Maybe I will try Roundball's idea of a good bore cleaner and then after it sits and drys, hit it with a good oil. I do wipe the sights off and around the base with oil, but this is a good wake up call...