Only the extremely early ones require removing the sight to remove the front band, most of the later-early rifles (that doesnt make sense) you just have to hold your mouth right to slip it past, sometimes turning it upside down works. If you have the early type that wont fit, and Im assuming your just trying to get the replacement band on (cause it your sporter had its original band it wouldnt be an issue) you can carefully excise some metal off the interior edges of the new band to allow it to clear ,Before the purists start howling, its gonna be mismatched anyway,and you cant see the removed metal,..other wise good luck with that nasty ,hateful pin, and the sights are a beast even after the pins out,I think RCB posted how to do it awhile back.