1911 front sight

[double00]

I have a colt 1911 in 45 cal. and going by serial number was manufactured in 1913. I was shooting my first cast through it the other day (three shots) and the front sight came off. Only sight i found, that looked close, was at midway. I ordered it and it is the right thickness but the stake is flat and the hole in receiver is round. Does anyone know where I can get the right sight? The mold I got was my first 'group buy' and it seemed like I waited forever. NOW I CAN'T EVEN SHOOT. The boolits are beautiful.

[dnotarianni]

If it wasn't a 1913 I would cut a dovetail in the slide and forget about it. If what you got from Midway is larger than the hole then just file it to fit. Second choice is get it silver soldered on if the gun is not a collecter item. Did you check Brownells?

Staking a front sight properly takes a special tool to do it right.
Good Luck
Dave

[MtGun44]

No special tool required at all.

Find the correct milspec sight, then PM me and I will tell you the easy way to properly
stake in a front sight with no changes to your collector gun so it will never come off again.
It takes a bench vise, and a centerpunch or prick punch and a 1/8" flat punch and a bit
of time.

Spend some time at Gun Parts and other online sights and get a real milspec one.

If you find the sight and mail me the slide, I'll put it on for $20 plus return postage if you
are not wanting to tackle this.

Bill

[double00]

Thank you for the replies. I did think of grinding the new sight down or take it to a machine shop. It is so small I don't know if they would touch it. MtGun44 I will try gun parts and if i find one i would appreciate you telling me how to install it. I might still get you to do it if I am scared. I was always told you can't be scared and mean at the same time. I am already half scared. I am located only 200 miles from kc so shipping should not be that much.

[MtGun44]

Not too hard, I have done many, NEVER had one come off. The trick is to keep that old
girl original. She's made this far like she was born, IMO that needs to stay the same.

Bill

[Mk42gunner]

One thing to be aware of is the if the sights are still in 1911 configuration, the front sight is pretty small, most of the sights you find these days are going to be built to the 1911-A1 specs.

Robert

[double00]

I want to keep it original. I have owned it for twenty five years. When I got it, I think it had been reblued. Because there was hardly any wear on it. And the sight is little bitty, which is why I am having trouble finding a new one, all the ones i find are bigger.

[MtGun44]

If you have the correct dimensions for the original, it shouldn't be hard to cut an 1911A1
sight down to the same size if that is what you want. I wonder if the 1911 original military
sight is different than the military 1911A1?

Bill

[Mk42gunner]

Going from memory, this is what I remember was changed on the -A1:

Flat to arched mainspring housing (mistake in my book)

lengthened grip safety tang (not enough)

cutout behind trigger

long to short trigger

The hammer spur was changed, but I have seen both narrow and wide spurs on issued 1911A1's, don't know which is which.

The sights were made bigger, which means the original sights had to be tiny.

Not sure when they did away with the lanyard loop on the magazine.

Robert

[double00]

I found a sight I think is right. It is on e bay and has a round pin. No buy me now so I am bidding on it. Seems sights with the round pin are rare. The one on e bay is new/old stock found in weapon repair center in Belgium.

[MtGun44]

Round pin. . . . HMM. Shouldn't be any harder to do than the
rectangular ones, but I must say, I have never installed a 1911 front
sight with a round pin. There are two widths of rectangular pins.

Unless yours looks really different, I would think that this is pretty close,
but it is a 1911A1, so may be not correct.

http://e-sarcoinc.com/451911frontsighta1.aspx

PM me for instructions if you want to install it, or address if you want me
to do it.

Bill

[double00]

I just got my slide back from MtGun44 where he staked a new sigth for me. I am very happy with the job he did and wanted everyone here to know that. Thanks again MtGun44 and until someday we meet keep your powder dry. John

[wv109323]

The 1911 did have different sights than the 1911A1. The 1911 has a "U" notched rear sight and a front sight that is a "hump" sight. The front blade on the 1911 was semi-circular , with the rear half of the semi-circle serrated. The front sight of the 1911A1 had a dovetail and the 1911 had a round hole for the front sight tendon.The 1911 sight was both shorter and narrower than the 1911A1.IIRC the rear sight on the 1911 and the 1911A1 shared a common dovetail dimensionally but the notch was "U" shaped versus a larger squared "u" on the 1911A1.
The 1911A1 rear sight had a square notch and a front sight with a flat rectangular viewing area.

[Bullet Caster]

Mk42Gunner,
I still have my old arched main spring housing for my 1911A1. The lanyard loop was moved to the base of the arched main spring housing where mine is located. I haven't ever seen a mag with a lanyard loop and I have some old mags. BC

[MtGun44]

I installed that sight on the 1911 slide and it is VERY different than a 1911A1 sight.

Pure semi-circle, parallel sides, NO overhang on the longer "keyway" slot, and a TINY
round staking pin.

Like I said - Way different.

Bill

[MBTcustom]

Aint no step for a stepper.

[Mk42gunner]

Mk42Gunner,
I still have my old arched main spring housing for my 1911A1. The lanyard loop was moved to the base of the arched main spring housing where mine is located. I haven't ever seen a mag with a lanyard loop and I have some old mags. BC

I still have the one that I cut down to flat and stippled taht I used on every 1911-A1 that I was issued as a personal weapon. That and a Wolff recoil spring and I was satisfied. There was just something I didn't like about trusting my life to a low bid spring that cost all of four cents through the supply system.

The lanyard loop on the magazine was done initially for cavalry use, I wouldn't want to have to dismount in the middle of a firefight to find my magazines.

One of the neat things about having a lanyard loop on a .45 is that they work very well asa a bottle opener with a magazine hanging out about an inch. I wouldn't do it with my personal gun, but a lot of beer and pop bottles have been opened with one.

Robert