Colt 1911 sight advice please

[Jeffrey]

I have a Colt 1911 series 70 with original "GI" sights. These 50+ year old eyes have a hard time using them. Problem is while the rear sight is in a dovetail, the front sight is staked (sp?). How difficult of a job for a gunsmith is cutting a dovetail for the front sight? Should I send it to Colt for the work? Thanks for the advice. Jeffrey

[Ford SD]

I have a Colt 1911 series 70 with original "GI" sights. These 50+ year old eyes have a hard time using them. Problem is while the rear sight is in a dovetail, the front sight is staked (sp?). How difficult of a job for a gunsmith is cutting a dovetail for the front sight? Should I send it to Colt for the work? Thanks for the advice. Jeffrey


Not a gunsmith but had the same thing done Several years ago

the Front sight in the 1911 in different years had stake in sights if different widths -- so if you tale it to a gun smith he should be able to quickly change the front and put a new rear on for you cheaper than having to put it in a milling machine

if you have the tool it is only a 5 min job to do the front sight

[10-x]

What sights are you thinking about? I put Kings on both my 1911's(70's and 80's series). Kings white dots show up pretty good. Like Ford SD said, you can do it yourself in 5 minutes.

[Jeffrey]

I've really not picked out sights yet. Tritium is a bit pricey. I'll take a look at the King's. Thanks, J

[country gent]

My 1911s have the front dovetails 90* to barrel makes for more windage adjustments for me. I really like my Bomars but last I heard they were out of buisness. They require milling on the rear of the slide for installation also ( Bomar cut). I have a set of novaks on my carry gun (both Kimber ultra and 2 paras) and they give a crisp clean sight picture also. Hienies are good also. I perfer the tritiums on my carry / self defense guns but for plinkers used in daylight only its an added expense. White red or green dots will stand out nicely. Some of the front sights that use the plastic tubes for inserts are nice but keep a supply on hand as I have seen them get broken.Try and look at several diffrent sight styles and see what works for you. Hienies figure 8s ( 1 white dot front and back) make for a fast simple sight picture. Some like 2 white dots in rear and a "bar" in the front. I perfer lower mounted sights as the higher they get the more they catch on things. Look at web pages for Hienies, novaks, Bar Sto may have something, MMC, B Square may also have some sights, Kings gun works. I also perfer to change the sights as a set makes getting the right hieghts easier. I have " lost" a couple staked in front sights over the years but isnt a big deal to replace. You get what you pay for quality costs. With the tool you can stake in your own front sights ( along with patience and skill) a couple files skill and patience you can cut your own dovetail also. Milling is faster and with skill easier but it can be done. Look around try and look thru sights at gun shops on the range and see what works for you.

[Jupiter7]

This is my favorite for a rear GI dovetail.

http://www.10-8performance.com/products/1911-NM-Rear-Sight.html

Mated with a fiber optic or white outlined tritium front. For keeping your gun unmolested, a stake on front would be in order.

Like so from fusion:
http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/fusionfirearms/the-442/Sight%2C-Front-fiber-optic/Detail

Fusion also sells a "drop in" nite sight for series 70 GI pistols, the set for $100. Just need someone to stake the front in:
http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/fusionfirearms/the-628/1911-Colt-70-Series-fdsh-mil/Detail

[seagiant]

Hi,
The thing is, even if you go with the 10-8 Performance "retro" rear sight that will fit your existing dove tail,it will not be compatible with the old GI nib front sight! You will have to go with something higher and wider! Here is a pic of a 1911 I just finished building. It has the 10-8 Performance rear but the front is a wide tenon from Novak that has been peened in and soldered! I did this myself but your best bet would be to find a smith that would just cut a dovetail for the front sight. Cheaper!

[Char-Gar]

I have been shooting 1911 pistols for over 50 years and close to a half million rounds and have never had a staked front sight get loose or come off. I have changed out and staked a dozen or so using the King's Arsenal tool. They all hold just fine.

If I had a 1911 pistol that required a staked front sight that is what I would put on it and never give it a moments thought. Do be aware that Colt has used two different tenon widths over the years and you want to get the right one for your pistol.

[fourarmed]

The original Series 70 used the narrow tenon front sight. I don't know exactly when they changed over. I agree with CharGar that a properly staked front sight should give no trouble. Of course, the larger and heavier the sight blade, the more stress will be placed on the tenon by recoil.

[daniel lawecki]

I put Bomar front and rear adjustable on my Colt 1911 goverment model

[Jeffrey]

Thanks all, especially Country Gent for suggestion to go to gun shops / ranges and look through sights there.
Jeffrey

[MtGun44]

Fiber optic front helps me a lot. Strongly recommend it.
Green is brightest to my eyes, much better than red.

Bill

[freebullet]

If yer colt is all original and not boogered up sending it to colt may help keep collector value. Before I sent it off I'd try a dab of hi vis orange on the front blade, you may be surprised.

[Jeffrey]

Good idea Freebullet, thanks. J

[KCSO]

To get to the question you need a CARBIDE mill to cut the slide on a colt make no mistake. Even carbide is only good for a limited number of cuts so it usually costs a little to have the job done. The milling itself is a straighforward job and my prefered sight for old eyes is a Green fire sight.

[DougGuy]

Yep, if you look at WWII era 1911s you will notice the parkerizing gets darker at the muzzle, because the slide is hardened in that area. Milling on those isn't fun at all.

Jeffrey, there are a lot of sight options that a decent gun shop could install without milling, look around and see what you like. If you carry, you would likely want some that are more rounded in the front and angled in the rear so they snag less. If you only target shoot, many prefer a front sight with a squared rear on the blade, or an undercut blade so the sunlight doesn't play tricks with it.

For the rear, adjustable sights would likely be milled and installed, and there aren't very many of them that are carry friendly, some aren't too bad but others are just square and sharp cornered. I personally installed Millet sights on one .45 because of the white front and red outline rear, high visibility, and it worked great. That was a long time ago and the improvements made since then are spectacular. Fiber optic has revolutionized gun sights. People like Novak have made some excellent carry sights and incorporated fiber optic into them. Tritium night sights also have seen great improvement over the first few that were made 25yrs ago.

A great place to get ideas, is at the magazine section of grocery stores. Guns And Ammo, American Handgunner, look in the magazines. You will find showcased some of the finest pistolsmithing you could ever imagine, and of course some of the coolest and newest and slickest designs in sights and the photography almost puts the weapons right in your hands.

The sights that worked the best for me on a 1911 were a plain jane staked on front very much like the one in seagiant's photo, and a Robar rear which is just a standard size/style dovetail rear that is melted and smoothed. They were comfortable to carry and very fast to pick up alignment from a fast draw. Photo below.

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Guns/ColtCommander003_zps8256a155.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Guns/ColtCommander003_zps8256a155.jpg.html)

[KCSO]

IMHO well worth it to have it miled for a dovetail sight. Lok at the GI sight and then figure how much extra mass is on that small tennon from the factory sight. That's why they went to the large tennon with the newer guns and then to dovetails. I have never had the tennon on a dovetail sight break and throw the sight into the weeds but it happens all the time to stake on replacments especially if they fellow staking didn't have the right tools. And if you drop the gun and bend or break the front sight you can usually put in a dovetailed replacment yourself. You have to remember that we are doing things to the 1911 today that JB never thought were necessary and each change has a consequence. Nothing beats good solid seeable sights but if this is a carry gun good and solid are the FIRST requisite.

[hermans]

Totally agree with KCSO on having a dovetailed front sight. For older eyes you have to make them bigger, thus they weigh more, not saying that a proper staking job will not last, but with a dove tail it cannot go anywhere.
For me a fibre optic front sight with either green or red works just so good, you pic it up in a snap.