1911 sights What to upgrade too?

[ty423]

I just recently picked up my 1911 from a member and want to change the sights. They are stock non adjustable POS. It looks like someone tried to polish the sights to match the high polished slide and frame and it's either rusting or something. I saw some companies have different cuts. Which cut do I have? It's a Colt Series 80 slide. The front sight seems to be a permanent part of the frame. Do the replacements go over them or do I need to drill a hole? This is a recreational paper shooter just like all the rest of my guns. I don't need anything super fancy but something decent enough to look at and practical to use. I don't need any tritium sights for these since I doubt I'll shoot this at low light situations. So far I looked on www.midwayusa.com and there are just tons of choices. Would I be able to change these myself or do I need a smith to do it? thanks. semi-new to the 1911 world.

[pklin1297]

Looks like the front sight may be staked (not dovetailed), which means you can either leave it alone, or have a smith cut a specified front dovetail (Novak, Heinie, etc.) of your choosing and then more options will be available to you. If you don't want to do anything with the front, you can get the Yost-Bonitz retro rear sight http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...785&t=11082005, which should fit your factory rear dovetail and allow you to use the factory front.

If you do decide to cut new front and rear dovetails, you have many more choices and again, Novak, Heinie, Warren, Dawson sights, just to name a few, comes to mind.

Good luck.

[ty423]

wow...thanks...i was wondering what i was going to do with that front sight. are all the rear cuts the same standard? or is there a difference between companies?

[ty423]

dammit...that sight you mention is discontinued.

[slick_711]

Take your slide off and send it to Novak and pick some of their sights to install. That's about the cheapest option.

[pklin1297]

dammit...that sight you mention is discontinued.

In that case, look here: http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/sto...20REAR%20SIGHT

Depending on which manufacturer's sight set (front and rear) you go with, that will determine the front sight and rear sight dovetail. As slick_711 said, you can send it off to Novak, pick a sight set they make and just tell them to put it on your slide, simple... All you will have to deal with is cost of sights, cost of installation, and time, though Novak will install in one week or less as advertised on their website so don't think you will have to wait long. (http://www.novaksights.com/novak_sights.htm)

Cheapest option, assuming it will fit your current rear dovetail, is the retro rear sight listed above, which I believe is what you're looking for in terms of nothing fancy, nothing complicated, but plenty useful for range use, unless the range is really dark or your front sight really narrow, which shouldn't be the case with a series 80 slide.

Since you're in south Orange County, spend a little bit of money and get that retro sight, then take it to the gunsmith working in the back of Ade's shop and have him see if it will fit. If it doesn't, ask him if he can MAKE it fit without too much trouble, then decide if you want to go through with installation, or simply return the unmodified rear sight to Brownells for a full refund, and then ask the gunsmith how much it would cost for him to install a Novak set, Heinie set, etc.