1911 GI Sight Install Question

[ajaffe]

So I just got a Springfield 1911 GI from a fellow Calgunner, and after some range time and home point and aim practice I really feel that the low profile sights leave something to be desired.
So my question is, how do I get new sights installed? The front sight is a medium size stake in correct? Would I just be able to send it into Novak to have some Tritium sights installed for front and rear? Or would I be forced to keep the low profile front?
Aside from Novak, are there other comparable sight installers/manufacturers?


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[Kruzr]

You can get new sights either staked (like what you have now) or have someone cut a dovetail in the front. If I were going to go to the trouble of sending it to Novak for installation of new sights, I would pay them the 50 bucks or so to cut the dovetail for the front sight. I'd also have them cut a Novak type dovetail in the rear. That way, you will have a wide choice of sights to choose from if you ever decide to change them again.....and you could do it yourself.

[ajaffe]

Ah so they offer a dovetail cutting then for the front sight, that is exactly what I was looking for. Now do you know if they refinish it or do they just leave it raw?

[Army]

Any decent 'smith can stake a new front 1911 sight.

You can use a staking tool and hammer, which literally pounds the tenon down and out...and then file off the excess metal smoothly, so the barrel doesn't bind.

Or, there is a specialized tool that engulfs the sight and front of the slide while a set screw forces the front blade into position, then a spud is hammered through the assembly which "irons" the tenon flat. Another spud is hammered through which will smooth and channel the new metal for barrel clearance. This method is by far the easiest.

[Kruzr]

Ah so they offer a dovetail cutting then for the front sight, that is exactly what I was looking for. Now do you know if they refinish it or do they just leave it raw?

You should give them a call. If you are going to buy both a front and rear sight, it might be less to have both machined to dovetails for the sights you want. They won't refinish the slide nor do you have to. Cold blue will work fine in the exposed cuts. They might do that also. Call them, unless you mention the words Les Baer (whom they accuse of stealing their design,) you'll find them very accommodating.

Any decent 'smith can stake a new front 1911 sight.

You can use a staking tool and hammer, which literally pounds the tenon down and out...and then file off the excess metal smoothly, so the barrel doesn't bind.

Or, there is a specialized tool that engulfs the sight and front of the slide while a set screw forces the front blade into position, then a spud is hammered through the assembly which "irons" the tenon flat. Another spud is hammered through which will smooth and channel the new metal for barrel clearance. This method is by far the easiest.

And that is absolutely true. But, if you get a dovetail cut in the front, you will have a much wider choice of sights and it is a heck of a lot much easier to change them.