Kimber 1911 - Loose fitting new front sight

[Huginn]

Hey all,

I'm swapping out front sights on my Kimber Custom Target II. The original was a beast to get out, which was what most discussions warned me about, but a brass punch, some Kroil, and plenty of effort shifted it eventually.

But the new sight (from Kimber) is just the opposite - it slides in easily, stopping at the middle of the slide, and could slide out just as easily.

Should I worry about this? Can I just count on Loctite to keep it secure, do I need to think about getting a different one, or is there some other secret magic I need to know about?

Thanks for any input!

[russ69]

No bueno.

[Citadelgrad87]

Can you use a punch to VERY slightly peen the sight so it's wider where it needs to be wider?

[-hanko]

Can you use a punch to VERY slightly peen the sight so it's wider where it needs to be wider?

A more common fix is to lightly stipple the dovetail.

Whatever you do, I wouldn't depend on only Loctite to hold the sight in place.

[tonyxcom]

I've used a center punch to stipple (mentioned above) the SIDES of the dovetail on a Glock rear sight. I also backed it up with some red Locktite.

Worked great and is apparently a common practice.

[Huginn]

Great, I'll give the stippling approach a try. Thanks for the advice!

[-hanko]

You're welcome...report back when done.

And when I wrote 'stippling the dovetail', I should have been more expletive by writing "stippling the dovetail cut"...just the flat section on the slide.

Many dovetailed front sights don't have enough thickness on the base to build up the thickness by stippling...not to mention fixtureing the sight while you stipple is a biatch...