Loose front sight on 1911

[bruce]

Briefly, a few years ago a gunsmith installed Millett adj. sights on a RIA 1911-A1 for me. They have worked well. Last night I noticed the front sight is loose. Need information as to how to tighten the front sight. Any help appreciated. Sincerely. bruce.

[ignats]

There are several ways to go. JB Weld is fast and cheap but probably won't hold for long. There are other products such as Loctite but again, no guarantee they will do the job or last.

Silver solder is a tried and true method but it's not something most people can do at home. It requires a lot of heat to melt the solder and will discolor the front part of the slide and possibly weaken it. I had that done on a target gun years ago and I didn't care so much about appearance. That as opposed to having the front sight simply get thrown off during a match was a no-brainer.

Probably the best way is to have it re-staked. If the tenon is basically gone (meaning there isn't enough material left to stake it again (and there probably isn't) the sight will have to be replaced. Just about any gunsmith can do this.

Some of them are now cutting a dove tail on the front of the slide and using a sight that fits like the rear sight. These work well but the cut is permanent and it just depends on what you want. I have a 38 Super pistol that a smith/machinist added a S&W K frame adjustable rear sight to and cut a dove tail like groove front to rear similar to the old Bomar type sights. It is something of a a tight fit and isn't going anywhere. This was on a Colt Series 70 Slide.

Heavy front sights (as compared to the type used in the original designs) are going to work loose when you fire the gun frequently over a period of time. The inertia of the heavier sight will do that. So, pick the way you want to go.

[Richard H Brown Jr]

Brue:

Happy new year and all.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-FmHQLYBbIWWFFXdmNsWDlPMHc/edit?pli=1 link to download Kuhnhausen's shop manual on the 19aa series pistols.

Best way would be to check the staking for the front sight. If possible either stake ti down again, or go for a replacement front sight. There's a specialtool for it, probably find it in Brownell's catalog.

RHB

[Col. Colt]

Is the front sight an original, standard original GI style "tenon" front sight, or did the gunsmith also install the special Millet front, using their propritary "double crimp" system with two tenon holes in the slide now? If it is still the original single tenon GI style, no problems, many people can fix it. Properly installed, a GI/Colt style tenon very seldom works loose. The key is "properly installed", which holds with the Millet also.

If it is a double crimp, you may need to pick up a new, unused Millet front on ebay or from an older gunshop, and find someone with the right Millet tool to crimp it properly. There are nowadays the modern industrial epoxies from 3M Corp that are reportedly almost as strong as a weld, and permanent, so you might investigate that possiblity as well. CC