Install 1911 front sights

Once the swaging punch is removed, the clean-up shear punch is driven into the fixture to shear off any excess material.

Very little further clean-up should be necessary. Carefully done, a very nice staking job is possible with this Trijicon tool at a lower cost compared to milling a dovetail in the slide. There are alternate methods for staking sights, but this one results in the neatest job with the least amount of effort.

It is worth the entry fee for armorers who install a lot of Trijicon sights on type pistols but may be prohibitively expensive for many. The factory front sight on the Colt Commander. While bigger than the half-moon sight on the original , it's still pretty small by today's standards.

The empty sight recess after the factory blade is removed. Norcross says just clamp the sight blade in a vise and twist on the slide to pop it out of place. The Trijicon tool is modeled after the old MMC stool. It's not cheap, but it will pay for itself if you do a lot of staked front sight installations on s. The shear punches. Top to bottom: wide tenon, narrow tenon and clean-up shear. They're intended first to flatten out and then to cut off the front sight tenon. Rear view of the fixture installed with sight clamp tightened down.

The clamp firmly supports the sight blade so the tenon can be flattened and cut off. The Trijicon tool installed on a pistol shows the shear punch before it is driven into the fixture. The punch will need to be driven back out, too. Using the tool flattens the protruding sight tenon into its recess inside the slide. The tenon nicely fills up the recess, meaning the sight will stay in place.

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To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow. Get Digital Access. Subscribe To The Magazine. More Articles From Gunsmithing. May 29, By Gus Norcross. Sign Me Up. A brass hammer is always good to have around, booth for sight removal and when putting a new one in. You want to avoid a regular hammer as it will get generally be too large or be made of steel.

Most sights are staked into place, meaning they are semi-permanently set rather than using friction within a dovetail. Although there are a few different ways to loosen and change out your sight for easy replacement, this is one of the most effective and quickly done.

You want to first remove the bushing from the slide and clear your parts so you can work unobstructed and really see the smaller areas you need to get at.

This is a simple task that only requires you to push the slide out of the battery and press the recoil spring cap for easy cap and spring release. Grab the sight firmly in the vise and then wiggle the slide until the sight pops loose. If you are having issues with this, you might want to grind the bottom of the sight to help loosen it further and allow it to pull through the square hole.

This guy does the same thing using pliers that he tapes off to avoid damaging the slide, but I assure you, a vise is much easier! Some models come with a front dovetail sight that allows you to push the sight out from the side.

These are set in place using a frictional sight fit. Take a look at this step-by-step guide if you have a dovetail design. Slowly push the small mechanism found inside the slide to force the pin to pop out. This will protect you from getting hit by the pin as it comes out forcefully because of its spring. It might shoot out across the room. Place the slide in the vice to hold it tightly as you remove the front and rear sights. Make sure it is tight enough so it will not move once you start pulling the sights.

In removing the rear sight, you need to disengage it from the slide in a left to right motion, looking from the rear of the slide. Using the brass punch set, punch the rear sight from its left side.

You can use the brass hammer together with the punch set to remove the rear sight. When the back sight starts to move to the right, you will notice a spring positioned underneath the sight. It will pop out as the backsight is moved towards the right. Remove the spring as you will be replacing it also once the sight is removed. After removing the rear sight, you will see a sticky material on the mold and slides.

It is the stuff that binds the sight and the slide. After cleaning the slide, you will notice the brass punch residues left during the process. Clean the rear part of the slide with a wire brush and some oil. It will be good as new. Make sure that the setscrews are backed out completely.

If you choose a trapezoidal-style rear sight, remove material at the bottom of the sight. If the back sight overhangs the slide behind the dovetail, measure the slide height above the dovetail base. Measure the sight height from the bottom of the dovetail to the overhang. Create more clearance. File the flat part of the overhang to make the sight fit.

Changing sights on is not easy. Some choose to let the professionals do the replacement for them. But, those who prefer to do it by themselves hope this how to change sights on will help you. Before you start the process, make sure you have all the tools on hand. Also, never change the sights of a loaded If you want to share your ideas or questions about sight replacement on , feel free to comment below.