1911 sights

[Gunner4h1r3]

I am looking at upgrading the sights on my RIA 1911. It has the old GI sights and I want to install 3-dots, or a fiber optic front with dot rear. Any recommendations/advice would be more than welcome.

 

[rcmodel]

The only sure thing I can tell you is, if you put a bigger / heavier front sight on, make sure it is dovetailed into the slide.
This will require gunsmith installation to mill the dovetail in the slide.

If you have a target sight staked on like the GI sight, it will sooner or later come off due to recoil.

rcmodel

 

[Eric F]

look at dawsons fiber optic or D r Middlebrooks V Dot sight. www.tacticalshooting.com

 

[Ceemack]

Most aftermarket sights would require at least a front dovetail to be cut in the slide; they may also require a wider dovetail cut in the rear. This requires at least a partial refinish, so it's not cheap to do. Dovetailing the front sight into the slide is more durable than the original staking method, but a good staking job can hold up fairly well.

If you're trying to keep the cost down, King's Gun Works sells several good sights that can work with the existing cuts in the slide. I had a set of their plain-Jane sights installed on my RIA, and with installation the whole thing was about $70. Their three-dot sets run a tiny bit more.

 

[kcshooter]

Millet also makes sights that won't require dovetails to be milled. I've got one staked in a 80 series with about 7k rounds thru it with that front sight on it, it's still tight as the day it was installed.

 

[Drail]

If properly done a staked on sight will never come off. I have King's target sights staked on three of my Springfields that I installed in the late 80's and shot Major IPSC loads for 10 years. Big, thick, and tall ones. Still as tight as the day I put them on. I have staked sights on many customer's guns and have never had one come off. If you see one come off, the person that installed it needs to go back to school. Please understand I'm not bragging about my work, but the armory method of staking with the proper jig has worked for many years. I appreciate a nicely dovetailed front sight on a 1911 ,but I think it only makes it easier to change out sights rather than being a "better way" to do it.

 

[rondog]

The US distributor of RIA's, Advanced Tactical, recommends Champion sights, but I had Novak's installed on mine.