1911 Shooting High - fixed sights ?

[dmftoy1]

I've got a Kimber series I that shoots beautiful groups both with factory hardball and with 200gr LSWC handloads. The only problem is that it's shooting about 4 inches high at 25 yards. (I'm using a standard bullseye sight picture on an NRA 25 yard slow-fire pistol target). The sights are fixed and the rear is either a Novak or a Kimber clone of a Novak rear sight. Is there anything I can do to get it down about 2 inches or so? I can live with 2 inches high, but 4 plays hell with me when I'm working on the dualing tree.

I figure I need either a taller front sight or to somehow lower the rear. I don't know how hard it is to replace the front, but it appears to be sitting in a shallow dovetail. The rear sits in a dovetail and is drift adjustable. It's held in place with an allen screw.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[Bill Z]

Your front sight needs to be .022 or .023 higher in order to bring your groups down 4 inches. You could even get one taller and then fine tune it by filing it flat while you are shooting/sighting it in. Most Kimbers use the Novak dovetail up front. Measure what you have and order a new one.

The Kimbers are kind of tough to get out, but totally doable if you have a good solid bench vice to hold your work. I have a post up on http://handgunsandammo.proboards36.com/index.cgi in the pistolsmithing section detailing the process, and it's on a Kimber slide.

 

[dmftoy1]

Thanks!! you're the best.

Would you rate the replacement as a do it yourself task? I'm fairly mechanically inclined but I've never done anything like silver soldering, etc.

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[Dienekes]

Had the same problem with a Springfield Armory Mil-Spec. In that case the front sight was the traditional staked-in type. Removed it and had a dovetail milled into the slide, then fitted up a blank I got from Brownell's. The milling was the only part I wasn't set up to do properly. It all worked out fine. You are ahead of the game with the existing dovetail.

If necessary call Brownell's tech rep and talk to him about a suitable sight blank. The old one should drift right out with a brass punch. Install the new one after shaping it to the general outline you want and getting the sight height a bit higher than your calculations. Then shoot it and keep filing it in until you are completely satisfied. I usually make it a point to make a series of trips to the range just to ensure that my POI is the real one and not just for that day. Putting metal filings back is tedious.

As long as you don't muck up the dovetail slot all will be well.

 

[Bill Z]

Would you rate the replacement as a do it yourself task? I'm fairly mechanically inclined but I've never done anything like silver soldering, etc.

Yes, it's a do-it-yourself possible if you follow the instructions, including having a firmly mounted strong vice. Silver soldering is not part of this project by any means, don't know where that came from.

I did give you some bad info on the sight height though, it should be more like .035 taller than what you have. Doesn't sound like much of a difference, but in this case taller is better as you can take the sight height down.

The front sight should run aboput 20.00 or so and a smith shouldn't charge a great deal to drift it out and in if you don't have the tools, certainly less than the tools would cost. If you need to mail it to someone, they would only need the slide with the current sight installed and your POA/POI measurements and the distance from target and they can take care of it all post haste.

 

[Bill Z]

dmftoy1, don't know why there is difficulty getting on the other board, but I have had a few people PM me about it, I have no control over that. Here is the post I put up over there at your request. I hope that it helps.

Bill

Changing out sights can be one fo the quickest improvements somone can make to their pistol. Sometimes just replacing a damaged one yourself could save a great deal of money. As long as you get a sight cut for the same dovetail cut, this is something that is easily done. I am using a Stainless Kimber Type II slide and a Colt pre-70 series slide in the white for illustration purposes.

First, it's important that you use a good heavy vice with protective covers over the jaws to prevent any marring to the slide. I reccomend that you remove the slide from the frame and wrap a piece of leather at the contact point to insure you don't damage the finish.

It is critical that your vice be solidly mounted to a stable work surface, I cannot emphasize this enough.

Next, you want to get either a brass or nylon drift. These will be used to drive the sights out and shouldn't harm them.

When drifting out the front sight, go from left to right, and insure you don't use the blade as your striking surface but rather the bottom of a dovetail. This is a Kimber slide illustrated which uses a Novak sight for the front.

If the front sight is also pinned, you would need to drive out the pin first with a punch.



Rear sights are held in usually with a set screw. This has to be loosened in order to drift the sight out in the same manner as above with the front sight,



On adjustable sights, you will need to back out the adjusting screw completely first. There will be a couople of springs and possibly detent balls so collect them and put them in a safe place. Then you can remove the set screw and drift out the sight.



NOTE: On Series II Kimbers, the Safety parts are located under the sights. Be sure you remove than and note how they went in so you can replace them. I can do a picture essay in the future on this system if anyone wants me too.

Now, installing the sights is as simple as reversing the order above, including installing them from right to left. The dovetails are actually tapered so this is important.

 

[dmftoy1]

Thanks! I tried 3 different email addresses to register with them never received the "registration" password.

If you're ever in the area let me know and I'll be happy to buy you a beer!

Have a good one,
Dave

 

[JiminCA]

You will need .027 more front sight to lower POI 4 inches assuming you have a 5" gun. If it is a shorter distance from the rear sight to the front sight, the numbers will change, but for a 5" model I use .0068 per inch at 25 yds.

You probably won't be able to get a sight .027 taller, likely it will be .030 taller. That is fine. From your description of sight picture you will still be floating the ball by about 1/2". Otherwise, you can still file it just a touch.