1911 Target Sights - Height of Front Sight?

[Kind of Blued]

I'd like to replace the front sight on my 1911, but don't own an instrument accurate enough to measure its height. My options from Champion are .160", .170", .180", .190", and .200". I e-mailed S&W with the model number asking if they could tell me the height of the front sight, but they haven't responded yet.

So my question is: Does anybody know the height, or is it safe to assume that it is one of the heights listed above? Do a vast majority of 1911s equipped with target sights use a front sight of a specific height?

I have some clearance to lower the rear sight if I ordered a front sight that is too short, so I could err that way, but if there's no safe way of knowing, I'll just keep waiting on S&W to respond to my e-mail.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jim Watson]

Do you have any friends who handload? Most reloaders keep a caliper for measuring OAL that will do the job. If you want one of your own for future work, a cheap Communist Chinese dial or digital caliper will cost less than $20 from Harbor Freight. I got one for $13 on sale from Midway.

 

[schmeky]

King of Blued,

Jim's absolutely correct. You can pick up a plastic vernier caliper cheap and will do what you want to do. Once you get one, you'll find it handier than you ever imagined. I use mine all the time. I bought a top of the Starret years ago and it was money well spent.

You could drop by any local machine shop and they would probably measure it for you free.

 

[Jim Watson]

You could drop by any local machine shop and they would probably measure it for you free.

Yes, but ask before you go, and maybe just take the slide off the gun. Lots of businesses get upset when somebody pulls a gun.

 

[Kind of Blued]

I could probably gain access to some calipers, but I imagine I'd have to remove the sight to get an accurate measurement.

Should I measure the overall height of the sight from the bottom of the dovetail to the top of the sight? Or should I measure the distance from the top of the slide to the top of the sight?

There's actually a bit of daylight between the top of the slide and the bottom of the sight... so that's another issue, depending on the answer to the question above...

Thanks for your help thus far fellas. I should get some decent calipers. I've had plenty of occasions for them lately, even though I might not use them for the typical purposes.

 

[Oro]

I imagine I'd have to remove the sight to get an accurate measurement

No, all these heights you see quoted are nominal heights - the height above the slide. They are consistent between brands and guns.

If you have target sights, a .180 or .190 should work fine, but that's a guess because we don't know what your rear sight looks like (post a photo?), or how low it is mounted in your frame. Also, if you don't have a pair of calipers, get one. They are useful for all kinds of things, even as tweezers to hold your parts when snapping photos:

 

[krs]

If you have a caliper, the type shown partially in Oro's photo, you can use the other end of it as a very nice depth guage. Just put the base on top of the sight and open the caliper until the small shaft that comes out touches the slide. Read the dial - it will be the height of your sight.

 

[Kind of Blued]

(post a photo?)

Sure!

 

[krs]

I think you'd do well to get ahold of someone at Novak's at least to find what dovetail cut is used. I can't tell for sure but it doesn't look as wide as most or to the same angles.

Here's a page for fiber optic fronts showing three sight height choices. You can work backwards from the page to the homepage for contact info. They have a "sights" answer line just for you: http://secure.netsolhost.com/484978...Product_Code=DFS02FOsw19&Category_Code=sw1911

 

[Kind of Blued]

I got a reply from S&W; he said to go with the .200" sight.

krs brings up another question though. As far as the front sight, I was under the impression that there was only one kind of dovetail, regardless of if one has a Novak cut or Bomar cut for the rear sight. Is this incorrect?

 

[Jim Watson]

It is incorrect.

The two main types of FRONT dovetail are the Novak at .330" x .075" x 65 deg and the Heinie at .300" x .060" x 60 deg. And there are others, Wilson and Nowlin have their own sizes. S&W might, too. Dawson lists specific fibre optic front sights for S&W.

 

[Kind of Blued]

Good grief. I didn't think it was this difficult.

Thanks for the help everyone. You all have probably saved me a good deal of time, money, and effort. I e-mailed Novak, but I may have another question in a bit.

Novak uses a completely different technique for measuring front sight height... Their options are .245", .262", and .275... :banghead: