Colt Commander Sights Replacements

[XLMiguel]

I recently acquired a LNIB stainless Commander (#4091U). I had a chance to fire it this morning, and overall, I'm pretty happy with it, but I'm underwhelmed with the sights. I see that the front is pinned in (and loose, so I guess a drop of locktite is in order) and the rears are dovetailed. This is my first Colt, I have a couple of Kimber 1911s.

I'm looking for some recommendations for replacement sights? This will be a carry gun, so I'd like to go with fixed sights, maybe night sights or possibly a fiber optic front - I'd like to keep it simple (i.e. no or limited gunsmithing if possible) or am I going to have to dovetail the front to get there from here? TIA

 

[HSMITH]

Mike, the front sight needs more than loc-tite. It needs to be re-staked if it is loose. No two ways about that.

I really like the Heinie 'straight eight' night sights. The rear is no problem, drive your old one out and fit the new one. The front is a problem, you will have to have a dovetail cut (best way) or have a new front staked in (not as good way but acceptable). The 'race cut' Heinie is the ultimate fixed sight set IMO.

I have some fiber sights, and I wouldn't put them on a carry gun. The fiber is too fragile. Look for dead tough and solid in carry sights.

 

[XLMiguel]

Thanks for the input HSMITH, Heine's are on my short list. Lining the dots is pretty intuitive ( I have a couple SIGs with their std 'dot the i' sights that I shoot well), and I like horizontal grooving on the backplane to kill glare). Trij makes direct replacments for Colt (staked front), but anything else will require a trip to the smith's for a front dovetail I guess.

FWIW, I have a Brazos lightning rod (fiber optic) on my GM Kimber along with an MMC adjustable WO rear that I like a lot. It's quick to acquire and is pretty easy to hit well with it, but I agree that FO frontsights are probably too frgile, though the FO rod is easy enough to change/replace.

I've seen ads for the hybird tritium/FO sights, but haven't met anyone with any experience

 

[Jim Watson]

I have not seen a Heinie sight that fits the GI dovetail of 1911. Is there one now? Maybe I am peculiar but I will not pay a hundred bucks or more to have the slide remachined to take a proprietary fixed sight. I have a King's National Match and used to have a Novak Competition and an MGW that gave good sight pictures without a milling machine.

I'd want a tritium, gold bead or white bead front sight; staked or dovetailed.

 

[ACP]

I've got plain black Novak's on the rear of my 70 Series Colt Combat Commander. Up front I've got a Les Baer (serrated) nightsight.

The Novak's are "soft", which means they ding easy, but they also take a nice de-horning.

My other choice would be either the Heine's, which I had on my Glock 19, or the Ashley Outdoors "Express" sights, which is a Sig-style rear vertical post and a large white or white/tritium dot up front. Very fast for close-up stuff.

 

[HSMITH]

My only complaint with the Tritium/Fiber combo sights is the front blade is WIDE, HUGE WIDE. Covers a LOT of target. Did I mention it is WIDE? Sorry, but I don't like them at all.

 

[johnster999]

I sent my slide off to Trijicon for their night sights. I'm happy with them. They use a stake in front and require no slide milling. This might be an option for you if you don't want to have your slide milled for Novaks, Heinie, etc.

Here's a link to my post at m1911.org:

http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=11406

999

 

[pete f]

wilson, brown and kings used to make a number of variants of the staked in sight. I know there are two different sizes of tenon but can not remember the cut offs for the differing sizes. wilson and kings used to have several different profiles of sights front and reat that did not require machining of the slide but gave much better sight pictures. Pretty sure Brownells and Midway will hve them in stock.

staking is easy if you but the little tool or make one. I also would lightly (LIGHTLY!!)dremel a slight bevel on the bottom side of mortise in the slide so that when i staked the sight there was a bit more material moved over.

 

[XLMiguel]

Thanks for the 411 guys. First I'll try to tighten up the front sight (it just wiggles a little-), and shoot it some more. The Triji's may be the path of least resistance; I have them on two of my SIGs and I like them. I just think the stock colt's are a bit small . . . could be my >50 eyes

 

[Jim Watson]

If it wiggles a little now, it will soon depart under recoil. Not many sights have enough meat left to restake, it was ground off to clear the bushing. A new sight put on by somebody who knows how is best. But then I am NRA Mechanically Inept and I have learned my many limitations.

 

[Wags]

Mike in VA: Three months ago I replaced the sights on my Colt Combat Commander 9mm. I choose the Novak Plain Black Dovetail, and a Ed Brown Plain Black front sight blade. Neither sight required milling since I didn't want to take this pistol under the knife. The rear sight I had to tweek just a bit to fit the dovetail. The front staked in nicely. Kings GunWorks also has a high profile combat rear sight that I considered, but since I have Novak Low Mounts on 3 of my Hi-Powers I choose Novaks. Total for the sight package I mentioned was under $60