Colt series 70 Front sight

[Bw2k2000]

Heres a shot in the dark. Friend of mine has a Colt series 70 Combat Commander is ether stainless or brushed nickle, don't know which as I have personally not seen the gun. Front sight fell off and he wants to replace it with an original. Can't find anything in stainless or nickle as a replacement part. Anybody know where I can get one? GPC has the nickle rear but that is all I have found.

 

[rcmodel]

I don't know what to tell you other then call Colt.

Colt factory sights seem to be out of stock everywhere I looked.

Do you have a means to stake a new tennon sight on??

If not, it would be best to send the slide to Colt and have them replace it anyway.

rc

 

[Bw2k2000]

Yeah I have a high dollar front sight staking tool at work. But we only stock the carbon steel front sights. I can do the work no problem just need the sight.

 

[rcmodel]

Might be easier to get a re-finisher to electroless nickel one or two of the sights you already have.

Course, it wouldn't be too terribly difficult to make one out of stainless if you already have one for a pattern.

rc

 

[BBBBill]

There were never any stainless S70 guns until the repros came out a couple years ago. Still no stainless Commanders of the pre S80 persuasion. The nickle plating was applied after the sights were installed.

 

[rcmodel]

Another thought I meant to add earlier is this.

Put a black sight on it.
Then he might be able to see it well enough to hit something with it.

rc

 

[Bw2k2000]

I tried to talk him into a black sight and he wasn't having any. Doesn't the SS prefix on a colt mean that it is stainless?

 

[rcmodel]

Yes, but that doesn't mean everything on the SS Colt was actually S/S.

Like BBBBill said, the plating on a standard sight was applied before or after it was staked on the slide.

I went through a bunch of older Colt parts lists when this came up, and found no reference to a S/S front sight in the parts numbers.

If your friend isn't having any?
Let him find his own S/S sight, or send it back to Colt and see what he gets back.

It could be a "learning moment" for all of us!

rc

 

[Bw2k2000]

Not a bad idea Rc. If we send it back to colt I will let you know the verdict.

 

[funnelcake]

A bead blasted carbon steel sight is likely to match pretty well and unlikely to rust with any reasonable care.

Funnel

 

[hentown]

If it's a real 70 Series, then it's nickeled.

 

[Steve H]

Have you asked over at coltforum.com There is a lot of info there.

 

[Still Shooting]

Nickel Plating

Here's an idea you might try - MicroMark has a not-too-expensive plating setup for copper, nickel, and chrome. If you clean a sight to bare metal, this should work.

http://www.micromark.com/plug-n-plate-nickel-plating-kit,8326.html

 

[Drail]

Put a black sight on it. Plating a front sight with bright metal is about the dumbest thing I have ever seen. On a sunny day you cannot see the edges of the sight. S&W did this once and dropped it. Dumb. Unless it is just an investment safe queen that will never be shot.