RIA 1911 sights

[ThePunisher'sArmory]

I'm new to the 1911 platform and picked up a Rock Island Tactical about a month ago. I found the front sight to be hard to pick up and want to change them out. Can anyone send me a link or suggest a set of 3 dot, or night sights that will fit this gun. I know the rear is Novak cut but don't know about the front sight. I should also note that I painted a dot on the front sight but don't want to have to touch it up all the time.

 

[onevoice]

Try www.dawsonpresicion.com they have high viz front sights made for the cut of the RIA slide as long as its the tactical model.

 

[railroader]

The tactical has unique dovetails. The rear is close to novaks but the front dovetail is deeper than other 1911s. Dawson precision now makes fiber optic front sights to fit the tactical front dovetail. I have their sight on my ria and it is much easier to see. http://www.dawsonprecision.com/Cate...ock+Island+Armory+Optic+Inserted+Front+Sights Mark

 

[smartshooter.45]

Wow. That front sight is pretty great. High vis.

 

[ThePunisher'sArmory]

Thanks guys, but one more question. What one is closer to the factory specs? The .160 or .180?

 

[tmoore912]

I had a RIA Tactical that I put some 10-8 sights on. My gunsmith had to do some cutting on them to make them fit. I did a search and found these specs for the tactical sights before I took it to him. I believe I found these on the 1911forum.com.

 

[akman45304]

so those RIA are really worth a damn? I've been reading good and bad about them for awhile. I saw one cheap in a shop nearby and now kinda kicking myself for passing by

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Put a gold or brass bead in the front sight.

 

[Kingofthehill]

so those RIA are really worth a damn? I've been reading good and bad about them for awhile. I saw one cheap in a shop nearby and now kinda kicking myself for passing by

Yeah. They are good, solid 1911's.

Most negative i read about them is because people are expecting $1000 performance for $400.

 

[tmoore912]

I agree.

 

[wally]

The tactical has unique dovetails. The rear is close to novaks but the front dovetail is deeper than other 1911s.

I didn't have any trouble fitting a Novak's fiber optic front for a Kimber to my RIA Tactical. The "standard" Novak's cut rear sight base for my J-point also fit perfectly on my RIA widebody. So I don't think they are all that "unique".

However Dawson makes good stuff and I doubt you can go wrong with them.

Most negative i read about them is because people are expecting $1000 performance for $400

I get $1000 performance from mine. My brother-in-law was interested in getting a 1911 so he came to try a few of mine. He tried my RIA Tactical, Kimber TLE, and Colt Commander. He dismissed the Commander after a few shots as while he liked the size best, he thought it too "flippy" (coming form a SIG P226) when shooting. He actually prefered the RIA over the Kimber after half a dozen mags through each. He was shocked when I told him the RIA was half the cost of the others.

 

[walker944]

Yeah. They are good, solid 1911's.

Most negative i read about them is because people are expecting $1000 performance for $400.

Yep, I completely agree!! The RIA (made by Armscor in the Philipines) is a very good entry level 1911. The Tactical version has a few of the 'preferred' bells and whistles, but I like my standard version just fine.

 

[railroader]

I didn't have any trouble fitting a Novak's fiber optic front for a Kimber to my RIA Tactical. The "standard" Novak's cut rear sight base for my J-point also fit perfectly on my RIA widebody. So I don't think they are all that "unique".

You know it's funny, I sent my tactical back to armscor for a slide problem. I just got it back. They put on a new slide on and the front dovetail is about.010" shallower than on the other slide. I reinstalled the fiber optic sight on the new slide and there is a slight gap between the sight blade and the top of the slide now. I hope the gun doesn't shoot low since the sight sits higher. The sight was custom made and installed so my gun would shoot to point of aim. It would suck if it doesn't now because of the dovetail being shallower on the new slide. Mark

 

[wally]

They put on a new slide on and the front dovetail is about.010" shallower than on the other slide

The drawings posted above shows an 0.005" tolerance on the front sight height and 0.003" tolerance on the dovetail depth so I doubt it'll make too much difference unless you have it setup for a "bullseye" (6 o'clock) hold at 25 yards (or further).

The folks in Nevada are usually pretty good about working with you, why didn't you send your replacement front sight in when you had the slide replaced?

 

[railroader]

The folks in Nevada are usually pretty good about working with you, why didn't you send your replacement front sight in when you had the slide replaced?

I sent my gun and it had the fiber optic sight on the slide. They said they wouldn't install my sight on the new slide. They sent my gun back with the new slide that had the factory sight and my fiber sight in a baggie. The thing that's a problem is the gun originally shot 2 or 3 inches high at 15 yards. That's why I had dawson make the sight so the gun would shoot to point of aim. Now if it shoots low I'm back in the same boat going the other direction. I'm going shooting this morning so I will find out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Mark

 

[Onmilo]

.330-65 degree dovetail is a fairly common dimension.
The dovetail in the original picture is awful deep in the cut.

An easy fix for your front sight in the new dovetail is to carefully shave the base of the sight dovetail base until the sight fits flush and tight in the new, shallower dovetail cut.
I use a coarse cut ceramic bench stone to shave a front sight dovetail base.
Set the base flat and level on the stone and make a full pass cut, turn the sight 45 degrees and make a full pass cut, then check fit.
Keep doing so, turning the sight 45 degrees with each pass until you have lowered the base enough to fit the dovetail cut with no gap between the sight blade and the top of the slide.
Turning the sight 45 degrees with each pass helps prevent the dovetail base from becoming canted, and keeps the base flat and level. HTH

 

[railroader]

.330-65 degree dovetail is a fairly common dimension.
The dovetail in the original picture is awful deep in the cut.

An easy fix for your front sight in the new dovetail is to carefully shave the base of the sight dovetail base until the sight fits flush and tight in the new, shallower dovetail cut.
I use a coarse cut ceramic bench stone to shave a front sight dovetail base.
Set the base flat and level on the stone and make a full pass cut, turn the sight 45 degrees and make a full pass cut, then check fit.
Keep doing so, turning the sight 45 degrees with each pass until you have lowered the base enough to fit the dovetail cut with no gap between the sight blade and the top of the slide.
Turning the sight 45 degrees with each pass helps prevent the dovetail base from becoming canted, and keeps the base flat and level. HTH

The fiber optic sight was just barely snug in the dovetail of the new slide so I couldn't take material off the base to lower the sight down. I wound up shaving the top of the sight blade down as much as I could. The gun now shoots very close to point of aim at 15 yards. I reblued the sight and dimpled the underside with a punch so it would go back in the slide tight. As for the original slide the dovetail was like .090" deep and this one looks to between .075" and .080" deep

Mark

 

[FLAvalanche]

Unless they've changed things, aren't the RIA tacticals cut for Heine sights?