Sights on the Colt New Agent

[J Lambs]

I am tossing around the idea of buying a Colt New Agent. I like the idea of the trenched sights for a carry gun, but I am worried about how they will affect accuracy (as if it's not bad enough). How have owners adjusted to using this type of sights?

 

[robsc]

Learn to point shoot. No sights needed. If you cannot point shoot with .45acp then go with .40S&W. If you cannot point shoot with a .40 then go with a 9mm. If you cannot point shoot with a 9mm, then go with .380acp.
If you cannot point shoot with a semiauto then you need a revolver. .38/.357mag./.44spl.

 

[JDGray]

Point shooting is a skill to learn, but has more to do with gun ergonomics than caliber. The first shot doesn't know if its a 45ACP or a .22 mag

I passed on the New Agent, for a sighted gun. The one I seen at a gun store, had a very stiff safety, and no place for night sights

 

[Hunter0924]

I like mine, it took some getting used to but after a few magazines the trench sights really work.
Here is an article I wrote on the one Colt sent me to test and a link to the discussion thread at the end.
I believe the New Agent is a great close up defensive pistol.
http://ezine.m1911.org/ColtNA_frame.htm

 

[loplop]

I checked one out at a local dealer, and was disappointed in the trench site. I owned a Defender for awhile, one of my favorite guns to shoot ever, but sold it due to some reliability issues. I have always wished I kept it around for range use--it was that fun (IMO). And super accurate in my hands.

So the New Agent was attractive to me... But the gutter sight was very difficult to acquire in a well-lit gunshop, so I figured it would be even worse at the range.

I wish they offered it with a gutter rear, XS Big Dot front, something akin to a revolver like the M&P 340. That would be neat.

 

[Dan-O]

Loplop, you could have one installed. I actually kind of like that idea. Hmmm.....I think I may have an idea for my next project.

I already have the New Agent. And the XS is only a call and about 3 days wait away. Hmmm.....very interesting.

 

[Dan-O]

Oh, I just thought of something else, I guess if you wanted to you could probably work out something with colt to get just a slide sent to you with the sights, then you could have the best of both worlds depending on your mood?

 

[Gordon]

Yeah a big AO tritium front set in the gutter and widen and square the rear to an appropriate depth , THEN you could reliably place your shots over 15 feet away at unknown ranges and movement!

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Read the "alternative sighting techniques" chapter in Jim Cirillo's Guns, Bullets and Gunfights, specifically the "Silhouette Point." It is still aimed fire, but you look at the silhouette of the gun's slide superimposed on your target instead of taking a conventional sight picture. This is what you may have to do with this gun. It can be quite accurate at short ranges.

 

[jetman]

I bought one of the first available New Agents and like mentioned earlier learned to be very proficient with the point/shoot technique with a sillouette target. After 40-50 rounds now I can be just as accurate with my New Agent as I am with my 2" revolvers WITH sights at the same distance on the same target. I didn't buy mine as a range gun, as it was designed as a self defense weapon. For it's intened purpose it does a great job. When I want to do some serious target work I break out my Python or Wilson Combat. When/if the time ever comes that I need to use my new Agent to defend myself I feel confidant I'll be able to hit what I need to, after my point/shooting practice. I seriously doubt the bad guy is going to hold REAL STILL for me like a paper target at the range for me while I line up the 3-dot sights just perfect. JMHO

 

[Tom Fury]

Silhouette sight technique

I had a carry gun built without sights and used this technique quite successfully; it works (actually, the back of the slide looks like a tombstone, so I came to think of it as the tombstone technique).

Another trick I learned after a while was to put the very visible rear of the firing pin center mass and that worked well for point shooting.

Cheers, TF

 

[loplop]

Dan-O, I didn't know that you could get an XS installed. That is mighty intriguing.

 

[MICHAEL T]

If you want regular sights Get Defender .
I have both and took around 50 rounds to get the hang of the trench sight. By a 100 you will like them .
Its a nice pistol and if your thinking of hanging sights on it. Then you bought the wrong gun. Go with the Defender or a Kimber compact.

 

[loplop]

I like the gutter rear/XS front on my M&P340.

Seems like it could work well on the New Agent...

 

[Gordon]

Go try some hostage targets at 15 yards- I'll give you 5 seconds with a drawn gun and your back to the target for a start. Or maybe the Agent / point shooting is not intended to rescue momma or you child from a hostage taker??

 

[MICHAEL T]

Go try some hostage targets at 15 yards- I'll give you 5 seconds with a drawn gun and your back to the target for a start. Or maybe the Agent / point shooting is not intended to rescue momma or you child from a hostage taker??

And this happens how many times a week in America . 15 yds be serious I wouldn't try 15 yds with any of my pistols and my shakey hands. I already warned wife She would likely be shot if I tried this movie stuff .

I would think not many people on here could do this 10 for 10 with their carry gun. Might say they can but in real life don't think so. Lets put apple on her head for practice Then she would have faith in you shooting

 

[XavierBreath]

After I purchased a Colt New Agent, I did a Range Report comparing it to my Colt Compact which wore a Ted Yost rear sight along with the original front sight, among other modifications. The Colt Compact had the edge because it was a carry gun I was used to, and because it had been worked over considerably.

Conventional sights and sighted fire is more accurate, no doubt about it. The Colt New Agent was not designed to be a target gun though. Compromises were made to make the pistol a better concealed carry personal protection gun. It has a short sight radius, and a gutter sight. It has an alloy frame. It has slim grips. It is stone reliable, and accurate enough. It is the antithesis of a target gun.

People who equate target shooting with training to protect one's life will likely not care for the Colt New Agent. When you are forced to defend your life, the most accurate second shot is not the one that matters. What matters is the first shot that is accurate enough. The New Agent is made light so you will always carry it. It carries like a dream. It has a gutter sight so you can get the gun out of a concealed holster, and get off a shot that is accurate enough, as quickly as possible.

The one thing that I did do that improved my accuracy with the Colt New Agent was putting White-Out in the gutter sight. Strangely, at first, I found the slim grips to be a greater detriment to my accuracy than the gutter sight. Once I realized what was going on and adjusted my trigger finger on the trigger, all was well.

If you want conventional sights, buy the Colt Defender. It's basically the same gun in stainless steel. Get the one with the low profile rear sight.

If you are more of a point shoot kind of guy when it comes to defensive shooting, give the New Agent a try. Chances are, you will like it.

 

[Gordon]

I am 62 and can make partial head exposed shots at 45 feet in 5 seconds from the holster most of the time in good light with a slew of single action pistols I own. I can with my lightweight Officer model which is on my CCW as is my S&W 1911PD. The Glock 26 is about 80%.
Move to 21 feet and it is about all the time.Even on Louis Awerbuck's 5 layer mover. I would not attempt it with a pistol without a front sight.I am a disciple of the "new technique" fsince THE MAN Himself taught it to me in 1979.The Mantra "frontsight" combined with concentrateing on the reset to get a controlled surprise break seems to work. After all the pistol is a defensive weapon and a weak one that needs pinpoint aiming. I tried the ASP in the 70's from Paris Theodore with his point shooting spiel. Thanks but no thanks over 10 feet that is.
Actually even my old pocket Colt's Brownings ect. had in their gutter a tiny front sight for reference. But the James Cagney stuffing the gun into a bad guy usually is only good to 10 or MAYBE 15 feet for COM.

 

[loplop]

XavierBreath: you don't need sights, with shooting like that!! Holy cow.

How many rounds have you put through your NewAgent? I found my Defender needed recoil springs after 6-800 rounds. They were kinda pricey.

 

[Gordon]

The reason you can get groups like that at 15 yards with no sights is you are laying the orange dot into the "gutter" as a reference. Too bad the bad guys don't have the right size orange dot on them! I'd certainly like to see the results on a camo shilo with no aiming reference points to lay in the gutter. Better yet some quick "point shooting" on the same no bullseye reference points at 7 or 15 yards. A 'square range' is very deceptive for developing such techniques. When you go from satisfactory results on bullseye targets on a square range to a real world simulation you find you can't get reliable results with out the well developed shooting skills (front sight, trigger control, follow thru) in my experience.