Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Front sight on RIA gone

Some 1911 copies have GI-style front sights made from bad castings and to make matters worse, they are barely staked in place. The predictable result is that some will depart the gun in the middle of a magazine. Also, many simply prefer high-profile sights on this pistol. I generally shoot GI sights just fine, but Rock Island installs the sights on their bright-nickel guns before plating them. They suck in bright sunlight and since this is my primary carry auto, I decided to put higher-profile sights on it. My long favorite, the King-Tappan sights, are no longer available and I ordered a Maryland Gun Works ‘narrow tenon’ stake-on front ‘dot’ sight for GI and Series 70 Colts.

Staking a 1911 front sight isn’t the voodoo ritual its made out to me. You’ll need good light, a good staking tool, a Dremel for relief cuts & clean up and a padded vise to hold the slide. I like Brownell’s staking tool, which is designed to work around the recoil spring tube, and has easily-replaceable staking points.