Colt Gold Cup Trophy rear sight

3868 Views 4 Replies 5 Participants Last post by BBBBill, Jun 29, 2001

John Foster

Discussion Starter · Jun 29, 2001

I received my Colt GCT on May 1 and in less than 1K rounds the rear sight leaf pin broke and fell out. This has the Eliason sight.
Also the spring type pin that works on the windage screw head to make it "click" fell out. Called Colt and they said return it and they would repair and refund my shipping cost. That they did. After 560 rounds, the
leaf pin broke again. Not wanting to go to the trouble to return to Colt, I searched through my 60 year accumulation of parts and junk and found a solid pin of the proper diameter. The original is a roll pin .060
diameter X 9/16" length. Mine looked good but only lasted 260 rounds; too soft I guess.
I looked this up in an old Brownell parts list and this roll type pin was only showed as being used in the .22 Ace conversion. That is probably why it won't stand .45 recoil. Colt tells us now that they no longer use the Eliason sight. I can see why.
I believe they now use a dove-tailed Bo-Mar.
Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me?

Don't suggest Kimber, Springfield, Ruger, etc. as I have all of those. I just want a fix for this one that will stay fixed. It is very accurate if I can only keep a sight on it.

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John

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pistolwrench

· #2 · Jun 29, 2001

John,

I have replaced many GC sight pins.
I use a 'gauge pin' made of hardened tool steel, cut to length.
These pins are available in .001" increments from any of the industrial tool suppliers,
such as MSC, for $3 each or so.
I'd suggest using a pin .001" over the hole size, so as to produce a press fit.
I usually use a drop of red loctite on each end as further insurance.

Chuck

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JJ

· #3 · Jun 29, 2001

Although you can machine and install a bo-mar it will not be long enough to completely cover the slot that the Elliason sight occupied. Unless you weld up the slot it doesn't look too good. Wilson makes a version of their adjustable sight that has a longer base and will cover the slot. It aslo requires machine work but not welding. It's a good sight and really looks good on the gun. Other than this you could put an Accro sight in the original slot with a good cross pin which would last longer than the Elliason but how much longer I can't say. The Accro is the sight used on the Python and other revolvers and some of the autos. Don't neglect your front sight while you're at it, replace that staked in unit with a cross dovetailed sight and you'll save yourself more grief.

JJ

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waldopepper303

· #4 · Jun 29, 2001

Wilson makes a Gold Cup style rear with a bottom anchor lug that, while it requires milling, is superb. I just fitted several to GC slides and they are anchored firmly forever.
Using a hardened pin in an Eliason will just elongate the hole over time unless you can case harden the holes.This simply has to be the worst adjustable sight ever designed. Quite frankly, the Gold Cup was designed for very light target loads with 185 grain bullets ahead of 3.2 Bullseye. My original Gold Cup (#896 and made in 1954) had literature that warned about using heavy loads, but...oddly...the warranty was dead if you used handloads.
The Eliason sight works superbly on my .38 Diamondback and Pythons, but it is a total bust on a reciprocating slide.If I had a nickel for every pin I've replaced...
Get rid of the dog and mount a Wilson. Problem solved for good.
My latest GC was bought in 2000 from the Custom Shop, and it had the Colt Accro sight, which I replaced with the Wilson.

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BBBBill

· #5 · Jun 29, 2001

a bo-mar... will not be long enough to completely cover the slot... Unless you weld up the slot it doesn't look too good.

Actually, BOMAR does make a sight just for this installation. It was discontinued for about 20 years, but they started making it again. Brownells has them in their catalog. My recommendation- follow pistolwrench's advice and use the guage pin fix. If that don't work, get the Wilson sight made for this installation. It looks better than the BOMAR for this particular gun.

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