Hello Bob, I'm getting my hopes up for a retro 1911, but do you install these or factory S&W K Frame Sights on 1911s?
Have you looked into how S&W sights are installed? For those that haven't the process is typically:
Drift out the rear sight and cut it in 2, then re install it so it fills the dovetail to the curve of the slide. A little gap in the middle is ok, that gets milled out for the S&W sight leaf.
Mill the top of the sight off a little above the slide then drill a couple of 1/16" ish holes so you can blind pin the rear sight before you spot weld it.
Spot weld it (bet you didn't see that coming.
)
File the sight to match the slide profile.
Mill the slot for the sight leaf. Mill across the rear of the slide for the sight body. Mill a "T" slot for the adjustment screw. Drill and tap for the leaf screws.
So no small undertaking, although it would be easier to start with a slide with no rear sight cut. I think some 'smiths use a sight blank instead of cutting the sight in 2.
As for the LPA sight I have no idea how well the radius of the sight will match the top of a 1911. My best guess is "not very well." :bawling: And I haven't seen it, but I would bet there is a rib running down the underside that is supposed to go into the grove on the top strap of a S&W revolver. . . so more mill work.
And then the front sight. :scratch: Old school was something like a Dan Wesson front sight or something custom made silver soldered to the slide, but the LPA sight is going sit a lot higher than a properly installed S&W sight, so I think it will need a S&W front sight base for the removable sight blades. Brownells and a couple other places have them, but until you get the rear sight mounted there is not really a good way to figure out how high the front sight will need to be. My fingers and toe's crossed hope is that the base and the LPA front sight will be the correct height, or just the tiniest bit tall so that I can get away with a shallow mill cut that the sight base would fit in.
Full disclosure: I am not a gunsmith or a machinist. Just somebody that has spent years wanting a Bob Day, Jim Clark or Armand Swenson gun and realizing I could never afford one. But I do work in a small machine shop, and my job is to make everyone else's job easier (you have bad news for the boss, cool, tell me and I will take care of it for you. :dope: ) and we have a couple very good machinist that help me with anything more complicated than a file.
