[Drm50]

Drill through sight with #45 drill and tap 3:56. Position sight where you want it. Mark bottom of dovetail through hole. With #45 drill just put shallow divot in bottom of dovetail to accept tip of 3:56 set screw.
3:56 is probably biggest screw practical for this job. I have done this not only to auto pistols but also to shotguns using Browning system. Marble use to have fronts that were equipped with set screws.

 

[pistolwrench]

3-48
2-56

 

[Drm50]

3-48
2-56

I didn’t stutter 3:56 with #45 drill. I don’t tap anything 3:48. If there is a #3 screw in an American gun it’s going to be 3:56.

 

[Centroid]

I didn’t stutter 3:56 with #45 drill. I don’t tap anything 3:48. If there is a #3 screw in an American gun it’s going to be 3:56.

I would guess that you don't know who you are arguing with.

 

[gs50401]

I have had a basketful of problems with a dovetail front sight on a newly purchased Girsan MCP35 Hi Power clone. The crappy OEM FS "walked" on me so I took it to a 1911 'smith who staked it and used Blue Loctite. It walked again with one magazine after curing for several days. I took it back and he was perplexed. Not wanting to throw good money after bad I decided to do it myself after buying a Dawson red FO FS. I filed the sight to fit really super snug and went to the range. Damn!! It walked again!! I removed it and bought a bottle of the Harbor Freight Blue Loctite (clone). I degreased the sight base & dovetail slot and then slathered the Blue over all. After several days of curing I went to the range and the SOB walked again, albeit just a little!!

It was then then I decided to up the ante and bought a small tube of Permatex Green Sleeve Retainer which is the equivalent of Loctite Green 640. I knocked out the sight yet again (a real SOB to remove this time!!), cleaned up the slot & sight base and then after drying tapped into position the FS bone dry. I then liberally squeezed in several drops of the Permatex on either side and front edge hoping that it will wick under the sight per the instructions via capillary action and hold like a rock. We shall see.

If this doesn't work then I will have to go back to the 'smith to have him drill it for a set screw which = $$. I don't want to turn it into a money pit, but damn she's a great shooter.

I use a small piece of fine emery cloth under loose sights.

 

[45ofcourse]

The method I'm trying (maybe failing) to describe isn't exactly "staking". What I'm suggesting is that you use a sharp center punch to raise up enough metal underneath the sight that it creates enough upward force of friction in order to keep the sight in place once you drive it back in.

If you do it right, no one will ever know until they remove the sight.

Like stipling under the fs

 

[pistolwrench]

I did not know about 3-56 until I looked it up.
It's not all that uncommon.

 

[Drm50]

I did not know about 3-56 until I looked it up.
It's not all that uncommon.

I have 3x48 by 1/4 that I got by mistake one time. Haven’t used them much because of big slotted head. I buy 3:56 taps and #45 drills by jobber units. A lot of shotgun beads are 3:56. It’s getting hard to buy small screws by 100. They want to sell individual or small units. I just got safety screw for $4+ that I had $12 in shipped. At todays prices I’ve got a fortune in gun screws.

 

[Fatboy46]

There you go! Yep..."divot"..."crater"...whatever words help But you're displacing enough metal in the crater that it rises up to create pressure/friction on the sight when you drive it back into the dovetail.

It's a little trial-and-error, but it's a pretty simple procedure.

Stippling.

 

[rkgraffix.rs]

Just take a punch and peen a divot in the dovetail on the slide and install the sight with loctite 609. I do this on shotguns and it works every time.

 

[IPSCGuy]

Drill through sight with #45 drill and tap 3:56. Position sight where you want it. Mark bottom of dovetail through hole. With #45 drill just put shallow divot in bottom of dovetail to accept tip of 3:56 set screw.
3:56 is probably biggest screw practical for this job. I have done this not only to auto pistols but also to shotguns using Browning system. Marble use to have fronts that were equipped with set screws.

Very workable solution. I would remove the sight, support the wings, and use flat punch to bend the wings slight downward so there is more pressure to hold sight in dove tail. However, if sight is very brittle you will have an unservicable sight quickly and at least 2 or more parts.

 

[guysmith]

Forget Locktite, forget set screw, and forget cratering. Just center fs in dovetail cut drill small hole thru fs base into top of slide. Either stop before going thru top of slide or don't. Your choice. Myself I prefer a blind hole, get to why in a second. After drilling hole tap a appropriate size roll pin into hole. Trim end of pin flush. I promise you a properly PINNED IN PLACE FS will NOT MOVE. Until you drill out the roll pin. All other methods are pissing in the wind. PLUS this method is relatively inexpensive and can be done yourself or any gunsmith can easily pin your front sight in place.

 

[garrisonjoe]

I've had good luck with either pin down into slide through the FS base, or the "knock up an interference crater" on the BOTTOM of the FS base (the cheap part involced here, not the expensive slide!) Neither leave much evidence of the fix. The roll pin technique had better have the front sight perfectly centered before drilling.

 

[mosteve]

solder will work the first time.

 

[ether]

Like stippling under the fs

Yeah, that could work, too...just more labor/cost. I guess it depends on the slide that you're looking to "crater".

At the time, it wasn't anything for Colt to put a single, centered crater in my 1991A1 slide dovetail...because they were still in production, and it was the cheapest 1911 they offered.

But that crater still worked when I replaced the original sight with a King's sight, without me having to do anything but drive out the old sight and drive in the new one.

It's a cheap, easy, simple solution...but it might not be the best solution for every pistol.

 

[P89DC]

I'm getting a kick out of all this drama.....

The weirdest part is that I have a $499 Girsan that runs like a striped ass ape and is made in a Third World Muslim dictatorship with dream crushing 70%+ inflation right now. Maybe SA should solicit a few H-1B work visas for a few competent Turks to come iron out their issues.

I have had a basketful of problems with a dovetail front sight on a newly purchased Girsan MCP35 Hi Power clone. The crappy OEM FS "walked" on me so I took it to a 1911 'smith who staked it and used Blue Loctite. It walked again with one magazine after curing for several days. I took it back and he was perplexed. Not wanting to throw good money after bad I decided to do it myself after buying a Dawson red FO FS. I filed the sight to fit really super snug and went to the range. Damn!! It walked again!! I removed it and bought a bottle of the Harbor Freight Blue Loctite (clone). I degreased the sight base & dovetail slot and then slathered the Blue over all. After several days of curing I went to the range and the SOB walked again, albeit just a little!!

It was then then I decided to up the ante and bought a small tube of Permatex Green Sleeve Retainer which is the equivalent of Loctite Green 640. I knocked out the sight yet again (a real SOB to remove this time!!), cleaned up the slot & sight base and then after drying tapped into position the FS bone dry. I then liberally squeezed in several drops of the Permatex on either side and front edge hoping that it will wick under the sight per the instructions via capillary action and hold like a rock. We shall see.

If this doesn't work then I will have to go back to the 'smith to have him drill it for a set screw which = $$. I don't want to turn it into a money pit, but damn she's a great shooter.

 

[Boge]

No drama, Green Permatex held like a rock. All is well.

 

[Boge]

At least until it didn't.

Dawson FO "walked" finally so I removed it as I did not like it too well. Too thin and rods kept breaking.

Regardless, I reinstalled the OEM FS with Green Permatex and it didn't go 50 rds. before moving. . Never seen anything like it! Next step: new formula Orange Permatex with the strength of Red, but removable with hand tools.

 

[Rwehavinfunyet]

Blue loctite is a designed to secure threaded scews. Red loctite on a non threaded metal might hold better. I once had a Colt 1911 "staked" tenon front sight fly off the gun into grass, and I never found it. There was a USPSA match in two days, so I didn't have time to order and receive a new front sight. I made my own front sight out of a 16 penny masonry nail. I left the tang long enough so I could stake it properly, but I made a bigger divit in the inside of the slide to stake it. I got a good stake on the sight, then used a sanding disk and my dremel to smooth out the inside of the slide. I took the gun to the range the following day and sighted it in.....I had to file down the front sight at the range, after setting the adustable rear sight in the middle of the elevation adjustment.

I still have this front sight on the gun, and put abou 75K rounds through the gun before I switched to an STI 2011.

 

[ruffdup]

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