Um, What Rear Sight for Series 80 Gold Cup?

[Grump]

I'm leaning towards "purist" rather than "which do I like best" for a build using a Series 80 Gold Cup slide. Probably in stainless. Frame is SS, though I am still tempted by the 1980s-era two-tone approach...

Anyway, was Colt using the older Elliason rear sights, the Accro, or something else back then? The slides I'm looking at all have the long cut for Elliason style with the sometimes troublesome crosspin.

It will be a nice half bogus complement to my Dad's old (1959-ish?) first-gen Gold Cup, the real deal.

Thanks!

[Steve RA]

Yes, the earlier Gold Cups used an Eliason sight. For a long time that was the only 1911 I used. You can cure the pivot pin problem by driving a proper length piece of piano wire thru the pin, after this mod you'll never have a problem with the pin breaking again. If I remember correctly, the size I used was what is used for control line model planes.

[Biloxi23]

I have an old "race gun" single stack .45 made on a stainless 1984 Gold Cup that has the slide blackened. I like teh two tone look. the slide was fit with a Wichita adjustable sight.

[Grump]

"Older" is a bit relative to me when it comes to firearms. The threshold is loosely in my own not so short lifetime, so Series 70 Colts still strike me as "newer".

Knowing Colt's penchant for doing the mixmaster thing with variations of their OEM parts as one thing ends and another begins, I remain puzzled by when they phased out the Elliasons and phased in any other rear sight(s).

Biloxi23: Was that Wichita OEM or installed as aftermarket (maybe by a prior owner???)?

Lightly wanting to be sorta correct for the "period".

I think the current production with round-top slide and Bo-Mar sight cuts departs too much from earlier traditions on the Gold Cup.

.

[Bob DuBois]

Had a couple of Gold Cups years ago. The fix for me was to remove the back sight and lay a lenght of runner band the same width as the slot. Never had a broken pin problem after the rubber band was in place. While they are nice old guns I wouldn't go that way any more because of the sight picture. Not near as good as newer adjustable sights.

[Biloxi23]

"Older" is a bit relative to me when it comes to firearms. The threshold is loosely in my own not so short lifetime, so Series 70 Colts still strike me as "newer".

Knowing Colt's penchant for doing the mixmaster thing with variations of their OEM parts as one thing ends and another begins, I remain puzzled by when they phased out the Elliasons and phased in any other rear sight(s).

Biloxi23: Was that Wichita OEM or installed as aftermarket (maybe by a prior owner???)?

Lightly wanting to be sorta correct for the "period".

I think the current production with round-top slide and Bo-Mar sight cuts departs too much from earlier traditions on the Gold Cup.

.

It was on the gun when I got it, but I am pretty sure that it was an add-on, alont with teh beaver tail gripsafety, ambi mag release, compensator, extended thumb safety and slide stop, and gobs of very fine checkering.

[Grump]

Biloxi23:

_____

It was on the gun when I got it, but I am pretty sure that it was an add-on, alont with teh beaver tail gripsafety, ambi mag release, compensator, extended thumb safety and slide stop, and gobs of very fine checkering.

_____

I just looked up [at least the current...] Wichita sights and the only one for a 1911 looks like it goes in a horizontal dovetail matched with a Bo-Mar cut. Were Gold Cups no longer using the pinned in Elliason/Accro/whatever rear sights by 1984???

Unlike what's there for many cars, the Wikipedia article on Colt 1911s is sorely lacking in series/model variation and dates information.

Thanks!

[warpspeed]

EGW makes a replacement sight for the Eliason cut slides.

[Steve RA]

I had a Wichita on a 70 series Gold Cup and machining for the Wichita completely removed the Eliason cuts.

[Grump]

Thanks for the info, all.

Went back and looked at a very early Gold Cup (S/N under 5,000) and learned/reminded? that its rear sight is what I will call for now the Accro style. http://www.coltparts.com/pt_accrorearsight.html

It doesn't have the full-flat rear face of the Elliason (third pic here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORIGINAL-COLT-ELLIASON-SIGHTS-FITS-1911-GOLDCUP-AND-PYTHONS-/251181504841?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=2b8xBRt8ZmNL3SpZVjCZMLMo8aI%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc), and had no markings I could see.

Also saw quite by accident that the slide stop was hand fitted to the point that it is not locked in by the slide moving away from the disassembly cut. Some goof polished the nub right off. My Dad had to replace the safety for a similar reason--it didn't work. Snapped up and down just fine but one face was ground too far it it would fire in the "on" position. Shooting only Bullseye with 5 rounds at a time, he had actually never used the safety. Pre-shoot inspection at a DCM match revealed that problem.

Yeah, there probably IS some advantage to the CNC approach these days.

Then there was the Kimber MIM magazine catch that caught the magazine when depressed "too far". Had to remove a bit more than 1/16-inch of metal on that inside curve...Maybe the mold was NOT CNC-made??? Definitely NO CNC quality work after it became solid.

[Grump]

Update:

Went with a blued slide and that two-tone thing still looks good, IMO.

The crosspin holes on the Series 80 sight takes a 1/16-inch drill bit's shank pretty loosely.

Besides the great idea of shock absorption with a rubber band, any other ideas on preventing breakage? I'm big on using the right steel for the right job, and wonder about the hardness/brittleness vs. toughness factor. Thinking that almost any roll pin would balance those considerations best.

Thanks!

[Steve RA]

See post above about piano wire in the roll pin !