ChrisMcCracken Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 I've got a FO front sight on my 1911. It sits in a side-to-side dovetail cut, as is standard practice. After my last time at the range I noticed it was almost completely out of the dovetail to the right. I tapped it back in place and tried it again today. After 50 rds it was drifting to the right again. Other than aiming further right as a match goes on or learning to point shoot whenever it eventually falls off, how do I fix this problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Find where you want it to be (when the gun is hitting to point of aim), mark that spot with something like a pencil (you can see the mark in good light but it won't hurt anything). Then, take the sight out, degrease both the sight and the dovetail, put a drop of blue locktite (that you can remove without heat) and reinstall. See if that works before you try anything else. If needed later you can swage out the edges to make the fit tighter, but that'll be a little ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toolguy Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinj308 Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I hesitate to mention this as it's a little hillbilly. I have a hi-power that was doing that. I used Reynolds aluminum foil as a shim under the front sight and it tightened up quite nicely. Your everyday Reynolds is exactly .0005" thick, I used the heavy duty at .001" thick. Double over for a .002" shim it did the trick. Not a gun I trust my life too or compete with seriously, but it's also never come loose again. YMMV Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taildraggerdave Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I hesitate to mention this as it's a little hillbilly. I have a hi-power that was doing that. I used Reynolds aluminum foil as a shim under the front sight and it tightened up quite nicely. Your everyday Reynolds is exactly .0005" thick, I used the heavy duty at .001" thick. Double over for a .002" shim it did the trick. Not a gun I trust my life too or compete with seriously, but it's also never come loose again. YMMVKevin That's a good idea. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boz1911 Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I hesitate to mention this as it's a little hillbilly. I have a hi-power that was doing that. I used Reynolds aluminum foil as a shim under the front sight and it tightened up quite nicely. Your everyday Reynolds is exactly .0005" thick, I used the heavy duty at .001" thick. Double over for a .002" shim it did the trick. Not a gun I trust my life too or compete with seriously, but it's also never come loose again. YMMVKevin That sounds similar to some beer can shims I had to use on a rifle scope/mount recently.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Take it out, clean it up, put a PILE of red Loc tite in the dovetail and drift the sight back in to center. Clean up the mess, then drill through the sight and slide, install a roll pin covered with red Lot Tite, grind ends flush and clean up mess. Set aside for 24 hours, assemble and never worry about your front sight again. When it breaks, and it will if you shoot enough, it is a little harder to get out and replace but I won't run a dovetail front sight that isn't pinned. My match isn't going to be ruined because my sight is moving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpeltier Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 An easy fix I have used for loose sights is put the sight upside down in a small vice and hit all four corners of the underside of the site with a punch to dimple up the metal a little. then proceed with a dab of blue locktite and re-install. I have never had one move when this was properly done, and it is an invisible fix. Blue locktite alone can degrade over time and it can start to migrate again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Bell Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Howards method is how my Dan Wesson Patriot came out of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPatterson Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I used some green LocTite #609 because the blue didn't hold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSeevers Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 I find locktite does not hold most drifting sights. Roll pin does very well but if you fit them up right you usually dont need either. I would use red cause heating a sight on a slide is pretty easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beretta Lover Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 When I was in IOAC I once helped an NCO repair his "Les Baer, Thunder Ranch Super Blaster" with a shim of beercanonium. I have also used cokecanonium more than opnce at the range Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 I don't care what sight you use and what locker compound you use, it will move unless you red loct tite it and pin it. Everything else is half assed. I have tried everything else and this is what work for tens of thousands of rounds. SuperGlue works better than most methods in this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisMcCracken Posted August 24, 2009 Author Share Posted August 24, 2009 I hadn't realized I was opening a can of worms. Blue lock tite got me through the match yesterday. I'll seek more permanent measures soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
entropic Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 Drill two tiny holes in the sight base, tap, install set screws trimmed flush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM262 Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I hesitate to mention this as it's a little hillbilly. I have a hi-power that was doing that. I used Reynolds aluminum foil as a shim under the front sight and it tightened up quite nicely. Your everyday Reynolds is exactly .0005" thick, I used the heavy duty at .001" thick. Double over for a .002" shim it did the trick. Not a gun I trust my life too or compete with seriously, but it's also never come loose again. YMMVKevin That is not a bad idea. I have a .22 rifle that I bought a while back. When I bought it, it had a cheap scope on it and no rear sight. I ordered a new rear sight but, it seems the dovetail was damaged when the original sight was removed. This might be the perfect hillbilly fix for that little plinker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I would agree that installing a pin is a good fix, but lacking the tools or skill to perform that task, you can use a sharp punch to dig up a series of small pointy burrs on the bottom of the sight (where they won't be visible), to the point where you have to apply some force to knock the sight back into its proper place, then reinstall with red loctite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rishii Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I would agree that installing a pin is a good fix, but lacking the tools or skill to perform that task, you can use a sharp punch to dig up a series of small pointy burrs on the bottom of the sight (where they won't be visible), to the point where you have to apply some force to knock the sight back into its proper place, then reinstall with red loctite. +1 I've done that on a few guns, all I would add is to put a couple of punches with the dovetail on the slide, give the locktite 2 surfaces to lock into. also if you can find red loctite 272, which is high strength, high temperature, it hold better than plan red loctite 271. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boz1911 Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I don't care what sight you use and what locker compound you use, it will move unless you red loct tite it and pin it. Everything else is half assed. I have tried everything else and this is what work for tens of thousands of rounds. SuperGlue works better than most methods in this thread. What about green Loctite?? That's what I use and it seems to work pretty good so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Does anybody else find it confusing that Loctite doesn't match the color of the tube with the color of the fluid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Sierpina Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Loctite has so many different products they don't make enough different color plastics for bottles. Back to the topic, I use Loctite 290. It's a wicking grade, color, Green. You apply it to assembled parts, it sucks into the clean joint. Most of the adehesive gets removed when you slide the sight into the dovetail, if you use Red, Blue, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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