SR1911 Front Sight Poll

Is there an official date for a change in the front sites by the factory. I purposely bought the newest one I could find. It was march 2014.

Again, I don't think there is a date or serial number cutoff that anyone is aware of. If you've got your pistol at hand DCRuger, just take a look at the front sight to see which you have. Look at your front sight from above. Are the sides parallel, showing a relatively uniform width through the entire blade? If so, you've got the new front sight. Or, do the sides noticeably flare outward toward the face of the blade, creating a wider blade right at the rearward-facing face of the sight? If that's the case, it's the older one. Pretty simple thing to check.

COLT_45 said:

Does anyone know at what serial number the front sight problem was corrected. Maybe if someone could call Ruger they might have that answer...

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Even if Ruger knew .... there's ZERO CHANCE they'd tell you ...


REV

Thanks for the repies to my above question and was very helpful... I do have the newer revised front sight on mine after examination as mentioned above.

buttsm said:

Mine on my 11 week old commander, broke Saturday while shooting, shot 3 rounds went to shoot fourth, NO SIGHT. back in the bag, home I went. waiting till 11 am to contact Ruger. I'll see what they say.

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Although you mention your SR is only 11 weeks old, I have to assume that is from your purchase date and not the actual date of manufacture and maybe yours had the older front sight version... I've not heard or seen anyone with the newer front sight having the problem...

COLT_45 said:

buttsm said:

Mine on my 11 week old commander, broke Saturday while shooting, shot 3 rounds went to shoot fourth, NO SIGHT. back in the bag, home I went. waiting till 11 am to contact Ruger. I'll see what they say.

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Although you mention your SR is only 11 weeks old, I have to assume that is from your purchase date and not the actual date of manufacture and maybe yours had the older front sight version... I've not heard or seen anyone with the newer front sight having the problem...

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What is date on the shell casing bag?

BTW, no rust under my grips

chaindrive said:

my particular SR has the new style front sight as described by 19ontheslide.

the gun's serial # is 671-245xx and the fired casing is dated 2/14. I bought it in april of this year.

also, there is a visible gap between the bottom of the sight and the slide.

the pistol now has over 1800 rounds through it without breakage and I believe the problem has been corrected.

it's a great pistol. have only had two FTE's which were probably my fault - ie: limp wristing.

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This is interesting. I just checked my 1911CMD I bought last week and it has the front site that is a little wider towards the rear. But, Mine has a casing packet dated March 2014!
And here I thought I had waited long enough. I wish I'd seen the comment on how to tell the difference a couple weeks ago.

DCRuger,

just looked at the envelope and the exact date is 2014/02/19.

the date of manufacture on the factory box is april 11 2014.

I understand the new sight is machined steel (not MIM) and is sourced from a different supplier.

good luck with yours.

chaindrive said:

DCRuger,

just looked at the envelope and the exact date is 2014/02/19.

the date of manufacture on the factory box is april 11 2014.

I understand the new sight is machined steel (not MIM) and is sourced from a different supplier.

good luck with yours.

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Yes. That is why I was confused that I would have a newer manufacturing date but still have the older front site ( As described above). I felt certain I had waited long enough for them to fix a damn problem! but mine gets thicker towards the rear as described above for older models?
Luckily I did escape getting one with rust already on the sides of the hammer.

My SR1911 was manufactured in Aug. of 2013 and does have the "thicker at rear" front blade sight. I would like to have a replacement front sight on hand, in the event mine should ever shear off. I've read about the Novac & Truglo fiber optic sights that are available. I would like to have one that can be installed somewhat easily without much modification (filing) being required. I have a friend that does some minor work with firearms and he does have a 1911 front sight mover/adjuster device. Does anyone here have advice as to which replacement front sight would be the easiest for an amateur to install, or is this a procedure that a novice shouldn't undertake, and take it to a professional gunsmith? Any info., advice, suggestions, etc. you can provide will be appreciated.

I bought the fiber optic front sight that's on the Ruger sight. I'm delighted with it. If your friend has experience and a sight pusher, he can install it.

19ontheslide said:

Again, I don't think there is a date or serial number cutoff that anyone is aware of. If you've got your pistol at hand DCRuger, just take a look at the front sight to see which you have. Look at your front sight from above. Are the sides parallel, showing a relatively uniform width through the entire blade? If so, you've got the new front sight. Or, do the sides noticeably flare outward toward the face of the blade, creating a wider blade right at the rearward-facing face of the sight? If that's the case, it's the older one. Pretty simple thing to check.

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Are you sure about this fact?
I picked up every single Ruger 1911 I saw today at a big gun show and every single front sight was a tad wider at the rear than the front?

I looked at the new blued SR1911's today and couldn't tell any difference between my 2 year old SR1911's in both configurations. Pics would help if possible.

Here's a link to another thread about the new and old front sight. Scroll down a bit to see pics of the new and old sight. I haven't heard of anyone with the new sight being a problem...

http://rugerforum.net/ruger-pistols/61488-sr1911-front-sight-broken-3.html

COLT_45 said:

Here's a link to another thread about the new and old front sight. Scroll down a bit to see pics of the new and old sight. I haven't heard of anyone with the new sight being a problem...

http://rugerforum.net/ruger-pistols/61488-sr1911-front-sight-broken-3.html

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Thanks for that. The pics explain it well.
The earlier explanation here is a bit misleading. The new sites STILL flare out ever so slightly to the rear but not like the earlier sites flare out. I'm convinced now that all the newer models I've checked had the newer sites ( I hope) :?

DCRuger said:

Thanks for that. The pics explain it well.
The earlier explanation here is a bit misleading.

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-- My most humble apologies for attempting to be of assistance.

19ontheslide said:

DCRuger said:

Thanks for that. The pics explain it well.
The earlier explanation here is a bit misleading.

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-- My most humble apologies for attempting to be of assistance.

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You were of assistance. You got me checking into it until I was satisfied with my answer. Thank You.

hmm...

I just measured my new style front sight and there is a bit of a taper, however negligible.

front: .109"

rear: .127"

never thought to measure it before...

chaindrive said:

hmm...

I just measured my new style front sight and there is a bit of a taper, however negligible.

front: .109"

rear: .127"

never thought to measure it before...

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Yes, still a slight taper on new ones.