SR1911 Front Sight Poll

[Tweety Bird]

We hear a lot about the front sight issue on the SR1911. I'm just curious about the percentage of people who have seen this issue, compared to those who haven't. Personally, the sight on my Commander model hasn't broken but I probably don't shoot it as much as some other people.

Simple poll: Yes or No. Rules: You must be a RF member, you must be above ambient temperature, you can't vote more than once, and no voter ID is required. I have allowed for the ability to change your vote in case you have a broken sight later.

 

[LaneP]

I've actually had two break off, the first one at around 1200 rounds and the second about 700 or so rounds later.

I ordered a Novak milled steel .215" with roll pin reinforcement to the slide. I was going to wait until I shot sight #3 off before replacing it but went ahead and swapped it out yesterday. This one should stay on.

If anyone is considering this, I'd go even higher than .215" only because it still shoots a touch high for me at 50'. I'll just deal with it as is unless it really bugs me.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Highspeedlane , I have 2 SR1911`s one 5" and a CMD. I bought two of the Novak replacement front sights w/pin from Ruger. Tell me about the install. How did you drill for the pin? No instruction/hint sheet comes with the sights.

Neither of mine have broken but I just wanted to be ready just in case.

 

[LaneP]

Hey Chuck,

The roll pin hole is pretty straight forward and all you need is a good, new and sharp 1/16" drill bit. The slide is reasonably hard but I was able to get through it without too much difficulty. You will then need to deburr the exit side of the hole in the slide to clear the barrel bushing.

The hole they pre-drill in the sight is a precise fit for a 1/16" bit and is your guide/pilot. I centered the sight up by eye, then had to make a couple of minor drift adjustments to center up the groups before anchoring it with the pin.

I coated the roll pin and hole in blue Loctite and tapped it in about 1/16" or so below flush with the top of the sight.

However that said, if I ever do this again I may send it to Novak (they just need the slide) and let them install it. I say that because as is expected, the sight base is over sized and needs a bit of work to get it into the dovetail without being so tight as to distort the base as you're tapping it in.

I custom cut down an old punch to fit the side of the sight base to drive it in and it's in there super tight and certainly isn't going to move.

 

[LaneP]

I don't have an update pic yet but if you decide to do it yourself, you'll also want to watch the area of the slide behind the sight for interference with the Novak blade, which over hangs that section. Rather than grind on the slide, I decided to relieve the bottom of the sight by filing. I probably removed about 1/32" more than I needed to, but it's completely fine as is and definitely not hitting the slide.

 

[Bigboreshooter]

I could only vote once, but my CMD is on its FOURTH front sight. It had 3 front sights break in the first 4 months since it left the factory (May 2013). I've only put 200-300 rounds through it since its last trip back to Ruger, so the jury is still out its current sight. :roll:

 

[LaneP]

Someone is posting on another forum that they called Ruger after seeing cracks in the front sight of his SR1911 and was told by the rep that they are switching over to machined front sights as a result of the issues with the MIM version.

MIM might be satisfactory in some applications but it does not appear to be up to the stresses imparted by the high velocity slide reciprocation.

I have an original Series 70 Colt GM that I've shot a few thousand times and it just has the old school G.I. type sight that is staked to the slide and it's never budged.

 

[eveled]

The poll should be, "did your front sight break?"

YES,

NOT YET,

I am mad about the sight just like everybody else, but I think too much is being made about it. Buy one of the real novak sights from Ruger and be done with it. I just can't decide if I want to go with the stock look, or the fiber optic. I am tempted to track down a pair of Gold dot front sights. Ed

 

[LaneP]

Pic of the Novak milled/pinned sight in place.

 

[VA Shooter]

I put 500 rds through mine with no issues then put a Novak on it so I can see the front sight better

 

[dlidster]

I had over 8,000 rounds through mine with no problems before replacing the original front sight with a fiber-optic front sight. The change was not necessary -- I just like fiber-optic sights.

 

[Pat-inCO]

I only had mine for a month, so it was not a problem.

 

[dakota1911]

Plus I have two SR1911s bought in the fall of 2012 and a SR1911CMD bought in Jan. 2013. So far O.K.

 

[Tweety Bird]

May 14, 2014: 3 YES, 22 NO.

We'll just leave this poll open and see how the numbers change over time. Remember, if yours has been OK but breaks in the future, you can change your vote. So some of the NO votes might change to YES (but I sure can't see it going the other way!!! ;-) )

 

[Jagdhund]

500 rounds including some +P thru a CMD and still in one piece.

 

[Tweety Bird]

May 22: 30 to 5. 14% is a pretty high failure rate. Some day I'll get around to shooting mine some more and see whether or not I need to switch my vote.

 

[LaneP]

With any luck mine won't ever depart the slide again given that I installed a milled and pinned Novak in place of the MIM Ruger standard.

 

[Tweety Bird]

Yeah, but now your sight is ineligible for the poll. I suppose I should have stated that. I'm really only interested in those sights installed by Ruger at the factory. But since you used the word "again", I assume yours was one of the YES votes.

 

[LaneP]

Yeah, but now your sight is ineligible for the poll. I suppose I should have stated that. I'm really only interested in those sights installed by Ruger at the factory. But since you used the word "again", I assume yours was one of the YES votes.

Understood.

Yes, my original vote was concerning the original MIM sight. Good poll btw. I don't think I can ever recall a single model of pistol that had an issue like this.

 

[Tweety Bird]

The thing is, as with so many other issues, most of the complaining comes from a relatively small percentage of the population. That's true whether you're talking about guns or Granny Smith apples.

That's why I wanted to see numbers, and why I am allowing people to change their vote if they do have a failure in the future. The poll hasn't been up for too long but it's currently 13%/87% yes/no. Frankly, 13% is higher than I expected. I wish there was a way to factor a date of manufacture into this poll because Ruger might have already fixed the issue, I don't know. If that's true, and if we can keep this poll visible, perhaps that 13% number will go way down.