Swaging a 1911 Front Sight

[RVTECH]

Has anybody effectively swaged a front sight in a 1911 slide using something OTHER than the prescribed swaging tool?

Reason is I am going to be changing the the sights on mine and want to avoid the additional project of fabbing a front sight swaging tool.

I may just have the front of the slide dovetailed and avoid this all together.

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[nammac]

Has anybody effectively swaged a front sight in a 1911 slide using something OTHER than the prescribed swaging tool?

Reason is I am going to be changing the the sights on mine and want to avoid the additional project of fabbing a front sight swaging tool.

I may just have the front of the slide dovetailed and avoid this all together.

If you go with a dovetail and call it a day, next time you change sights will be a piece of cake. Just one opinion...

 

[Ura-Ki]

Dovetailing is a much better operation, UNLESS your working with an original that would hurt it's value, I would dove tail and call it a day!

 

[RVTECH]

Just checked with my machinist friend and cutting a DT in a stock roundtop slide is not an option as there is not enough 'meat' on a Colt slide.

Already shopping new slide options as we speak!

 

[Cerberus Group]

Not enough meat on a Colt slide???? Guess I've been doing impossible things to Colt slides for years....hmmmmm

 

[RVTECH]

Not enough meat on a Colt slide???? Guess I've been doing impossible things to Colt slides for years....hmmmmm

No debate - this was from a friend of mine who custom builds muzzleloading rifles and pistols - along with the locks. He is NOT one who typically works on modern guns.

SO is the .124 thickness on the slide enough to cut a dovetail?

 

[Velzey]

Yep I tig welded quite a few of them. Doesn't take
Much

 

[RVTECH]

Yep I tig welded quite a few of them.

I assume you mean by TIG welding them you mean you have had to weld up shallow cuts & other problems?

As a welder myself I have TIG welded on gun parts as well - due to poor machining, etc. and other issues.

 

[Velzey]

Yep I do have to do repairs like that all the time. I see allot of off center holes in receivers.
Anyhow, The front sights. In the past I put heat dissipation paste all over the front sight. Turn the welder down to 15-20amps. That little stem mushrooms right over in seconds. Have to be careful, doesn't take much heat at all.
I tested it out on some tritium ones also and it never got hot enough to effect them.

I assume you mean by TIG welding them you mean you have had to weld up shallow cuts & other problems?

As a welder myself I have TIG welded on gun parts as well - due to poor machining, etc. and other issues.

 

[RVTECH]

I currently do not have a TIG machine but at one time had a Synchrowave 250 with a water cooled torch.

I had some other interesting designs & fixtures as well to facilitate what I did but that was in the past.

 

[Cerberus Group]

Front sight dovetails are quite shallow, custom 1911 gunsmiths have been doing then for over 30 years...most every 1911 production pistol have them as well.

@Velzey is talking about taking a standard tenon type sight and using a welder to set the sight instead using a staking tool...gotta see that.

 

[jjfitch]

If you would like to borrow the Brownell's swaging tool I have one you can borrow.

P.M. if interested,

Smiles,

John

 

[Jims Custom Stocks]

I silver soldered my front sight in. Then you can always change it again in the future by un-soldering. Tried regular solder first but it wasn't strong enough.

 

[Member 38805]

I've staked front sights in on 1911 slides, and not used any specialty tools. I simply made up a jig to set the front sight in and then laid the slide over it, and blocked the slide in place, and clamped it to hold it steady. Then I used a sharp center punch and a small hammer to stake it inside the slide. Thousands of shots later it's still tight, and working fine.

 

[RVTECH]

Front sight dovetails are quite shallow,

What is the typical depth of the cut ?

 

[Velzey]

Depends on the mfg, most 1911 front dovetails are .062 or .084 deep.

 

[Cerberus Group]

Front sight dovetails;

 

[edzz]

The Brownells staking tool works well. Years ago I made a similar tool from a set of vice grip pliers, worked well. The Brownells set would make it easy if you can arrange to borrow them.
Now if your looking for a larger front sight dovetailed or welded will likely hold up better than staked.

 

[Knebel]

What I have done on my custom build, used a sharpened screwdriver to gently "split" the little nubbin when in the slide, then used punches of various sizes to flatten. First a punch with a somewhat sharp tip and then i progressed to flat. Worked pretty good but if you have the option to dovetail or tig, thats what I'd do.