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Staking 1911 front sight

simon1

Self Ignored by Vista
I just used a punch quite awhile back to tighten up a loose front sight, but it's a bit wobbly again. Brownells has a staking tool for 50 bucks and I was wondering if that would be cheaper than a gunsmith. I called a 'smith some time ago when it first came loose and he never called me back, sooo.

There is a pawn shop in town and the owner of that one is a 1911 fanatic. He's a reputable guy, which is strange for a pawn shop. I may call him and see if he has a staking tool that I could use.

Anyone ever stake the front sight?
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
Seems like I tried that several years ago. I might even still have the staking tool. I'll see if I can find it, might take a while. If I find it I'll PM you.
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
I have not located my old staking tool yet, I think it was different than the one currently sold by Brownells. I may have loaned it out long ago and forgot about it, as did the borrower! My recollection of using it was that the sight was secure, but there was a slight gap left between the sight blade and the top of the slide. Someone had an old rusty 1911 that was in rather poor shape. I wanted to tinker with one, so I told the owner that I would fix it up for cost, just to get the experience. They did not want to spend the money to have it done professionally so they let me do it. Overall, the gun was restored to a nice plinker, if not totally professional. I sanded down the formerly blued slide and frame, there was some pitting even when taken down to white metal, so I left it with a "Brushed" texture, not having the facility to sand blast it. I then Parkerized it and it actually turned out pretty nice. I replaced all the springs and put in a new barrel. I did not do anything to "tighten it up", left it "GI loose" and it functioned just fine. I replaced the miniscule GI sights with some higher profile fixed sights, hence my use of the staking tool. I cleaned up the original grips and the customer was happy with the overall results. I actually offered to buy the gun from him, but he declined.
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
I found it! It's made by Kings. Its a copy of the old GI staking tool, I believe.

Hard to find a good image of it online. The power is out here, I'll try to post an image of it later. If you decide you want to try it, I'll send it to you.
 

nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
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nortac

"Can't Raise an Eyebrow"
Having trouble posting images from my phone without duplicates for some reason
 

simon1

Self Ignored by Vista
I would hazard a guess that Mike does not have a milling machine.

Like Orville said to Wilbur...you're Wright! It's been decades since I used a milling machine, much less own one. I let Wilson mill the slide to install the BoMar Low Mounts...it was a bit more involved than just cutting a simple dovetail. He had to mill the rear of the slide for the Low Mount to fit. Besides...he has better equipment than I do.

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