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Colt series 70 front sight question

skicat
I bought a Colt Series 70 Govt model .45 and after about 100 rds through it the front sight came off. Lost in the woods. Bummer but fixable. So I just got the gun back and the smith silver soldered the new front sight on. I didn't notice when I picked it up but the front sight leans slightly to the left. Not a lot but if perfect is 12 o'clock my new sight points to about 11:58. Am I stuck with it that way since it is silver soldered in? I am not by nature a super critical consumer but I notice it with my naked eye and it bugs me. I suspect it will affect the accuracy as well won't it? Any suggestions welcome...Thanks!
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7 comments

Date Votes
  • Spartacus
    well, i'd give it back to the smith to fix, but if you're into tinkering with it you could stake it from the underside and straiten it.
    just my 2c
    tom

    edit:
    perry has a good idea, especially for a high profile sight. just one more thing, cover the ends of the vice grip jaws with electrical or duct tape, that way you can snug the vice grip up to the slide w/o marring the top of the slide.
    silver solder is much harder than lead, but still malleable. you smith will adjust it in about 2 minutes. i'm sure he charged you at least 30 bucks to do the job. let him fix it.
    tom
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  • skicat
    I really don't have the tools or know how to do this job. I would have to think it is hard to un-silver solder something without wrecking the finish. Mostly I am trying to figure out if I am being too picky.
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  • perry shooter
    You are not being too Picky IMHO the smith should redo the job no charge. I know it is too late but. If this is a Government model I think I would have replaced the rear sigh with an adjustable one and this would require a higher then normal front sight. I like the Bomar style but I shoot mostly targets also If you can find a Bomar rib this is great and you can interchange a red dot or Iron Sights.

    EDIT SKICAT Please read entire suggestion and then consider if you feel comfortable with what I would do . I cant stand out of plumb sights every time I go to shoot a shot it PISSES me off & is not conducive to shooting well the tall sights normally have a tab that goes through a slot in the slide and then this tab is Peened/Staked with a stacking tool If it was my pistol I would find two small strips of brass to protect the sides of the sight and then take the slide off the gun and put slide in padded vice. Then I would take a pair of HEAVEN FORBID I know how this will sound VICE grips standing straight up & with the front sight as a sandwich I would Form / Bend the front sight back to vertical. Notice I said if it were me . I am Not telling you to try it unless you know you will always have trouble with it the way it is now. Cheers Karl
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  • skicat
    Perry It had Bomar sights on it all ready. He did replace the front sight with a high profile sight which is why I think I notice the leaning. This gun was more accurate than I am at this point. The previous owner had it dialed in which is why I am bumming. I am going to show it to the guy who owns the range I go to and see what he thinks. The guy that did the work is a nice guy but I have questions about his skill level.
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  • beantownshootah
    quote:I cant stand out of plumb sights every time I go to shoot a shot it PISSES me off & is not conducive to shooting well

    +1 to that.

    I have a revolver I bought used where the front sight has been worn/ dinged, so its JUST out of square. The sharp right angle on the upper right edge is worn off and the front right edge of the sight sits just a hair lower than the front left edge. . .and it drives me TOTALLY bonkers!

    I gave it to my friend to shoot. . .and he didn't even notice! I said, isn't the crooked front sight making it harder for you to aim? And he said "you're crazy". Then again, I'm shooting bowling pins at 25 yards, and he's shooting soda cans at 5 yards!

    Will YOU have trouble shooting with your sight out of whack by 2 degrees? I don't know. . .maybe you will and maybe you won't. You can try it and see. If you cant' tell the difference, arguably, there isn't one.

    My take on this is just that the better a shooter your are, the more attuned to your sight picture you're going to be, ESPECIALLY the front sight.

    While it is possible to get used to a non-standard sight picture and shoot it well, I think if you are a serious match bullseye/target shooter and you're using iron sights for maximum accuracy, then you will want them to present an absolutely flawless sight picture. You do NOT want variability in sight picture between your different guns, and you don't want your sight picture to be out of whack. If it is, you WILL notice it, and you just won't shoot as well.

    In short, no, I don't think its "too picky" to want a truly vertical front sight! If one side is higher than the other then its just impossible to line up the sights precisely.

    Anyway, to answer the question, no, you're not stuck with the sights the way they are. What can be silver-soldered can be silver-unsoldered. I'd go back to the gunsmith, and tell him (politely) that the sights are a little out of whack, and its driving you loco, and ask him to fix them.

    If he won't fix the problem, or can't, then maybe you're done with him as your "gunsmith".
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  • skicat
    Thank you guys. I am a novice shooter who is trying to improve and even at my skill level the front sight bugs me. It is good to hear the educated views of experienced shooters and you have no doubt saved me some aggravation. I will approach him politely and give him the chance to correct the lean. Worst case scenario I eat the money paid and hire someone else. I could see myself trying to straighten it myself if it were another gun but this is my first colt and I would rather spend a little more dough and have a more experienced smith take a crack at it.
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  • 511pe
    Revolver's used to have a "variance" on their front sight. This was due to the crushed fit of the barrel. I had a Security Six like that. My target 1911's front sight goes to the right slightly from staking but for me it's no big deal as long as it doesn't shoot loose. It's like 12:01AM or so but shoots better than my Glock.
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