M1911 sight installation question

J

Jake 98c/11b

New member
I have a friends M1911 that he wants different sights on. I have the tools but have never done one before, can someone give me a quick rundown? Seems pretty straight forward but, since this is not my gun, I don't want to be suprised by anything as I try to stake on a new frontsight.
 
Jake, use a dremel with a round burr and remove the staked part of the old stem from inside the slide. Normally doesn't take very much to do this. Take a large nail or drift punch and wrap with masking tape to use as a fulcrum. Grab the old sight with vise grips positioned over the fulcrum and pry it out. Get the dremel out again and using the same round burr remove a little more from the inside of the slide to give your new stem more "bite". Place the slide upside down in a padded vise and stake on the new sight. If the new sight has a tritium insert you'll need to protect it from crushing by making a slot in a piece of aluminum large enough for the sight blade to enter freely but the wings to rest on. Then you can stake without damaging the sight. George
 
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