New 1911; Fixed vs. Adjustable Sights

J

Jonpod

New member
I am going to buy a Les Baer later this year. Currently I am leaning toward the Thunder Ranch Special. I already own a Kimber Custom Stainless and a Kimber Ultra Carry (Black). Since both of my current 1911 style pistols have fixed sights I started thinking that maybe I should go for one of the Concept Baers. This will be a sometimes carry and regular range pistol. Does anyone here carry adjustable sight 1911's? Is it less comfortable? Since these pistols are made extremely accurate what possible advantage is there to having adgustable sights rathar than fixed. I actually like the looks of the fixed sights better but I don't want to be sorry later if I find out that I am missing out on something special about the adjustables.
 
My next 1911 slide WILL wear an MMC adjustable rear, and either an Ashley medium-dot or Millett orange-ramp front.

Or maybe those choices will be tritium....

My carry 1911 has a Bomar base with a Caspian ghost ring blade. Gun is heavily dehorned, including sight parts.
 
Jonpod - If the gun is being built by Les Baer for you (an order) then you could probably specify that the rear blade on the adj. (if you choose this rte) be rounded and the sight (especially the front edges) dehorned or melted a little. This will help considerably on malfunction drills and overall handling. The MMC's I don't believe will need this treatment but the Baer Bomar type sight will probably need it.
EricO
 
Depends on why you are getting the gun:

1. If this is a carry gun - Ashley Express sights are fantastic. Kodiac Approved.

2. If you want a gun just for plinking, stock fixed will do.

3. If you want a gun for target shooting then yes, you will require adjustable sights. MMCs are the leader in this area.
 
Another vote for MMC

My Makarov wears MMC sights, tritium, both front & rear. The first option on my new Kimber Custom Stainless will be a set of MMC sights - these things are built tough and will stand up well in CCW carry.
 
A couple of my carry guns have MMC adjustable night sights. They are great. You can adjust the point of aim for different loads. The slide on the Browning and the Springfield 1911 have "Novak" style dovetail cuts for the rears. I have had no problems with the sights or with MMC service, which has been very good. MMC has recently gone through an ownership change and a move, so orders are a little behind right now. They should be back to normal in a couple of weeks.
 
If you want a gun for target shooting then yes, you will require adjustable sights. MMCs are the leader in this area.
Click to expand...

For pure target work, I think it's hard to beat the Bomar sights. The MMCs would make more sense if the pistol is also going to be used for some sort of "practical" shooting where their smaller profile would be an advantage.
 
Where do you get the MMC sights? Does Les Baer put them on for you? The reason I ask is because I was looking at a 6 month old gun rag I had laying around called The Complete Book of the 1911. Inside the front cover is a Les Baer advertisement with three pistols pictured. A Thunder Ranch Special, a Premere II and a Stinger with the MMC sights on it. I am assuming that LB will install these for you and that they have them as an option. However when I go to their web sight it only showes Bomar or fixed. What is up here?
 
Baer used to install the MMC sites as standard on most of his guns. A few years age he switched to an adjustable copy of the BoMar and a fixed copy of the Novaks with his own name on them. There are a few LBs on gunbroker.com currently. I guess they are old stock as the serial #'s are early and they have MMCs.
 
I think questions that need to be answered before you make a choice is how well do you shoot with each kind of sight and what kind of shooting do you intend to do with the gun? In my own case I do not shoot appreciably better with adjustable sights than I do with fixed sights. So, it really does not make sense for me to put out a lot of money on excellent adjustable sights. They really (for me) don't make a difference. On the other hand I don't any shoot less well with adjustable than with fixed. If you can try both kids out you might have a somewhat better basis for a decision. Good luck and good shooting.
 
I have decided to go with the Premere II. It has the Bomar adjustable sights on it. After all the good advice here and talking to a friend I made this decision. A really good reason is I already have two 1911 style pistols with fixed combat style sights. I should go for variety. Besides I probably won't be carrying around a $1500 pistol when I have two perfectly good $700 pistols to choose from. Now all I have to do is decide if the 1.5"/50yd guarantee is worth the extra $300. Has anyone else here made this decision and what did you do?
 
Unless you're planning to shoot small objects at long range, I'd save the $300. If you ever decide you do want that level of accuracy, you could have a Kart match barrel fitted for less than $300.
 
Have Premier II with their "Tactial" {de-horn} option. With that they round the front of & sight blade edges of the Bo-Mars. Have the 1 1/2" gun but it is not really needed. It does make the accuracy superb even with cheap ammo though. The negative side is that it makes an already tight gun extremely tight. When mine was new the slide could not be cycled by hand without pushing the bushing on someting else. They also will not do their "1 1/2" on other than an all steel gun, NO SS etc. Still, it makes those long/precision shots for IDPA, etc. a piece of cake. However, suspect the "Average" Baer will do just as well.
 
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