I recently became aware that Colt decided they wanted to be special so they cut their front sight dovetail with different dimensions than the standard Novak. I really wanted to try out the Wilson Battlesight rear with a fiber optic front so I’m now trying to figure out which front to use. The best I can find is a Novak sight cut specifically for Colts, but the highest sight I can find is a .190. Wilson recommends a .200 with that specific rear. My understanding is that sight heights are usually a best guess type deal and WC said that generally most 5" 1911s work best with the .200, but it depends on the barrel fit and that a .190 may still produce POA/POI at 25m or about 1" above which I’m fine with. What do you guys think?
It sounds like you have a plan. When did you buy your Colt? IIRC, they had a proprietary front sight cut and later changed to the standard Novak cut. As of last year, you could take a prior production and current production slide and tell the difference by holding them side by side. The proprietary cut was closer to the muzzle.
That seems to be approximately the date they started to change them. I remember someone I know buying a Rail Gun that had the newer cut, but there still being XSEs with the proprietary cut at the same LGS.
I’ll be honest, if you’ve already figured out which height will work and is available, I think you’ve won the battle. The harder part for me has been figuring out which height to go with when I set up a gun, as I’m yet to do the exact same gun twice. Even between 5" Colt 1911’s, I’ve had one shoot a tad higher than the other. I make it work without issue within 25 yards, but sometimes it bugs me when I shoot at 50 yards. Good luck, and if you don’t mind, chime in how it all works out for you.
I assume I have the older style still but I don’t know because I replaced the sights once already without issues. And I posted looking to see other options and other opinions on whether the .190 would work, since I’m not positive.
My custom Wilson-Colt uses a .190 gold bead front sight (Wilson part) and a Battlesight Rear. The front sight doesn’t sit flush on the slide though. That’s one way to install it lol.
OP, when was your Colt made? They have gone back to standard Novak front sights for newer and now discontinued XSE models and current production Railgun models.
You might find more options for the old XSE front sight cut if you add C-More to your searches. For instance, John Harrison sells a sight for that dovetail but he only sells them in .180 heights. His sight may be made for him by Dawson so you could give them a try. They might supply one or even make it custom. Edit : checked Dawson’s site. They make a .200 fiber optic in this cut. http://www.dawsonprecision.com/ProductDetail.jsp?LISTID=800016F8-1388518372
It’s the last sight on the page.
Novak can also make you a custom sight. I’m having them make me a custom gold bead sight with that dovetail cut. They will make you one that is .200 tall by special order.
My department had this issue when we issued 1911 XSEs. Colt couldn’t care less. It was the Novak dovetail, just too far forward. We had put 10-8 rear sights on and a tritium front sight. We sent colt/Keng front sights to tool tech for tritium. Currently we are using colt rail guns with stock sights. The 10-8 rear was not popular because “you can’t line up the dots”
I have no idea when it was made. The sights are only a small part of a significant upgrade I’m planning for SACS so I decided I’ll give the Wilson rear a shot and let them just figure out the front sight. Kind of a tangent but I’m stoked for this to get done. I bought this gun with the intent of getting it worked over at some point and have been wanting to do it for years. I finally just put the money into it so I have a bunch of Wilson parts coming in the next few days and then I should be sending it out in the next two weeks hopefully. Defense package, Bulletproof grip safety and one piece magwell, front strap checkering, etc. It’s gonna be a long couple of months while it’s gone and will be over $1k for their work alone, not to mention installing the rest of the Wilson stuff but I’m pumped.
