Have been looking for a used 1911 Government 70 series to bump around the truck and boat.Never see many here in Very North....  Ely, MN. My local gun store 140 mile round trip had this trade in.  So I brought that one home. 
Looked holstered more then shot with slight rubbing at the muzzle high points. My first experience with Bo - Mar sights. 
But since then I know they are older sights. The gun looks better then the pics. One question is did they ship with that option? 
Or they all aftermarket additions?  
Just trying to learn.  Question 1.5 Is it worth keeping them on.

Second and last question. All over Youtube it shows how to install a staked front sight. I could not find anything about taking them off? How does that work. Thanks for you time and help. I must say i am impressed with this pistol. Got it out the door for $435 with tax. Cleaned it up and went out side and shot it. I can do that here. Three mags with a mix of Ball from WW1 (1918),  WW2 40s, Modern ball. With Gold Dot, Golden Saber and even the Underwood fluted ammo. Not one issue from any of it. I tried to make it choke to see what did not work. I was very surprised. Thanks in advance for help and time with the Bo - Mar thing.
 Best, 
Bro2Wolf

I would’ve bought  it too at that price.

That rear sight has to be a bubba add on, what else do you think might be modified?

Never did it, but if the front sight is a staked in like you say, wouldn’t you need some tool to reach in and relieve the staking.

Or just send the slide to Novak’s and have them do it.  That rear is something tho.

I would send it off if it was mine.  The last sight change I did with dovetails front and rear took a lot of fitting.  Came out nice too, but not my idea of fun.

Bomar sights came on older Gold Cups , I believe,  but not on regular Government models that I know of.

correct, Gold Cup Trophy

If you shot WW1 and WW2 ammo through the barrel you need to remove it and scrub it with soapy water at the least or it will rust from the corrosive primers PDQ.

Those look to be aftermarket sights but they were good sights if not a bit oversized.

Post some better pics if you can.  There will be some SME along soon.   You got a smoking deal for sure, and running all that different ammo is great.

I would only change the sights, but you will only have a few choices unless you have a little machine work done, then there are a slew of choices.

I would have bought it, too.  Nice pistol, OP.

This is probably a hard ball gun judging by the tall front sight and the Bomars drifted in the factory dovetail. Does it have a tight slide to frame fit?  Tight barrel hood to slide/frame fit?  A match bushing?  Can you turn the bushing by hand?

IIRC BoMars were designed to drop in to a standard USGI rear sight cut.

Gold cups used a POS elliason rear sight then a a bomar copy.

Unquestionably an aftermarket installation.

The front sight is so tall because it has to be in order to match up with the high-mounted rear.  Hopefully the front sight is not that Millett dual-crimp abortion which is installed by drilling two huge holes in the slide.

As to staked front sights, there are two basic ways to remove them:  grind out the staked metal with a ball-end burr and pull the sight off from the top, or cut the top of the sight blade off with a file or on a mill, then tap out the staked portion from the top.

Just wanted to say that you got a great deal on that, imo. That pistol even with non original sights would have easily gone for over $700 around here.

You got the deal of the year for a .45 "Ball gun" set up for National Match and Excellence-in-Competition bullseye shooting.

Your pistol is configured for one-handed precision, thus the overhang off the back end (longest sight radius between front and rear sight).  It is not set up for holster wear and presentation -- it is too fragile and unprotected hanging off the back end.  The roughest handling these see is from the shooter's carrying box; to the shooting table and actual firing; and back.

I've damaged a few of these rear sight blades in holsters specifically set up for Special Forces CQB.  A good gunsmith can mill the slide for a lower, buried profile, slightly ahead of the back end of the slide for added protection.



You scored a great deal -- especially at that price!!

Bo-mars are aftermarket. The set up you have is quite common with the Bullseye crowd.

Someone's quasi hardball gun or bowling pin gun.

$435 is a awesome price .

That type Bomar requires a hole drilled and tapped and usually the back edge of slide beveled . Bomar did make one that drifts on without mod but it is much taller.

Nice find with a very nice price, congrats...If it were mine, I would send it out to a local funsmith that works
on 1911's to remove the old sights and replace them with Tritium Novak sights or Novak's with a adjustable
rear if that's your speed.

Good luck with it, by the way the WW1 and WWII ammo has some collector value...

Congrats, you got a great deal! That being said those sights would have to go if it was mine. Like others have said, send it to Novak’s.

Got any better pics?

Awesome deal!  If you just want factory style sights swapping out the existing is easy enough & relatively cheap.  If going for something that requires dovetail(s) cuts, I’d echo the Novak recommendation.  EGW also.

You might save some dough with a competent local ‘smiff but make sure on the competent part.  I’ve rescued a couple slides that some hack butchered.

Wash the barrel and basically the whole gun with hot soapy water after shooting that corrosive ammo. If you haven't even cleaned it normally since then it probably is already rusting in the barrel.

Those are a variant of Bomars that were no-gunsmithing. As in drift out the OEM rear sight and slide in the bomar. Most of the other varieties required milling  and a drill and tap to get the sight as low to the slide as possible.  Depends on your likes.  Genuine Bomars are rock solid and very repeatable in their adjustments.

Btw. You got an awesome deal on the pistol!

Hope this is not to much of a hijack but I bought this 1968 38 Super unfired back in 1990 as my first real pistol . I was a lousy shooter and thought better sights would cure that. I had a local good smith put on these Maryland Gun Works  sights on it and I still shot like crap . 30 years later and after only bringing it out once a year to run a couple of mags through it I want to change back to GI sights .

I saved the original sights and was hoping a good smith could reinstall them back . Is this a bad idea , I don't think they had to machine the slide .Thanks

It's not difficult to put original GI sights back on, but I don't think there's a good reason to do it IMO.   The front is disposable and a new sight would need to be purchased.

FYI....all the factory Gold Cups I've seen had Eliason sights

I'd keep the front sight, remove the Maryland sight, and install a Harrison Retro.  Very visible, no-snag, and durable:

That looks like an aftermarket job, Gold Cups came with Elliason Rear Sights.
The Gold Cup Trophy has a "Melted Bomar Installation"