Hi,

Can you get aftermarket night sights for the Colt Model 1991 .45ACP?

Thanks.

Absolutely.  The latest ones I installed were Meprolights, and I chose them because they'd fit the factory rear dovetail and front sight tenon hole.

The Brownell's part number was 387-304-776.

There are a lot of styles and brands out there.  If yours is a 1991, it will have the wide tenon front sight (unless it's dovetailed).

Quoted: Absolutely.  The latest ones I installed were Meprolights, and I chose them because they'd fit the factory rear dovetail and front sight tenon hole. The Brownell's part number was 387-304-776. There are a lot of styles and brands out there.  If yours is a 1991, it will have the wide tenon front sight (unless it's dovetailed).

I don't have one yet but I was just curious...

I thought the factory sights on Colts weren't removable??

For the sake of clarity, let's discuss the regular 1911/1991 with no front dovetail.

The rear sight is simply dovetailed in, and can easily be drifted out and replaced.

The front sight has a peg on the bottom that extends down through a hole in the slide.   The bottom of this peg (aka tenon) is flared to rivet the sight to the slide.   To remove the front sight, the flare must be ground or cut away, then the sight can be pulled up to remove it.   Replacing the sight requires a tool of some sort to stake the bottom of the tenon into the slide, then the area is ground smooth so the bushing can be reinserted.

Colts made until the mid-80s had the "narrow" tenon sight.  Afterwards the hole was widened in order to provide better retention for the new breed of target sights that were then being sold.  Wide tenon sights fit these holes.

However, it's common these days for a gunsmith to cut a slot for a new dovetail front sight.  The rear dovetail must also be machined in order to install the low mount Novak, Heinie, or Bo-Mar sights (though there are a lot of sights available that will fit the factory dovetail.)

Get the Yo-Bo retro rear sight-



I have one on my Springfield. It's an awesome rear and it has a realistic price.

Brownell's- Yost-Bonitz Retro rear

He did mention night sights.  I imagine Yo Bo can install tritium tubes in the retro sights, but if he wants night sights, why not just buy some night sights?  

I just got done installing the Meprolights on a Series 70 with narrow tang.  I don't really care for the Meprolight rear sight for the Colts.  It just looks kind of funky to me, the way it hangs back over the slide.  I believe the Trijicon for the Colt doesn't do that, but I haven't handled one yet, so I'm not entirely sure.  Both are available from Brownell's.

I've found myself in possession of a herd of Colts lately, so I might just get some Trijicons to try on another one and see what transpires.

Also, Brownell's sells a very nice offset punch for peining the front sights.  It has an Allen set screw that can be loosened to swap out the tip from wide to narrow tang, depending on what you need for the particular application.  It costs about $20, if I remember correctly.  Other manufacturers, like Trijicon, offer a tool for staking the front sight which is much more expensive, around $180 IIRC.

In my perfect world, I'd only worry about a tritium insert in the front sight.  Having the three dots at night is nice, but at the ranges I would expect to shoot at night, with a 1911 and some practice, I can generally index on the front sight and hit just where I want.  I don't anticipate getting into a 25 yard shootout, though.  At those ranges, I'm going to try really hard to retreat.

Another thought on that is, if I need to aim precisely at a target at night, if I have a flashlight, I can see my sights, and if I don't and it's dark enough for me to need a three dot tritium configuration, then I probably can't see my target!  

But I'm getting older and my eyes aren't as quick as they used to be.  

I wound up with an extra Meprolight front sight for wide tang.  If nothing else happens, I might just install it on a Stainless Colt I have and call that one good with just the front sight glowing.  I'd just have to make sure it's the same height as the front sight that's already on it, because that Colt really plants 'em where I want 'em.

Sometimes, people braze on the front sights with silver solder.  I don't recommend that for the home user as it can funkify your slide.  I don't think it'd be really good for tritium capsules in the sights, either, but that's just a guess on my part.  I could be wrong.  Tritium may like being heated up with a MAPP gas torch for all I know.

Cheers,

kk7sm

My bad totally...I missed the nightsight part..

Trijicon makes Nightsights to fit just about ANY Colt 1911

 www.trijicon.com/user/parts/parts_new.cfm?categoryID=7#3

Since we are talking Night Sights, I would stick to Meprolights. I have never had a problem outa them..

I think they're both quality products.  I have Trijicons on a Kimber and a Springfield and Meprolights on a Colt.  My only beef with the Meprolight sights for the Colts is the weird rear sight they have.  It works great but it's profoundly fuggly to my eyes.  It kind of hangs back over the top of the slide toward the rear of the slide and doesn't quite look like it belongs.

I'll get a photo of it when I get back home (out on business right now).

The Trijicon rear sight looks more like a traditional rear sight and I just like that look better.

But it really is just user preference and aesthetics at that point.  They're both very, very good sights.

Cheers,

kk7sm