BHP Sights?

[Stephanie B]

I just picked up a used Mk.III High Power.

4976

The sights don't seem to be terribly good, at least to my aging eyes. I don't want to turn the gun into a range toy, I'd like to keep it as a usable service/SD pistol. It does shoot, this is at 15 yards on an indoor range:

4977

What sort of sights do you guys recommend, and why? And what don't you recommend, and why?

[JAD]

I have been very pleased with 1911 'hardball' sights, like https://shop.harrisoncustom.com/hd-003-retro-rear-sight, combined with a serrated no-outline trijicon front. MARS armament did my install, cerakoted my beater Izzy, and installed a thumb safety for a very reasonable amount of money. https://pistol-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4981&stc=1

[okie john]

Gorgeous pistol--just the right amount of wear.

What do you not like about the sights? Are you looking for a specific combination of rear notch width/shape? Lots of folks like Novaks for the BHP, but you lose the ability to rack the slide with them.

Heine and lots of others make very workable options.

Can you tell us more?


Okie John

[Stephanie B]

Gorgeous pistol--just the right amount of wear.

What do you not like about the sights? Are you looking for a specific combination of rear notch width/shape? Lots of folks like Novaks for the BHP, but you lose the ability to rack the slide with them.

Heine and lots of others make very workable options.

Can you tell us more?

There's hardly a gap that I can see between the front sight and the rear notch. I might try putting a white dot on the front sight with some nail polish and see if that helps give me something to focus on.

Part may be the range lighting, maybe?

[JonInWA]

The current fixed sights that FN/Browning provides as the OEM sights on the Mk III Hi Powers are actually pretty good, with a decent lightbar-to-sight ratio, but they'd probably need gunsmithing to fit what appears to be your Mk II.

A couple of suggestions:

-Have a gunsmith widen your existing rear sight, and paint the back face of your front sight in a bright green or orange (Testor's fluorescent color model paint, applied over a white basecoat of White Out or Liquid Paper works nicely);

-Go aftermarket, such as Novak or Heine as has been suggested. One caveat regarding Novak: Read through their website carefully, as there are several Hi Power options. Their "standard" set-up is a .124 front married to a .125 rear notch-in my experience/eyes, that's just too tight; go with one of their wide-notch rear sight options is my suggestion;

-See if the current FN/Browning Mk III sights can be used on your Hi Power; instead of "dots" there's inner rectangles, which can be painted or blacked out as desired; I personally chose to go with a fluorescent green front rectangle and fluorescent orange rear sight rectangles; the paint applied nicely via a toothpick over the OEM white paint.

Best, Jon

[okie john]

There's hardly a gap that I can see between the front sight and the rear notch. I might try putting a white dot on the front sight with some nail polish and see if that helps give me something to focus on.

Part may be the range lighting, maybe?

Maybe, but you can't count on perfect lighting in a fight, so it makes sense to get them sorted out before that happens.

My beef with Mk III sights is that they're busy--two vertical white bars on the rear and one up front. But since you're getting new sights anyway, there's nothing lost by modifying the ones you have. I'd start by painting them black--worn sights tend to turn grey and that makes them hard to see. From there, it will be easier to see the other flaws in them.

Putting a dot on the front sight may help you get to the "acceptable sight picture" that lets you make good hits at speed up close. If the notch still seems too tight, then you can use a safe-edge file to open it up. Just go slowly and watch your POI.

That said, many bullseye shooters prefer a rear sight with a tight notch because they feel that it helps them shoot tight groups at longer range. So if you can get fast hits at short range with just a dot added to the stock sights, then you might want to keep the tight notch to exploit the BHP's accuracy at longer ranges.

There's a ton of good information on BHP sights at http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/ Unfortunately, the writer died a few years ago, so this site may not be around forever.


Okie John

[Stephanie B]

what appears to be your Mk II.

I think it's a Mk.III, but maybe not. It has a 1992 date code and a black matte finish. But what I know about High Powers could be inscribed on an index card.

[okie john]

I think it's a Mk.III, but maybe not. It has a 1992 date code and a black matte finish. But what I know about High Powers could be inscribed on an index card.

Check out the link I sent you and all will become clear. By looking at the sights on yours, I'm guessing yours is an early Mk III. I believe that the Mk II front sight is integral with the slide.


Okie John

[45dotACP]

A bit off topic, but who would one approach about getting a beat up old Izzy MkII milled for a front sight? MARS or Novak immediately come to mind for me...

Sent from my VS876 using Tapatalk

[JonInWA]

Check out the link I sent you and all will become clear. By looking at the sights on yours, I'm guessing yours is an early Mk III. I believe that the Mk II front sight is integral with the slide.


Okie John

Okie John, you might be right. The safety looks like the early HP "nub" safety (or, in retrospect, a ground-down Mk III one, perhaps). If it's a MK II it'll have a front sight integral to the slide, a sight rib on the slide top, a slightly extended muzzle bushing projecting forward of the barrel, and a small drain hole at the front of the slide, where the front recoil spring nests beneath the muzzle bushing. I think that the MK II's had the banana-shaped safety lever, but I'm not absolutely sure on that one; I'll have to do some checking.

Best, Jon

[jetfire]

The last BHP I had in for work I sent to Novak, and the returned product was amazing. Sadly, it doesn't appear that they're doing custom work any more, as I can't find any information on their website regarding the work.

[HCM]

Someone here recently had a hi power worked to include milling for Novak sights and mentioned having them milled for the Noval 1911 sight rather than the BHP sight.

What are the pros / cons of this? I'm thinking ere are more options with the 1911 cut? Are they cutting both the fron and rear for 1911 sights? Or just he rear?

[Stephanie B]

Okie John, you might be right. The safety looks like the early HP "nub" safety (or, in retrospect, a ground-down Mk III one, perhaps).

The right side of the frame has an arc of wear around the axis of the sight's axle. My guess is that an older safety lever was installed at some point.

[jetfire]

Someone here recently had a hi power worked to include milling for Novak sights and mentioned having them milled for the Noval 1911 sight rather than the BHP sight.

What are the pros / cons of this? I'm thinking ere are more options with the 1911 cut? Are they cutting both the fron and rear for 1911 sights? Or just he rear?

That's what I had done, I had both dovetails cut for 1911 sights, specifically because I like having OPTIONS.

[JSGlock34]

Someone here recently had a hi power worked to include milling for Novak sights and mentioned having them milled for the Noval 1911 sight rather than the BHP sight.

What are the pros / cons of this? I'm thinking ere are more options with the 1911 cut? Are they cutting both the fron and rear for 1911 sights? Or just he rear?

That was probably me; I mentioned it in the 'What would you want in a P-35 Mark IV? (https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?15608-What-would-you-want-in-a-P-35-Mark-IV)' thread. I think Caleb nails it - there are many more options in 1911 sights for the Novak dovetail than any BHP specific sight. I also think the larger 1911 sight is more aesthetically pleasing. Both front and rear dovetails are required for the 1911 sights.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, MARS Armament also installs 1911 sight on Hi-Powers, but the work on my pistol was performed by Don Williams of Actionworks (http://www.theactionworks.com). His 'Street Package' includes 1911 sights, slide refinish, reliability, and trigger work for a very reasonable price.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x131/JSGlock34/P35/P35-1%201_zpsuxaykne8.jpg
https://pistol-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4839&d=1449549079

[Stephanie B]

There's a ton of good information on BHP sights at http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/

Wow! See you guys in a while. ;)

[JonInWA]

Wow! See you guys in a while. ;)

Stephen Camp's book, The Shooter's Guide To The Hi Power is available on that site-it's excellent, and well worth reading, Stephanie. It's the first investment that I'd recommend that you make before doing anything to your Hi Power.

And you might find this useful-I haven't tried their springs yet, but it looks like they're playing to good reviews, and a thorough spring replacement is one of the first things I recommend on any firearm obtained used: https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=497276

Best, Jon

[Stephanie B]

Jon, I did buy a new recoil spring. I do that on any used auto. On revolvers, I just clean them and, so far, they seem fine. :)

[Stephanie B]

I looked really closely at the sights. There are little trenches or pockets where they were probably painted to give an outline or three dot effect.

I took some white nail polish and applied that to the pockets. So I'll see if that works. If not, I may try a different color. Since nail polish is both pretty cheap and easily removabl