1911 Sights for Old Fart Eyes

[revchuck38]

I have a similar need for my Commander. Years ago, I had Wilson install a set of their night sights which are now dead. The rear has the standard Colt dovetail but the front has the Wilson dovetail. I'd like to get a plain black rear and a glaringly bright red/orange front. Suggestions?

[Rock185]

I guess I'm not alone. In my dotage, I've found a wider rear notch and/or narrower front sight is helpful to me. I used to think fiber optic fronts were superfluous. Now I've tried a couple, and found them quite useful in our bright Arizona sun.

[Robinson]

What complicates things is that S&W doesn't use standard Novak sight cuts on their 1911s. They use the sight cuts from earlier 3rd Gen autos. Novak's and Heinie both offer limited options for the S&W.

[JonInWA]

Bright orange front sight face, plain black rear
Best, Jon

[NETim]

Black rear/green FO front. As long as the rear notch width is enough to allow a glimpse of the front, good enough.

But then, I am hardly the world's greatest marksman, so I've got many other things to deal with before I go too far down the sight rabbit hole.

[Beretta Dawg]

I generally lurk around the forum without posting much as I feel out of my league with most of the other contributors; however, one thing I can comment on with plenty of experience is trouble seeing the front sight. The second option given in the first reply of trying a target focus has really worked for me. It's basically the same principle as using a red dot. I focus on the target and just put the blur of the front sight over the target and go. A sight set up with a wide rear and thinner front also makes this method work better as I can use the two blurs of light on each side of the front post to make sure I'm centered up.

I do use progressive lenses, and, when trying to do very precise, bullseye-type shooting, I'll find myself doing the backward head tilt to get a more crisp sight picture. I am playing around with the idea of getting a prescription that puts the bifocal/reading portion of the lens at the top rather than the bottom to see how that would work.

[KevH]

For me...

I've settled on a relatively skinny serrated face red fiber optic front sight (under .120 wide) with a blacked out serrated rear rear sight with a .125 to .145 rear depending on the gun length of the sight plane. Just make sure there is daylight on either side of the front sight in the rear notch.

It's my opinion there is not a better iron sight setup since you can still have accuracy at distance, but even if your target focused and your near vision is blurred you can still see it easily.

Since you're talking S&W you have somewhat limited options. The early S&W 1911's used the 3rd Gen sight cut.

If I were you and it were my gun I'd use this rear with a .145 notch:
https://dawsonprecision.com/sight-fo...son-precision/

...and I'd pair it with a .160 tall x.100 wide serrated:
https://dawsonprecision.com/sight-fo...son-precision/

That would be about perfect for close or long range with not-so-great vision.

[HeavyDuty]

My eyes are going to shit, too. Bright orange dot front with or without tritium, and a serrated black rear. As an alternative I do well with a gold bead up front and serrated black rear. Dots blow either away, but I’m not willing to give up irons just yet.

[dogcaller]

On my pet GP-100, a flat-top Dawson green FO replaced the execrable factory ramp after a rounded top XS had been tried and discarded.

Hola, Gato!

I’ve never minded the GP factory sights, until my middle-aged eyes set in. A FO front would definitely help. Do you happen to know what size you got?

[Borderland]

Yesterday, I shot my SW 1911Sc Commander in our club's practice session. It ran really well after a trip to Dan Bedell. I shot it decently. Like the gun. I did notice that with my old eyes and progressive lens, the front sight was harder than usual to pick up. The gun has the stock, original SW three dots and the front is pretty small.

Suggestions for a better set of sights? The XS Sights Tritium front sight and appropriate rear sights look attractive? The gun is for local matches (where very few shoot 45 ACP anymore). Lots of commentary - oh, that's too slow, too much recoil - blah, blah. Just fun to shoot.

I had two 1911 Gov't models. I sold both of those. Not because they weren't accurate, they were. I just couldn't use those sights and didn't want to drop the money into a mod. I have a Gold Cup that I modified. I had a brass bead set into the front sight. I can shoot that one. I have progressive lenses also and they cause a problem with some front sights. If I tilt my head so I'm using the lower part of the lenses it seems to focus, but what a PIA. A front with a cut is much better than a staked sight. Pop a new one in.