Need to realign rear sight

[peanutlover]

Dropped my gun today. Actually my neighbor dropped it and the impact knocked the rear sight askew. It's a Kimber TLE II .45 1911 full-size.

Looks like it might be a do-it-yourself fix. There's a very small allen set screw but I don't have a small enough allen wrench - looks to be about 1/16" or so.

Can I simply loosen the set screw and move the sight then retighten? Is it really that simple? Any input appreciated.

I suppose I could take it to Bolsa Gunsmithing like I did my last gun.

[THE Gimper]

Originally Posted by peanutlover

Dropped my gun today. Actually my neighbor dropped it and the impact knocked the rear sight askew. It's a Kimber TLE II .45 1911 full-size.

Looks like it might be a do-it-yourself fix. There's a very small allen set screw but I don't have a small enough allen wrench - looks to be about 1/16" or so.

Can I simply loosen the set screw and move the sight then retighten? Is it really that simple? Any input appreciated.

I suppose I could take it to Bolsa Gunsmithing like I did my last gun.

And charge your neighbor.

[DVSmith]

When you loosen the set screw it may still be very tight and will require a gentle tap with a drift and light mallet. Can you see where the sight was originally?

[peanutlover]

Originally Posted by DVSmith

When you loosen the set screw it may still be very tight and will require a gentle tap with a drift and light mallet. Can you see where the sight was originally?

I don't have any of the right tools for this. I don't have a mallet or drift. Yes, I can see where the sight used to go. I can tell because that's where the dust line is.

[sealbeach]

if you do it yourself, use some loctite on that allen screw. both allen wrenches and loctite can be found at lowes or home depot. get the fractional size wrench set, not the metric one.

My first kimber had a lot of trouble with the rear sight, it kept falling off, no matter what I did. I finally had to ship the slide to Kimber, they replaced the sight and "tightened" the slide (whatever that means). Never had any problems with it since.

[WKC]

Originally Posted by peanutlover

I don't have any of the right tools for this. I don't have a mallet or drift. Yes, I can see where the sight used to go. I can tell because that's where the dust line is.

You need to get some basic tools so you can do the simple maintenance.

Mallet 818-600-075
You can get this from Brownells but any small mallet will do.
For the drift, a piece of plastic rod or even wooden dowel will do.

SB is correct about the locktit. You should take the set screw out and clean the threads. Then put a drop of Blue locktit on the threads before you put the set screw back in. Once you have positioned the sight to where you want it, tighten the set screw down. The locktit will take about 24 hours to cure.

[El Gato]

You can get by without some tools but the wrench is a must have...

No tools: strip the slide, loosen the screw, take the slide in hand and strike it against a wooden block.. piece of 2x4 works ok but I have used a fence post on several occasions... that will move the sight in most cases... it is crude and freaks people out to see it but ... it works and I use it on the range with customers guns occasionally... although I have never seen a kimber sight that wasn't tough to move...

Doing it right with tools: you need to strip the slide, place it in the padded jaws of a vise (you can use layers of cloth or leather), take a drift (i use a piece of brass but plastic will do... wood will splinter) and move the sight...

The above mentioned brass/plasitic hammer is quite a beauty and any excuse to buy tools is a good excuse.... Brownells... the candy store for gunny types..... sells a drift punch set that has interchangeable brass and plastic heads...

WARNING...you need the plastic wood type drift if you are drifting a night sight.. OR YOU MAY BREAK THE NIGHT SIGHT VIAL AND SHE WILL NO LONGER GLOW... not that I have ever used a steel drift on a night sight...that anyone could prove...and 24/7 was just delivering a package and it just happened to have a new express sight 'cause I needed another one... that's all ... really..besides you can't actually prove I broke one...

[sealbeach]

Originally Posted by El Gato

You can get by without some tools but the wrench is a must have...

No tools: strip the slide, loosen the screw, take the slide in hand and strike it against a wooden block.. piece of 2x4 works ok but I have used a fence post on several occasions... that will move the sight in most cases... it is crude and freaks people out to see it but ... it works and I use it on the range with customers guns occasionally... although I have never seen a kimber sight that wasn't tough to move...

Doing it right with tools: you need to strip the slide, place it in the padded jaws of a vise (you can use layers of cloth or leather), take a drift (i use a piece of brass but plastic will do... wood will splinter) and move the sight...

The above mentioned brass/plasitic hammer is quite a beauty and any excuse to buy tools is a good excuse.... Brownells... the candy store for gunny types..... sells a drift punch set that has interchangeable brass and plastic heads...

WARNING...you need the plastic wood type drift if you are drifting a night sight.. OR YOU MAY BREAK THE NIGHT SIGHT VIAL AND SHE WILL NO LONGER GLOW... not that I have ever used a steel drift on a night sight...that anyone could prove...and 24/7 was just delivering a package and it just happened to have a new express sight 'cause I needed another one... that's all ... really..besides you can't actually prove I broke one...

An interesting warning, and isnt that glowing stuff a radioactive material?

[WKC]

Since El Gato brought this up, here are the drifts:

The proper tool to move the sights is a sight pusher. I do have one but since I am shooting the Prado IDPA tomorrow, the earliest we can get together is Sunday.

[sealbeach]

So Peanut, tell us more about this neighbor, why did he drop your gun? It sounds like a traumatic experience for you, and certainly for your poor gun.

[OCRancher]

BTW, I have MANY small diameter allen wrench sizes. R/C aircraft(my other hobby) uses many of them. And, always use blue Loctite.

[OCRancher]

Originally Posted by sealbeach

So Peanut, tell us more about this neighbor, why did he drop your gun? It sounds like a traumatic experience for you, and certainly for your poor gun.

Inquiring minds want to know??????!

[El Gato]

Originally Posted by sealbeach

So Peanut, tell us more about this neighbor, why did he drop your gun? It sounds like a traumatic experience for you, and certainly for your poor gun.

As a licensed therapist, I can conclusively guess the following: Your gun will be fine...

You on the other hand probably need to talk to all of us... catharsis.... talk about the trauma, grief, anger etc. when your gun was dropped... how did it feel.... do you think the kimber was in any pain? Do you mourn for your rear sight alignment... we are here for you man.... think of it as therapy and not having to pay 100 per hour....... gun therapy is administered with a brass drift... shooter therapy can be administered online...we will be gentle... kinda like a ball peen hammer is gentle....

[CCWInstructor]

If you need the sight drift tool or any of the other tools let me know.

[peanutlover]

Thanks for all the quick responses. Greg, I'd love to come by and tap my sight back into place. Is that possible in the next few days? If not, I can wait for time in your schedule.

WKC, like I just told Greg. I'd be more than happy to cruise by and adjust my sight. Let me know when and where. Again, I can wait for time in your schedule.

This neighbor was discussing with me his desire to buy a gun for home protection. He knows I carry. He knew I had my gun on me because I had just finished telling him how accurate this new Kimber shot today at Evan's. He asks to hold it to feel its loaded weight. I unholster, hand it to him and make sure he's got his fingers away from the trigger and it's pointed away from both of us. He begins raising and lowering his whole arm, kind of bobbing it up and down - apparently to feel the weight of my gun. He then begins turning his hand over left to right - again, apparently to feel the weight. All of this took about 3 seconds. Next thing he drops the gun onto the garage floor. Lands on the butt. I don't recall where it was pointing. I remained calm but he almost vomited. He almost cried. For the next hour he was beside himself for having "dropped a loaded gun."

Needless to say I won't be going shooting with him as we'd previously planned. I'll have other plans that get in the way.

Now my Kimber, which just shot so accurately at the range, has its rear sight out of whack. It's shifted about 1/4 inch to the right. I imagine resetting the sight will be guesswork, requiring range time to verify?

Thanks for listening.

Greg, Sam, I'll be in touch. Thanks again.