Making a
Fiber Optic
Front Sight
by Roy Seifert
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Disclaimer:
This article is for entertainment only and is not to
be used in lieu of a qualified gunsmith.
Please defer all firearms work to a qualified
gunsmith. Any loads
mentioned in this article are my loads for my guns and have
been carefully worked up using established guidelines and
special tools. The
author assumes no responsibility or liability for use of
these loads, or use or misuse of this article.
Please note that I am not a professional gunsmith,
just a shooting enthusiast and hobbyist, as well as a
tinkerer. This
article explains work that I performed to my guns without
the assistance of a qualified gunsmith.
Some procedures described in this article require
special tools and cannot/should not be performed without
them.
Warning:
Disassembling and tinkering with your firearm may
void the warranty. I
claim no responsibility for use or misuse of this article.
Again, this article is for entertainment purposes
only!
Tools
and firearms are the trademark/service mark or registered trademark
of their respective manufacturers.
I recently added
a Millet adjustable rear sight to my 1911 .22 conversion kit.
When I shot it with the new sight, it was shooting
high, even with the sight adjusted to the lowest setting.
This meant I would have to raise the front sight.
Here is the rule of sights; adjust the rear sight in
the direction you want to bullet to move.
Adjust the front sight in the opposite
direction you want to the bullet to go.
Since my rear sight was at the lowest setting, I would
have to raise the front sight to lower the point of impact of
the bullet. Since
the front sight was cast into the aluminum .22 conversion
slide, I would have to mill it off and install a dovetail
front sight. Refer
to my article Milling a Front Sight
Dovetail.
 My
reference books told me that for the Millett series 100
adjustable rear sight Colt Custom Combat Lo-Profile with white
dot I would need a front sight that was 0.275" high.
I found item number 257239 at Midway
USA “Novak Front Sight Blank 1911 Novak Cut .075"
Depth .295" Height .125" Width Steel Blue” which
is 0.295 inch high; more than enough for the job.
I
really like front sights with a green fiber optic rod.
This makes the front sight easy to see; for me.
Midway sells a number of fiber optic front sights from
$25.00 to $30.00, but the Novak front sight blank was only
$17.00. Since I
had some green fiber optic rod left over from other sights, I
converted this blank into a fiber optic front sight.
 I
leveled the sight in my machinist’s vise making sure the bit
wouldn’t touch the ends of the vise.
Then I took a 5/16” ball end bit and milled out the
center of the sight. This
allows more light to enter the rod.
I
rotated the sight so the end was up in the vise.
I took a 1/16” square end bit and plunged a hole in
one end of the sight. I
turned the sight over and plunged a 1/16” hole in the other
end. These holes
will hold the fiber optic rod.
 I
cleaned the sight with acetone and cold-blued the area that I
milled. I cut a
green fiber optic rod to the proper length, installed it in
the sight, and ballooned each end with a match.
Now the sight is ready to be installed.
Addendum
5/31/2008
I found a source for 1/16" fiber optic rod on the Internet from Oakridge
Hobbies and Toys.
I purchased a package of red and green fiber optic rods; each
package comes with ten, 10" rods for a total of 100
inches per pack. That should last me for years!
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