I was at the range today. I was practicing for the falling plate match at Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun Club tomorrow. I was about 50 rounds in when I couldn’t acquire the front sight in the usual amount of time. After a second or two of confusion I looked closer:
Bummer. It broke off. And I just replaced the fiber optic on it night before last. I looked around but couldn’t find the missing piece.
A replacement is $39.00 from Dawson Precision but I need to know the dimensions of the factory sight before I order a new one. I have a call into Dawson and I sent an email to STI so I’ll find out soon from someone. Until the new sight comes in I’ll be using a back up gun.
competition guns are usually pretty “breakable.” finicky, even. fine for competition, not so fine for carry. a good old run of the mill gun that has been slicked in by use is the most dependable, seems to me.
good luck w/ the substitute.
I think I might have hit it when I was installing it with a metal shim under it after it fell out a couple times. I probably weakened it and the recoil from several thousand rounds finally fatigued the metal enough that it fell off.
I had a similar instance with an R1 1911. I pulled from its case and was readying to fire… I looked at it for a minute and knew something was wrong, but didn’t quite see what it was.
Then it dawned on me… no rear sights. Empty dovetail. Peek in the case and there it was… still not sure of how it came out so easily. Need to get it back to Remington as it’s still pretty new.
Yes … Sights Happen.
Dawson is great on Technical, and remember that they were “Mister STI” for years. I’m pretty sure that if you had contacted them directly with the model STI, they would have had the correct replacement sight in the mail to you before the end of the business day.
As for Competition, I know a local semi-pro gunsmith who shot a USPSA (club) match with no sights at all … it was a new gun he was building, his order didn’t come in before the match, yadda yadda.
He didn’t do so well on the falling plate rack, but he kicked my ass.my ass on the match.
I called Dawson and got a recording saying they were either busy or it was after hours. I left a message but they didn’t call me back.
I hate when that happens.
Hmmmm……I’ll agree with John Jay RE: comp guns, but I think it’s time to review what spare parts I’m keeping on hand, and especially how I’m inventorying them. A new sooper-dooper sight (or other item) on the match blaster (or any other gerboomer, for that matter) is fine, but having the old one and tools (and/or gun configuration) to re-install makes sense when I’m driving X miles to use the gun.
E.g., “gunsmith in leisure, repair in haste.”
As for Dawson, they maybe closed for the holidays. My work is as well.
My M&P Pro shucked sights like most people shuck corn. I thought it was just me but at least two other shooters had the same issue with their pistols. Front sight leave and rear sights drift.
I have enough trouble without their help.
I suspected that of Dawson. My work gave us Monday off, but I worked Friday.
“I was practicing…tomorrow.”
I wouldn’t be so cavalier about using your time machine.
Maybe that’s part of the problem here. That, or the fact that a race gun gets fired somewhere between a hundred times more and fifty thousand times more than most people’s carry guns.
Anyway; how was the weather tomorrow? I’m thinking of going out for a long hike.
I had the rear sight on my Kimber come apart and the stupid front sight on a CZ remove its own damn self. The CZ front dovetail runs with the slide, not across, and is plastic.
Get what ya pay for…sigh.