Delta Elite Loose Front Sight

[grendelbane]

The good news is I shot a whole box of warm 10mm through my Delta Elite over the weekend. No failures of any kind whatsoever! 100% reliable, (for a very short period, anyway).

The bad news is the front sight is now loose.

Any suggestions besides silver solder? Any tips if I do decide to silver solder it.

This pistol has been an incredible learning journey, but I would like a vacation for a while.

 

[Bill Z]

If it's staked on, have it restaked correctly or a new one staked in if there's not enough of the tenon left. If it's dovetailed, have it pinned.

 

[dfariswheel]

Silver soldering front sights is ordinarily no longer a valid "fix" for front sights.

While the heat may not HARM the slide, it certainly doesn't do it any good.
In addition, you have to have the slide re-finished.

A good pistolsmith can install a new replacement that will never come loose, if properly staked.

 

[bosshoff]

Just my $0.02

Why not send it back to Colt?

 

[grendelbane]

It seems such a minor thing to fix that it never entered my mind to send it back to the manufacturer.

Besides, they would not recognize it now. I would not want to hurt their feelings by letting them see a 10mm Gov't model the way it should have been made in the first place.

All of my modifications are quite simple, and I believe they are a big improvement on the original. (The original Delta Elite, not the original Gov't model!).

I may buy a staking tool, everyone should own a large collection of little used specialty tools to confuse the people at their estate sale.

 

[stans]

Restaking a loose sight is usually a short term fix to a permanent problem. When the sight gets loose it is actually the stem stretching. Restaking futher distorts and work hardens the stem. It is now somewhat brittle and the sight will fail. Your best bet is to either stake on a new sight, have a gunsmith stake on a new sight or have a gunsmith cut a dovetail into the slide and install a dovetailed sight. The dovetailed sight is likely the strongest arrangement.

If you choose to stake one on yourself, get a new sight and a staking tool. Use a dremel and a bur to cut away some of the stem from inside the slide, then remove the old sight. Now use a round bur to widen the area inside the slide so that when you stake the new one the tennon has a larger area to fill. I usually fully degrease the inside and outside of the slide around the sight and use a thin coat of red Locktite under the new sight, then stake firmly in place. Once again use your Dremel to trim away the excess tenon material. Go slowly with the Dremel, one slip and you could have a major oops.

 

[Bill Z]

99% ditto on what Stans said with the exception of the lock-tite. I would reccomend Lock-tite 290 (green) or better yet Devcon 2290 (green) as they are sleeve retaining compounds better suited for the tenon/slot joint. I prefer Devcon as there is no primer needed/reccomended as there is for loc-tite. Anytime two types of metal are used, Loc-tite really needs a primer to be most effective.

Now, for staking tools. Kings makes an arsenal staking tool that's about as good as potluck at a Church social. Some fellows have good luck with it sometimes, but sometimes not. A good staking tool can run a couple of hundred dollars and isn't worth it to most people. Before you spend that kind of money, I would have to reccomend having someone dovetail and pin a new sight in.