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I have a Colt LW OACP base gun. I would like to have Heinie slant pros installed. I am considering two possibilities.
Option #1: slant pro with standard hienie rear sight cut and flat top & serrate the slide
Option #2: slant pro with novak rear sight cut and round top slide

Related questions:
1. what would be the differance in the front sight height of option #1 vs. option #2? I like the front sight as tall as I can get it.
2. I assume the enhanced slide's rib could be machind off and flat topped with out much of a problem but could it be round topped like a traditional slide (option #2) without breaking the proverbial bank?
3. Mr. Heinie, have you ever considered making your slant pro rear sight for the novak cut taller so that it could be used with a taller front sight? I have come to favor the slant pro in a novak rear cut as the most cosmetically appealing available.

thanks for your consideration and feedback.

I'll leave question 3 for Mr. Heinie, but feel I can give an adequate answer to 1 & 2. This is an important issue in short length guns as the front sight height needed can get too short because of the barrel angle in battery.
There would be very little difference if any between option 1 & option 2, provided the top center of the slide wasn't reduced in height when converting to round top. To make one a round top, you cut away the outermost surfaces for the most part. You see, the flat top enhanced slide is no taller at top center than a round top. It just looks that way. The best way to ensure the maximum height front sight would be to flat top the existing slide by .030" to .035" and then cut the dovetail for the front sight. That way your front sight would have to be .030-.035" taller to give the same point of aim.

Here's a pic of an Enhanced Commander slide that I just flat topped as described above.



This thread may also give more insight. http://www.louderthanwords.us/forum/vie ... php?t=1248

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John,

Can you please explain a bit more about the relationship between the barrel angle in battery and the height of the front sight?

I understand that the barrel axis is actually an acute angle relative to the ground; however, I am having an issue "seeing" in my mind how the shorter barrel makes a difference. Does the shorter barrel need more of angle to reach lock up? It seems that way to me. So I would expect the shorter barrel pistol to shoot higher and need a shorter front sight when compared to a five-inch slide. Is my understanding correct?

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Scott

Thanks, Mr. Harrison for the input and the photo. I studied hosier's previous thread before posting and was still unclear on some nagging questions:

If I'm understanding correctly, converting the enhanced slide to a round top WITHOUT a flat top followup is possible but will cost me 0.030 - 0.035 in front sight height (option #2). That is realy what I am getting at.
Q: Any idea of the actual height range the fs would be without the flat top, but with a heinie slant pro in a novak cut on the round topped OACP slide.
Q: Howabout with a commander length slide that is flat topped and has the traditional hienie cut. Sorry for all the questions but this gun will be fitted with both a commander slide (maybe using option #1) and the OEM officer slide (maybe option #2). Primary use is going to be the commander slide. Just trying to decide how to spec it out.

Once again- appreciating your patience with all the Q's. I promise to stop after this.

Farscott, the thing about OACP lockup angles is that, there is a certain, nominal amount of link-up that needs to occur at the back end of the barrel, be it a 5" gun, or 6" for that matter, or something super-short. So, given that the barrel's back end moves the same distance, a longer barrel has less down-angle when in battery simply because the front pivot point, the bushing, is further away from where the movement is ocurring. Like if, say, any car must be jacked up 8" to change a tire. Jack the front of your Mini-Cooper 8" and it looks like a lot. 8" on your stretch limo and the angle is hardly noticed.

In certain situations I've gone sofar as to bore the slide of a short-slided gun on a different location ("up") to compensate for this, but that is the way long way around. I agree with John's method of flatting the slide to let the front sight gain some height on the bottom side.

Last I knew Novak had an extra-high rear sight that was made especially for Officer's-length guns, too. That comes closer to a drop-in solution but I like keeping the sights as low as possible so I prefer the flatting method.

Mr. Christiansen,

Thanks for the explanation. It makes sense to me.

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Scott

Just to chime in here, the normal height of a factory OACP front sight is .150, copmpared to about .175 on the Commander and .185 on the 5" guns. Both brands of sight when installed per instructions, will approximate the height in the rear of the later Colt high profile sights as used for example on the 1991-A1 (and your OACP). That being the case, if you were to install either Novak or Heinie sights on your gun and have them shoot to POA your finished front sight height, would in most cases, be pretty close to what it is now. To get more front sight height, you'll either have to go to a taller rear sight, or remove some material from the top of your slide to compensate. Hope this helps,

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Don Williams
http://www.theactionworks.com
http://www.ltwguns.com

Yes, thanks Mr. Williams it does.

The next time we run a the Ultra Low mount we are going to be making a taller one for the short Springfield Pistols.

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Richard Heinie

Mr. Heinie, this being the case, I think I will go with the Novack cut and wait for your next run of rear sights to fill it.

There's nothing like being able to go strait to the source for information.

Thanks for entertaining the suggestion and taking time to post.