Ruger SR1911 Front Sight issue

[Rabbitt]

First of all this is not a Ruger bashing thread.

Secondly, Ruger has already been called and have provided a prepaid shipping label for sending my pistol in for repair and return.

After a couple of years trying to find the SR1911 in stock anywhere here in Nebraska land I was finally in the right place and at the right time and bought mine.
Took it home, cleaned it, took it to the range and WOW it was fantastic. Shot great, no jams or any other problems. Probably put 50 or so rounds through it. I was happy.

Returned to the range this weekend and went thru 2 mags and 6 rounds.

I fired a shot and all was well until I went to line up the next shot. What the hey! Uh. Where is my front sight? As you can imagine I was a bit confused as there had been a front sight there on the previous shot. Examination reveled that the front sight had sheared off pretty much even with the top of the slide. The lower portion was still in the sight groove.



After returning home I did a brief search on the web and found that this is not as uncommon as I thought. At least one video and numerous threads on other forums. Perhaps I had missed a tread here on TFL but I have not found one.
I called Ruger this morning and as soon as I mentioned that the front sight sheared off I was told they would send me a prepaid label by email to ship it in for repair.
So, it does suck that I won’t have the gun for a bit and I have to send it in but I am pleased with Customer Service.
As near as I can gather Ruger must have received a batch of bad Novak Sights. I am not blaming anyone for the problem as problems do happen. I mainly just wanted to bring it up here as I have not seen anything from anyone else about it.
Yes I would and will buy more Ruger guns.

[Spats McGee]

Wow. That kinda stinks.

With that said, keep us apprised of how well (or poorly) Ruger handles the situation. I'm sure I'm not the only one around here who would like to know.

[Rupskin]

Darn, that's a shame! I have had my SR1911 for about 9 months or so and it has been flat out phenomenal...about 1500 rounds down range without any hiccups whatsoever. The only issue I have had with mine has been the grips loosening every 150-200 rounds. Apparently the loosening of the grips is another minor complaint that a handful of SR1911 owners have with this gun, but is easily remedied. Hopefully Ruger is quick with their turnaround of your gun, but even with these minor annoyances I don't think there is a better 1911 in terms of accuracy and trigger in the ~$700 price range IMHO.. Keep us posted!

[RodTheWrench]

Just bought my SR1911 last week, haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. Should I wait til the sight breaks and send the new night sights I also bought to Ruger with the gun to install them for me?

[g.willikers]

Any reason they couldn't just mail you a new sight?

[Rabbitt]

G. My guess is that they want to verify a broken front sight for getting the money back from Novak or for their own records. Then changing the sight out for free including shipping both ways means I don't have to try to do it or find somebody and pay them to do it.

Rod. Hard to tell from your ;-) if you are serious or not. I am thinking not because I am sure you know they would of course charge you for installing different sights on it.

Rupskin. Except for this little problem I love this pistol. My first 14 shots right out of the box were right on target for me. I didn't have to try to learn the sights to get it to work for me. I do have the grip screw loosening problem also. What did you do to fix it?

[Erikbal]

I would imagine a little bit of light strength loctite on the threads would keep the grip screws from coming out. I love the SR1911, I want one sooo bad!

[Kreyzhorse]

Wow. Surprising but Ruger will take care of the issue without fail.

Please post an updated when you get your gun back.

[Rupskin]

Rabbitt,
I used a very small amount of blue loctite on the grip screws, haven't had an issue with loosening of the grips since. Minor annoyance, but if that is the only problem I have with a "budget" 1911 I'm a happy camper

[JWT]

Have both a military and a commander size SR1911.. Hundreds of rounds through both and no problems with either one. I think they
're darn nice guns considering the modest price.

[Brian48]

I should be getting my gun back on Tue. I have the CMD version and the same thing happened to me two weeks ago. I was shooting through my 3rd box of ammo when the front sight sheared off.



What's alarming is that I did a Google search and found that this has been a chronic problem with Ruger For well over a year and they haven't found a permanant solution. I get the impression that they got stuck with a lot of substandard small parts and instead of trashing the bin, they're choosing to use it and just deal with the breakages when they occur.

[pete2]

Sights just slow you down, man up and shoot.

[Rabbitt]

Brian48. That is what I had found also. I found it odd that other than you and I there has been no mention of it out here. It has been one week shice I shipped the pistol and am hoping to get it back soon.

[laytonj1]

I found it odd that other than you and I there has been no mention of it out here

Both the Ruger and 1911 forums have threads discussing the front sight issue.
Appears to be a case of improperly manufactured MIM part.

Jim

[Rabbitt]

Thanks Jim. I had seen discussions elsewhere just not here on TFL.

I shipped to Ruger on June 11, they received it on Jun 12. I received email saying it has been shipped back by 2 day UPS and will be back in my hands tomorrow the 21st. Not too bad a turn around.

[Rabbitt]

For those who had asked.

The SR1911 was received back by me today. A little over a week turn around.

Paperwork states that the slide itself was replaced and pistol was tested with 30 rnds using the 2 mags I sent in with it.

[thedudeabides]

Ruger's CS has to be great, they keep shipping crap like this to dealers.

Why would you have to replace a SLIDE for a bad front sight?

[James K]

I suspect they replaced the slide because the way of installing the front sight was changed.

Jim

[thedudeabides]

That can't be cheap, if it's a front sight issue.

[Brian48]

I got my CMD back within a week. All they did was slap the same sight back onto it.

[Brian48]

Well, after only 120 or so rounds of Federal hardball since coming back with the new sight, the sight SHEARED OFF AGAIN. This is more than annoying now. I'm convinced Ruger knows they're using crap parts and just don't care. Will be giving them a call again on Monday.

[laytonj1]

the sight SHEARED OFF AGAIN

At this point I would be looking for a quality aftermarket front sight.

Jim

[Scorch]

Save yourself the hassle and headaches and just buy a Novak or Maryland Machine front sight. They are machined, not cast or MIM. Cheaper than the shipping back to Ruger.

[mikejonestkd]

Save yourself the hassle and headaches and just buy a Novak or Maryland Machine front sight.

Scorch, they have Novak sights on them from the factory. I hope they resolve this issue with them.

[WVsig]

Scorch, they have Novak sights on them from the factory. I hope they resolve this issue with them.

They were designed by Novak but a are low quality MIM part not as good as most Novak Sights... Clearly.

The other issue is that IIRC the sight cuts on the Ruger are not standard Novak cuts so if you go after market you will need to get the sights fitted. This would cost additional money and let Ruger off the hook.

Also Scorch Ruger has excellent customer service and I doubt that the OP paid the shipping to Ruger or back. Most of the time they send you a repaid label for shipping to them and then ship it back free.