Pistol Iron Sights Loose

[Elk botherer]

The rear iron sight on my gen 1 9mm baby desert eagle came loose and almost fell off when I was shooting it the other day. I’m not much of a handgun guy, I’ve had it for about 16 years and I’ve put maybe 500 rounds through it. My question for you hand gun aficionados is if the sights came loose once, will they come loose again if I have them reinstalled? Or maybe they came loose because they never were properly installed from the factory? Should I get new aftermarket irons installed or will the same issue occur again in the future? I haven’t had this issue from my other sidearms. Should I just use this as an excuse and buy another pistol?Thanks.

 

[RockAndSage]

Hard to really say without seeing the gun. Is it a dovetail setup?

 

[Elk botherer]

Hard to really say without seeing the gun. Is it a dovetail setup?

The sight does have a dovetail base. My bad for not including that earlier.

 

[JF_Idaho]

You can probably stake the dovetail of the sight with a punch to re-fit it tight. Usually aftermarket sights have to be "fitted" a little bit by filing some of the dovetail down, so new sights would probably fit tight. Staking the current sight and adding a drop of red loctite or two should be good.

 

[JF_Idaho]

In the picture of your slide, is part of the dovetail on the slide (right side, front) chipped away?

 

[RockAndSage]

You can probably stake the dovetail of the sight with a punch to re-fit it tight. Usually aftermarket sights have to be "fitted" a little bit by filing some of the dovetail down, so new sights would probably fit tight. Staking the current sight and adding a drop of red loctite or two should be good.

Yeah, I'll second that, with or without loctite. I'd suggest getting it generally centered and lightly hit it with a punch on one wing of the dovetail, just to get it a little more firm so that you can still sight it in and be able to move it a bit. Use a wider punch for left-right windage at the range, and once it's zeroed, do a couple of staking punches to keep it firmly seated. Should be good after that.

 

[Nine Banger]

In the picture of your slide, is part of the dovetail on the slide (right side, front) chipped away?

I see that too, maybe someone already staked it and hit the slide?

If it was purchased used, maybe the installer filed too much material, realized it, staked it and now the staked material is gone. If that's the case, order a new site and it will be too big and you can file it yourself.

You may need PermaBlue to hide your tracks.

 

[Elk botherer]

I see that too, maybe someone already staked it and hit the slide?

If it was purchased used, maybe the installer filed too much material, realized it, staked it and now the staked material is gone. If that's the case, order a new site and it will be too big and you can file it yourself.

You may need PermaBlue to hide your tracks.

It was bought new so the slide hasn’t been messed with. By the way, the rear sight slid out on the left side of the groove. Thanks everyone who has contributed so far. I’ll try to reinstall it and see what happens. Just makes me have future trust issues if it will repeat…

 

[Nine Banger]

The dovetail should be tight enough that you need grease and a brass punch to get it in so if it just slides in the advice above is good for Loctite or staking.

 

[Remington92]

Go to somewhere like Brownells and order a pack of assorted shim stock. Cut a piece a little smaller than the base of the dovetail and put under sight as you tap it back in. Will help snug things up

 

[JF_Idaho]

Ok, now I see with the better angle. What looked like a chip is just a small rounded bevel in the frame for the plunger to go down through that hole.

 

[Elk botherer]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I’m stuck working long hours for the next few days but when this job is done, I’ll tackle the sights and report the results. Thanks again, the help and education is much appreciated.