10-8 Performance U-shaped 1911 rear sight

10-8 Performance rear sight

After the initial test of the Sig 1911 Tac Ops, I realized fairly quickly that I wanted to replace the rear sight.  The factory Novak rear sight from Sig was too narrow for my taste and didn’t allow the amount of light around the front post that I prefer.  I like the idea of having some night aiming reference on the gun, so I wanted to leave the front sight with its tritium post.  I eventually settled on the 10-8 Performance U-Notch Rear sight for 1911 style pistols.  The 10-8 rear notch gives a much deeper and wider rear sight channel than the factory Novak, even with the very wide tritium front sight post on the Sig 1911 Tac Ops.  At 10 and 15 yards, the new sighting arrangement was much quicker than the factory sights on the Sig.  The front sight now stands out from the rear sight with plenty of light on either side of it.

I’ve recently gone away from fiber optic front sights on my competition guns in favor of simple blacked out front sights and blacked out rear sights.  The Sig 1911 Tac Ops is definitely a carry/duty type of pistol, and while the front sight retains its tritium insert, in daylight the sight image is closer to that of a blacked out front than a white dot.

Sig 1911 rear sight

The picture at right gives an iPhone camera’s view of the new sighting arrangement.  Obviously, your eyes would want to focus on the front sight, but that gives an idea of how deep and wide the rear sight notch is on the 10-8 Performance rear sight.  I ran the Sig 1911 Tac Ops with this sight system for the latter half of my Basic IDPA Class yesterday, and I was very pleased with the speed that I was able to acquire the sights for close range and distance shooting.  The U-shaped notch does a great job of allowing that all important light around the front sight, which in turn enables faster first shots and easier sight tracking.

Tomorrow, we’ll use the new sighting system in some low light drills, as well as testing the accuracy at 20 and 25 yards.  Additionally, I’ll be running the Sig 1911 Tac Ops in a Pistol-Training.Com class this weekend, which you’ll see in an upcoming issue of Combat Handguns.  And of course, the Sig 1911 Tac Ops will feature prominently into Down Zero TV as well!

8 Comments

  1. Which rear opening width did you install? I prefer the .140″ notch. It’s plenty big for fast target acquisition and not too big to hurt accuracy out to 35 yards.

    1. I used the 0.156 notch, actually. The widest I could get, because the front sight on the Sig is very wide.

  2. I find it interesting that you have gone to a black front sight rather than the fiber optic. Last year I shot a K38 in USPSA revolver with stock sights. Over the winter I switched to a 586 and put on a Hi VIZ front sight that I really like. Perhaps the 57 year old eyes have something to do with it.

    1. A lot of the competition guys I talk to went through a phase with fiber optics, and eventually went back to black on black. I’m still liking fiber, but I may try black on black at some point. It’s easy to do with a sharpie marker.

      1. The first gun I had with fiber optic (a Ruger Mk III) had a V shaped rear blade. I did not like that combination. I do like the Hi Viz with a square notch rear because if you want to get precise you can yet it is easy to pick up quickly for quicker shots. I did not feel I had a definite enough sight picture with the V for long shots.

  3. Caleb – You said above the Sig front sight is “very wide;” do you have a width dimension on the sight?

    1. Yes, we REALLY need the width of the front sight in that picture. I’m actually thinking of a set of the 10-8’s, but am still undecided on the dimensions. I like .140 rear when paired w/ .115 front, but if yours is the .156 rear, then it gives the same ‘gap’ appearance as I was thinking about, but with a little bigger front sight. I should just buy all of the sizes and play around until I like what I see.

      1. Lacking a caliper, I don’t know if I’d be able to get that measurement. I’d say that if your gun has factory novak night sights that you’d be better suited with the .156 notch.

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