Parkerizing and night sights

[rob1]

I have a buddy who wants me to park his 1911. No problem there, other than the fact that it has night sights. I'm assuming that they will have to come off, so then the slide will have a nice fresh finish and the sights will be very well worn. Will it screw up the tritium vials to be in the solution? Even if that wont hurt them blasting around them would be fun...:confused: Any tips or just take them off?

[whirlibird]

The tubes shouldn't be as effected as one might think but the glue used to keep the tubes and "lenses" in the sight bodies will degrade.

Depending on the age of the original sights you may be ahead to contact ITI and arrange to have the original sights re-loaded with new tubes after you re-park them. Last I knew they charged something like $60 to recharge sights. Plus you can pick different colored rear sights. Me I like the red or orange rear sights with the original green fronts. The difference of color keeps mistakes from being made in side to side allignment and focusses the eye into the front sight.

Depending on what you can get a new set of sights for it may be more cost effective to just replace the sights.

Good luck.

As an after-thought there is only one basic manufacturer of tritium for night sights, the companies all use the same chemical. It's their lenses/tubes that make them different or easier to see. That's why I mentioned ITI to replace the tubes.