Oh yeah. The veritable 1911 pistol. Designed by John Moses Browning, in active use by dozens of countries for over 100 years now, it represents (to me anyway) the perfect melding of form and function.

Now, if you own one, and it happens to be a “mil-spec” or “A1″ style 1911, chances are very good that it has a staked front sight. That means the front sight is secured by what is known as a mortise and tenon joint.

Here’s a picture of a basic mortise and tenon joint. Mortise on the left, tenon on the right.

In the most basic terms, a mortise and tenon joint is a square or rectangular peg (the tenon) being driven into a square or rectangular hole (the mortise) to join two pieces of material (wood, metal, stone) together at a 90 degree angle. It’s very basic, very strong, and has been in use since at least 2500 BC.

That’s a long time.

Now, in order to replace the staked in front sight, you don’t need anything super-fancy, but you do need a specialty tool. This tool is called a front sight staking tool, and you can buy one from Brownells for about 50 bucks. Not a whole lot of money, but if you only have one 1911 with a staked front sight, it’s probably not worth it to spend the money on a tool you’ll likely only once in your life.

Anyway, enjoy the video.

-Rich out.