Screw for Colt Ace 1911 22 conversion

The windage screw for my Colt Ace 22 cal. conversion rear sight is missing. The screw is approximately the same diameter as a No. 4 machine screw and has a fine thread. I need to make this screw and would like to know the thread size and pitch. The conversion is marked Colt Ace, service model, and has a dark matt finish. The screw head is relatively large. The screw is used to move the sight body in the sight dovetail.

Jim Williams

Take something like a clean toothpick,and thread it into the hole. With a magnifying glass,and some care,compare it to a thread gauge to find the thread. Helps if the hole has a little crud in it to cause the thread on the wood to be a black outline.

Thanks, good suggestion to add to my bag of tricks! Now where did I put the toothpicks?

Jim

Not a gunsmith, but my old Colt conversion has been missing the same screw for years... if you find a source, please let me know. Thanks.

Try brownells

That gun has a dovetailed rear sight? Or recessed? The techs at brownells are very knowledgeable about everything related to guns, even down to parts that will work on your particular pistol.

If other people are having the same problem with those setscrews, I'd say just replace the sight with something better.

This is what I got after a brief search:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/catsearch.aspx?c=2068&p=4815

Talk to a tech and he will be able to tell you exactly which one will fit on your model.

All dovetailed rear sights have a little extra materiel on the base of the dovetail, which can be removed by placing it on a super-flat surface, like glass, or a 4.00 granite tile from lowes and some sandpaper. When it just barely fits, you can press unevenly on one side of the sight as you're sanding it, to make one side higher than the other, then drive it home with a brass tipped punch.

Or you could just machine the correct screw, and keep it original....

Just wanted to give you some more options. They might even be able to get you a replacement screw out of their parts.

I've ordered a bunch of stuff from brownells, and talked to their guntechs a lot. (Because I still know almost nothing.) I've been happy with every experience I've had with them.

1-800-741-0015 and ask for a guntech.

This is a not a setscrew issue...

The screw on the Colt Ace .22 conversion is rather unique and is used for the windage. The rear sight is a solid dovetail that is bored to allow for the screw. It is a very small (perhaps 1/16 or smaller threaded shaft with a large and deep head that has a groove in it that is held captive on the slide by a specially ground in tab that holds the screw. The cylinder shaped space with a groove is half in the slide and half in the sight dovetail. The rear sight is fed in from the right side of the slide and as the screw is tightened, it pulls the sight left. If I were at home, I would find mine and take some photos of the sight assembly and the slide so you could imagine what the screw looks like.

None of the sights shown on the Brownell's page you provided the link for will work on the Ace slide. I guess I will have to try the toothpick idea and try to make one... but that sure is a small screw to make on a 12" swing lathe.

Were you able to talk to a guntech on the phone?

They should have been able to find something that would work.

Sorry, I used the term setscrew instead of windage screw. I'm sure you understood what I meant.

I guess If you can't find a replacement the next thing would be to machine one.

The toothpick idea sounds good. Just get a good magnifying glass and a bunch of thread gauges and compare until you come up with the correct TPI.

Use the tailstock and a die holder to thread the stock after you've turned it to the correct diameter. Just advance the belt by hand after engaging the back gears to slow it down and keep up with it by feeding the tailstock forward.

Good luck!

Andy.

There would not likely be a substitute for this screw. I have never seen another like it in over 50 years of working with guns. It is unique in my experience to the Colt Ace .22 conversion. Perhps this image will explain why it is so unique and why a substitute screw (even of the correct thread) will not work. The shape of the screw head makes it unique.

Maybe..... just maybe.....?

http://www.e-gunparts.com/product.asp?chrProductSKU=228650A

I think this screw mentioned in post #9 is for the later Accro type rear sight whose windage adjustment was in the rear sight blade rather than the rear sight assembly dovetail, but without photos or ordering one, there is no way to tell.

Well, for that price, I'd go ahead and get it, and return it if it doesn't work. Most companies have a pretty good return policy.

If you talk to someone on the phone, you could probably even save on shipping by asking them to put it in a padded envelope. I've been gouged by shipping before, you don't won't know unless you ask.

Good luck!

Andy.