NOVAK - Stainless Steel Tactical Light Rail

Handy way to add a light rail to a 1911 fit and finish is good if installed correctly works well

Picked it up because I had a 1911 with no rail, and that just doesn't work for me. About a 20-30 min job to mark it up on the drill press, drill and tap 3 screws. Then some quality time dressing the screws. Holds the lights I've tried very well. Surefire X200 and X300 as well as a TLR-1HL that lives on it. Holds the 1913 spec stuff nice and tight with no wobble. I saw a bunch of people ahead of time saying to make sure you soldered it on, but after talking to the nice folks at Novak who told me it wasn't necessary I figured I'd give it a run without. After about 3000 rounds now, including running a couple classes and using it as a demo gun it's still perfect. I'd guess the people who think you need to solder never tried it without, just looked at the same info I did. Overall great product, looks perfect and works perfect. When it comes to holsters though you'll need somebody who does custom kydex. It lives on my house gun and has no problems at all, by far he best permanent option for adding a rail, especially now that the Dawson's not available anymore

If the instructions from Novak and ample patience are applied, this product mounts fairly easily and looks great. As the instructions state, you will need a substantial drill press and drill press vise. I made wooden jigs to hold the frame solid while drilling. The screws supplied are quite long and will take time to file flush with the dust cover; if a mill is available, that may work a bit better. As far as finding a holster, that may take a bit of searching as the Novak rail is higher than an intergal Picatinny. An Uncle Mike's nylon generic works great!

I bought the SS version for my Colt Delta Elite and I'm quite happy with it. A reviewer of the blued version gave it only four stars because it didn't fit in his old holster. What did he think??? He could add something onto his gun without due consideration AHEAD OF TIME whether or not his current holster would work? I don't understand some people's purchasing decisions/expectations. Anyway, if you're looking for a well-made accessory rail to add onto the dustcover of your pistol, you could certainly do a lot worse than purchasing one of these Novak rails.

i really like this rail for my springfield 1911 its very sturdy and it does what it says my only con about this is finding a good holster for my gun now as it wont fit in my old one make sure you get it silver soldered to your gun