Sight install gone horribly wrong - Don't let this be you

[BMCM]

Ahoy there Gents,

Think of this as a cautionary tale for those who may be new to these guns and/or contemplating some home gunsmithing.

So I got this gem in the mail today... The owner tried to install an XS big dot and well...

Brace yourselves, it aint pretty!

It appears we were attempting to drive the sight on from left to right 'till it bound up and the blade snapped clean off.


Not level with the bottom of the dovetail cut either, looks like about 5° or 6° of up bubble on the far left here. Definitely no good.


I see a chunk of displaced metal here too. I'm not sure if this is from the slide or was peeled off the sight base by the slide due to the "up bubble" issue in the previous pic. We'll see when I get that broken base out.


So, what next? Well I got the thing soaking in Kroil right now. Actually that's the first thing I did upon unpacking the thing...slather it with Kroil I was going the try bangin' on it myself but upon closer examination thought.. Uhh Nope!

Since I have to re-mount & tram in the vise on the mill for some other work, I decided I'll just clamp this in the vise and use a small carbide end mill to cut the base out of there. I could simply split it with a hack saw but I feel there less risk of further damage to the slide using the mill instead. I can lower the cutter to just 0.001 off the bottom of the dovetail cut then traverse the "X" right through the base with no risk of ever touching the slide with the cutter.

So, few pertinent notes....

Aftermarket sight dovetails are always oversized and sights will always require some degree of hand fitting to install.

Hand fitting involves filing the flat bottom of the sight base only. File a little then test fit. Repeat this until the sight will enter the cut 1/3 to 1/2 the way in with hand pressure only. Once you get to this point you can drive it home. Be patient, it may take a couple hours to get it right. What you don't want is to file too much off the base and wind up with a loose fit. And of course you don't want and overly tight fit either winding up with damage like we see above or worse yet break the front of the slide's dovetail off.

Factory sight can often be brute forced in. Even so I still prefer to hand fit.

As a rule you don't file on the slide dovetail cuts to fit sights. All hand fitting is done by filing on the sight base only. And then only on the flat bottom and never on the angled sides.

Specific to 3rd gens... sights always go on from the right and come off from the right.

Other guns with dovetail sights... Sight should be driven off from the same side they were installed. ie sight was driven on from right to left it must be driven off from left to right removing it from the same side it was installed from.

I'll update this sometime tomorrow. After I get the mill set up and this broken base cut out we'll see what kind of damage (if any) we have to deal with before installing the new front.

Cheers
Bill

[bigchuck83]

That right there is why i have never attempted a sight installation myself. I know i would screw it up so i would rather pay a gunsmith to do the job. Hopefully you don't have too much trouble replacing that front sight.

[epj]

Originally Posted by BMCM

Ahoy there Gents,

Think of this as a cautionary tale for those who may be new to these guns and/or contemplating some home gunsmithing.

So I got this gem in the mail today... The owner tried to install an XS big dot and well...

Brace yourselves, it aint pretty!

It appears we were attempting to drive the sight on from left to right 'till it bound up and the blade snapped clean off.


Not level with the bottom of the dovetail cut either, looks like about 5° or 6° of up bubble on the far left here. Definitely no good.


I see a chunk of displaced metal here too. I'm not sure if this is from the slide or was peeled off the sight base by the slide due to the "up bubble" issue in the previous pic. We'll see when I get that broken base out.


So, what next? Well I got the thing soaking in Kroil right now. Actually that's the first thing I did upon unpacking the thing...slather it with Kroil I was going the try bangin' on it myself but upon closer examination thought.. Uhh Nope!

Since I have to re-mount & tram in the vise on the mill for some other work, I decided I'll just clamp this in the vise and use a small carbide end mill to cut the base out of there. I could simply split it with a hack saw but I feel there less risk of further damage to the slide using the mill instead. I can lower the cutter to just 0.001 off the bottom of the dovetail cut then traverse the "X" right through the base with no risk of ever touching the slide with the cutter.

So, few pertinent notes....

Aftermarket sight dovetails are always oversized and sights will always require some degree of hand fitting to install.

Hand fitting involves filing the flat bottom of the sight base only. File a little then test fit. Repeat this until the sight will enter the cut 1/3 to 1/2 the way in with hand pressure only. Once you get to this point you can drive it home. Be patient, it may take a couple hours to get it right. What you don't want is to file too much off the base and wind up with a loose fit. And of course you don't want and overly tight fit either winding up with damage like we see above or worse yet break the front of the slide's dovetail off.

Factory sight can often be brute forced in. Even so I still prefer to hand fit.

As a rule you don't file on the slide dovetail cuts to fit sights. All hand fitting is done by filing on the sight base only. And then only on the flat bottom and never on the angled sides.

Specific to 3rd gens... sights always go on from the right and come off from the right.

Other guns with dovetail sights... Sight should be driven off from the same side they were installed. ie sight was driven on from right to left it must be driven off from left to right removing it from the same side it was installed from.

I'll update this sometime tomorrow. After I get the mill set up and this broken base cut out we'll see what kind of damage (if any) we have to deal with before installing the new front.

Cheers
Bill

A huge +1 on properly fitting sights prior to installation. They need to be tight enough to stay put, but don't need to be a crush fit. After all, you may want to replace or move the sight some day.

[Whitwabit]

That's the worst one I have seen in over 45 years of shooting .. the person should have quit long before it was looking like that .. very evident he didn't have the right tools or the even the knowledge to accomplish the feat of changing sights ..

I take mine to the gun smith who has the right tools to do the proper job ..

hope you'll show pictures of what you will have to do to put sights on this .. and then the finished job .. hope they are paying you well !!

[BMCM]

Please, lets be civil here Gents.

I assure you the kindly gentleman who owns this piece is sufficiently contrite over this mishap and doesn't need any further beatdown. I'm told he did have a sight pusher and has experience installing sight on his other guns. The main error here is failure to perform the hand fitting step which was compounded by trying to force the oversize base in. Once it broke, failed attempts to knock the thing out only made it worse.

The owner is also a member here. I asked for and received his permission to post this thread. The goal here is not the beat the guy up any further but to share some gunfu wisdom and hopefully help others to avoid a similar mishap.

Cheers
Bill

[0849]

Originally Posted by BMCM

Please, lets be civil here Gents.

I assure you the kindly gentleman who own this piece is sufficiently contrite over this mishap and doesn't need any further beatdown. I'm told he did have a sight pusher and has experience installing sight on his other guns. The main error here is failure to perform the hand fitting step which was compounded by trying to force the oversize base in. Once it broke, failed attempts to knock the thing out only made it worse.

The owner is also a member here. I asked for and received his permission to post this thread. The goal here is not the beat the guy up any further but to share some gunfu wisdom and hopefully help others to avoid a similar mishap.

Cheers
Bill

What BMCM stated is worth repeating.

We all make mistakes, not too many of us are perfect human beings that do everything correctly all the time. I would like to thank whoever - whomever? let the grammar beatings commence gave permission to BMCM to post the mishap. I thought this was one of the good things about the forum was being able to share information without fear of a beat down, as that is just uncalled for, unproductive, and just not needed, as when one of us makes a mistake, we typically know we made a mistake and do not need further criticism. What IS needed is helpful advice, and to extend thanks to the original person that had the problem for sharing the info in the interest of perhaps keeping another forum member from traversing into a similar minefield.

[Whitwabit]

My comment in no way was way meant to beat down the owner .. But I do stand by it .. Just because you have a sight pusher doesn't mean its the proper one for the sight your doing and you yourself inferred lack of proper knowledge by not first hand fitting the sights ..

[OKFC05]

All sights MUST be fit to the sight slot before installation.
Installing Dovetail Front Sights with Dave Dawson - Bing video

[shawn mccarver]

I have noted before that S&W installs its dovetail front and rear sights with a hydraulic press. I have seen video of it.

What most owners do not understand is that removal and replacing of an S&W sight is NOT at all like using a sight adjustment tool to install or replace the Glock polymer rear sight, which can be installed even with a tight fit due to the polymer construction.

Given the life of the pistol, i.e. the same length as my life, I long ago decided that the best way to install different sights on an S&W is to overnight the pistol to S&W and let them do it. Expensive by the time you pay for the sight and shipping? Yes. But the satisfaction that it is done right and will be a reliable installation is worth it to me.

Just my two cents worth.

PS - Lest anyone accuse me of bashing the unlucky guy to whom this happened, that is not at all the case. I am merely suggesting that the factory is a perfectly acceptable option to have sights installed. To be honest, I do not trust most "gunsmiths" out there these days. No offense to the OP, who obviously knows what he is doing, but these days it seems that everyone with an "armorer's certificate" and a few tools from Brownells or Harbor Freight claims to be a "gunsmith," and it is hard to know who is reliable, and even when you find one on here, you may still have to ship your pistol, and if you have to do that, why not ship to the factory?

[JohnHL]

That little tidbit about aftermarket sights being oversized cannot be repeated enough.
I recently replaced the plastic rear sights on a pair on Chiefs Special slides.
The plastic sights drove out like butter, but the Meprolights would barely insert into the dovetail.
About 20 minutes each of sliding the sight bottoms across the file before they would go in.
I had a pretty fair little pile of metal shavings when I got through, so the manufacturer was compensating for some loose (or bubba-ed) dovetails.

Of course I always save the filings in case I change my mind or the sights loosen up.

John

[vigil617]

Master Chief, you had me going there when I read the title of the thread. I feared you were fixin' to relate a tale of something that had happened to you, so I was relieved to see that this is what it is. Frankly, with everything that's going on in the world these days, I don't think I could have taken another "feet of clay" moment this morning!

Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, and all that....

[Arik]

Originally Posted by bigchuck83

That right there is why i have never attempted a sight installation myself. I know i would screw it up so i would rather pay a gunsmith to do the job. Hopefully you don't have too much trouble replacing that front sight.

Same here. Why I don't do my own gunsmith work

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[TTSH]

Originally Posted by BMCM

The owner is also a member here. I asked for and received his permission to post this thread. The goal here is not the beat the guy up any further but to share some gunfu wisdom and hopefully help others to avoid a similar mishap.

Okay, I confess. The owner is me. Well, maybe not, but it very easily could have been me. So I am here to learn, never to bash or criticize. And I have total faith that Brother BMCM will have that gun back to better than new condition in very short order.

Stay tuned folks.

[dben002]

[rwt1405]

Originally Posted by TTSH

Okay, I confess. The owner is me. Well, maybe not, but it very easily could have been me. So I am here to learn, never to bash or criticize. And I have total faith that Brother BMCM will have that gun back to better than new condition in very short order.

Stay tuned folks.

I agree TTSH, and thank you to the owner for allowing this to be posted and allowing us (or at least me) to learn from it.

As a good friend (and partner) of mine likes to say, "We learn so much more from what we do wrong, then we will ever learn from what we do right", truer words have NEVER been spoken!

[MWater]

Well, as long as we're posting embarrassing sight installation photos:



I didn't have to force it or anything. Just tapped it on, looked at it, and immediately said, "son of a..". This was a new OEM sight and went on (and off and on) fairly smoothly.

[Inusuit]

Originally Posted by MWater

Well, as long as we're posting embarrassing sight installation photos:



I didn't have to force it or anything. Just tapped it on, looked at it, and immediately said, "son of a..". This was a new OEM sight and went on (and off and on) fairly smoothly.

Interesting! I haven't made that exact mistake, but many similar ones over 50 years of tinkering with firearms. Fortunately, there are no pictures of my blunders.

[petepeterson]

Originally Posted by Arik

Same here. Why I don't do my own gunsmith work

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Someone with an identical screen name as mine may have attempted to (only) move, not even install, a front sight on my 3914. Fortunately, the cosmetic damage can be masked with a Sharpie! That girl is definitely "shooter-grade", so I wasn't too upset, but it did reinforce my belief that the heavy-lifting should be done by people smarter than me. I would've been more upset if that was my pristine 3913.

[824tsv]

BMCM,
What is the pistol you are repairing?

[apollo99]

"He who is without sin cast the first stone", I have so many mess ups under my belt, I don't even go near the rock pile, I had a pond next to my barn/workshop, the bottom of that said pond was littered with my boo boos thrown in in a moment of frustration. Not so much gun related articles, but I'm just saying my delicate mechanical skill could use some fine tuning.I'm sure if I attempted a sight switchout on a slide, it would probably be worst than the one in question, and probably be sitting on the bottom of a pond out here in Arizona.

[Krogen]

This thread exemplifies one of the best aspects of this forum. Most of us can laugh at ourselves and share the experience. Others can learn from these experiences and have a laugh at themselves too. Can't take life to seriously.

This forum is great! Y'all are great! It's a great day!

/gush mode off

[R*E]

I dropped some money on a slide pusher and it made the task so easy, esp after watching a lot of YouTube videos to learn from the mistakes of others. Hope to see the finished job after this is done.

[Gregbenner]

Good information, thanks! I have, in the past, only installed the dovetails that Burris sells as a means of replacing the rear iron sight with a small rail. I now realize they are undersized since they are held in with a screw thru the base. I didn't realize other dovetails were oversized. I could been "that guy" (lol).

[Qball]

Kudos to the owner who wanted to share this mistake

[gwpercle]

Bubba Gunsmithing at it's finest .
I wonder if he does his own brake jobs on his car ?
There is a lot you need to know when replacing or installing sights, thanks for posting the correct way ....those of us who read directions and follow instructions appreciate it. Bubba , however , may not get it !

Ordering parts over the internet may seem to be money saving, but there are local shops around here that will install sights and trigger kits for free when you buy the sight or kit from them, in the long run , that's a heck of a deal !
Gary

[BMCM]

Ok Gents, let get this show on the road... But first...

Originally Posted by 824tsv

BMCM,
What is the pistol you are repairing?

It's a 457

Originally Posted by gwpercle

I wonder if he does his own brake jobs on his car ?

Funny you mention that, I recognize that comment wasn't directed at me, but...
I just did that on my 19 year old Dodge diesel. Renewed everything outboard of the hubs/spindles and upgraded the rear using 1995 Chevy 1 ton wheel cylinders. Larger cylinder bore = more braking POWAH

Anyway I digress, back to our scheduled program...

Got the vise all trammed in on the mill and set the slide in there resting on a couple of parallels. The cutter I'm using is a 3/16" four flute M42 cobalt high speed steel stub mill. I could have use something skinnier but i like the stub mill for this as it's very stiff.


Position things to center the tool in the dovetail cut then lower the "Z" such that the tool is 0.005" above the slide.


Spin'er up to about 640 rip'ems and make some chips traversing the "Y".


About halfway there now. That base is pretty soft, cutting through it like butter.


At this point you can see the tool has started dragging the remnants of the base out of the dovetail cut. Phase one of the operation complete.


So as far as the damage assessment....

All considered the slide fared pretty well. I don't see any significant damage. Looking forward a tiny burr upper right.


And looking aft a bit of a raised burr over on the right. I note the bottom of the dovetail cut looks very scratchy though, almost if one was sanding or filing in there That's a NO! NO!

Master Chief says... If one must modify something to make it work always modify the part cheapest to replace. Thus never whittle on the gun to make it fit the sight... Whittle on the sight to make it fit the gun.


A good deal of displaced steel on the old sight base.


As I suspected earlier, that chunk of metal I saw sticking up was indeed peeled of the side of the sight base. Significant galling here too.


That's all for now... I'll be back later with an update on fitting the replacement sights.

Cheers
Bill

[0849]

Thank You Very Much, Master Chief, for sharing this info. I am not a machinist but have done things like maintenance on my vehicles, replaced rings and bearings, changed motors and trannies a few times in my younger days, but things like you described that a skilled machinist such as yourself can do with metal has always fascinated me.

I like to do stuff on my firearms to the extent I can, sometimes perhaps a little beyond my skills and have on occasion reached out to a skilled machinist to save the day for me, so I very much appreciate what you are doing.

The way I look at it, a few of the critical comments from our perfect members that apparently never make mistakes notwithstanding, if I want to do what I feel like on my firearms, and even push the envelop knowing I can reach out to a skilled machinist/gunsmith, that is my decision, no risk, no glory, as the saying goes.

Anyway, Thanks for sharing. Just curious, do you have any idea what type or grade of steel the sight is made of, as you point out something softer, just curious what it might be.

[67tempest]

As the saying goes, S**T happens. At least he stopped and sought professional help before fubarring the slide. Nothing wrong with making a mistake. I don't trust anyone who won't admit it when they do. Learn from it and move on.

[SAFireman]

Originally Posted by BMCM

Ok Gents, let get this show on the road... But first...



It's a 457



Funny you mention that, I recognize that comment wasn't directed at me, but...
I just did that on my 19 year old Dodge diesel. Renewed everything outboard of the hubs/spindles and upgraded the rear using 1995 Chevy 1 ton wheel cylinders. Larger cylinder bore = more braking POWAH

Anyway I digress, back to our scheduled program...

Got the vise all trammed in on the mill and set the slide in there resting on a couple of parallels. The cutter I'm using is a 3/16" four flute M42 cobalt high speed steel stub mill. I could have use something skinnier but i like the stub mill for this as it's very stiff.


Position things to center the tool in the dovetail cut then lower the "Z" such that the tool is 0.005" above the slide.


Spin'er up to about 640 rip'ems and make some chips traversing the "Y".


About halfway there now. That base is pretty soft, cutting through it like butter.


At this point you can see the tool has started dragging the remnants of the base out of the dovetail cut. Phase one of the operation complete.


So as far as the damage assessment....

All considered the slide fared pretty well. I don't see any significant damage. Looking forward a tiny burr upper right.


And looking aft a bit of a raised burr over on the right. I note the bottom of the dovetail cut looks very scratchy though, almost if one was sanding or filing in there That's a NO! NO!

Master Chief says... If one must modify something to make it work always modify the part cheapest to replace. Thus never whittle on the gun to make it fit the sight... Whittle on the sight to make it fit the gun.


A good deal of displaced steel on the old sight base.


As I suspected earlier, that chunk of metal I saw sticking up was indeed peeled of the side of the sight base. Significant galling here too.


That's all for now... I'll be back later with an update on fitting the replacement sights.

Cheers
Bill

Bill,

Seeing your posts makes me want to go out and wire up that Bridgeport that I have waiting for me

[GaryS]

I seem to remember that some of the "Value Line" guns use different sights than the regular 3rd Gens. Different as in the dovetails are not the same. Is that part of the issue with the damage to this 457?

[jessebogan]

Funny thing, I was having a conversation with someone just yesterday regarding "failure". If you never try anything, you will never fail, but you also will not succeed at anything either. The key is to learn why you failed, and not do it that way the next time. Thanks to this thread, I have learned some things, and I didn't even personally have to live through the failure. It is one of the many reasons I check back on this forum a couple times a day...

[Comrad]

Redneck engineering, measure with a yard stick, mark with a crayon and cut with a torch.

[BMCM]

If at first you don't succeed...Get a BIGGER Hammer!

[GaryS]

"I don't know what's wrong. I cut it twice and it's still too short."

Originally Posted by Comrad

Redneck engineering, measure with a yard stick, mark with a crayon and cut with a torch.

[okiegtrider]

Great post and a cautionary tale for a lot of us.

[HCH]

Sad sight to see (no pun intended). I guess the previous owner should have come to the Smith & Wesson Forum before he tried to replace them.

[epj]

Originally Posted by Comrad

Redneck engineering, measure with a yard stick, mark with a crayon and cut with a torch.

I don't do no such thing! I measure with a tape measure, Mark with a Sharpie and cut with a dull hacksaw. However, I consider myself a full fledged redneck engineer.

[okiegtrider]

Originally Posted by OKFC05

All sights MUST be fit to the sight slot before installation.
Installing Dovetail Front Sights with Dave Dawson - Bing video

Excellent video! Glad you posted that one.

[03Fatboy]

Right after high school I worked construction. The old timers told me to go the tool shed and get the board stretcher to fix a mistake on some 2x4's I was cutting. After about 10 minutes I turned to them ask what it looked like and they were all laughing. Jokes on me. I worked with these guys for years and through school. They taught me a bunch because I was willing to learn. I made mistakes!

Many years later and I'm still willing to learn and still make mistakes. Kudos to the owner of the front and center 457, and having Bill here to help us out when we goof!

[BMCM]

Originally Posted by 0849

Just curious, do you have any idea what type or grade of steel the sight is made of, as you point out something softer, just curious what it might be.

Got me curious too so I made a call... The fine folks at XS tell me it's 1144 Stress Proof.

Originally Posted by SAFireman

Seeing your posts makes me want to go out and wire up that Bridgeport that I have waiting for me

You've got a Bridgeport and it's not even plugged in??? No Fair, I want one

Originally Posted by GaryS

I seem to remember that some of the "Value Line" guns use different sights than the regular 3rd Gens. Different as in the dovetails are not the same. Is that part of the issue with the damage to this 457?

You're memory checksum passes. The 457 has that horrendously huge plastic front. Here's the broken base next to the replacement sight and a 4566 take off factory sight to illustrate the difference.

However, I don't see that being the issue. It's simply put failure to properly hand fit the sight to the gun.

As for hand fitting the replacement front...

What we have is is a Nicholson 0cut swiss pillar file and under my paw a Grobet 2cut pillar.

I'll start filing the bottom of the base on the coarser 0cut first. 10 strokes then flip the part 180° another 10 strokes then test for fit. The reason you flip the part 180° is to prevent cutting the base into a bevel from uneven hand pressure.

Files only cut in one direction, do NOT scrub a part back 'n' forth on the file, doing so will dull the file right quick.

You need to lift the part off the file and move back to the top for each stroke.

After about 30 minutes of that file, test, file, test, and so forth we get to the point where the base will just barely start in the cut.


Now we throttle back on the filing a bunch. I cut the file strokes in half to 5x5 for a bit then down to 3x3 until we got to this point where the sight will go in about 1/3rd the way.


I noted here the sight blade has a very slight overhang which was impinging on the slide top so I had to do a little bit of fitting under the over hang with a 2cut dovetail file here.

And here.


Test fit looks good.


There's the pile of filings taken off the front sight base. .45 round in frame for scale.


Now we clean up and degrease the slide & sight with some acetone in preparation for final install with some Loctite 290 wicking threadlocker.


I apply the Loctite 290 to on side of the sight basae at the bottom and allow the fluid to wick through the entire dovetail cut.


Gonna leave that alone for a while and permit the threadlocker to cure. I'll probably get after fitting the backsight later tonight or tomorrow.

That's all for now

Cheers
Bill

[okiegtrider]

Looks like a happy ending and an all around useful thread.

Thanks BMCM

[digiroc]

With confession being good for the soul... I am that guy.

It was a senior moment, a lefty-loosey thing run amok. Convinced that I knew my port from my starboard I plunged ahead at ramming speed.

I mean what could possibly go wrong? I have a sight pusher and I've pushed sights! It was only after the damage was done that I knew it was time to bail.

Lucky me that I've been exposed through this forum to the Master Chief and I new who could bring the bilge pumps to my bailing effort. Once I got on my meds I knew who to contact.

BMCM had done some work for me in refinishing a firearm I bought from a member here. The 3913NL had an action job by "T" and I sent the slide assembly to the Master Chief for him to work his magic on the slide and barrel assembly:


Turned out pretty well I'd say!

But seriously folks, I've done worse.

BEFORE:


But lucky one again, I knew a good bodyman.

AFTER:


Actually I quite amazed at how quickly the Master has jumped on this "project gun" and I am thrilled to watch the near real-time progress on my 457.

I had considered having BMCM do a full "melt" and other (possibly whacky) ideas like porting, and slide lightening on the gun, but decided that this was going to be a carry gun not a race gun, so just making it work as intended was the best decision. Especially after my buggery.

digiroc

"the beatings will continue until moral improves"

[i1afli]

Digiroc, hard to believe it's the same truck.
And thanks for sharing your site install situation.

[digiroc]

Originally Posted by i1afli

Digiroc, hard to believe it's the same truck.
And thanks for sharing your site install situation.

Well actually they are two trucks, the "before" truck and the "after" truck, which I bought 3 days after destroying the first one.

Although I do have a good bodyman, no-one is that good. It was the pain of loss that made me do it. That hurt more than the three broken ribs I was lucky to walk away with.

digiroc

[Pef]

Originally Posted by MWater

Well, as long as we're posting embarrassing sight installation photos:



I didn't have to force it or anything. Just tapped it on, looked at it, and immediately said, "son of a..". This was a new OEM sight and went on (and off and on) fairly smoothly.

Looks fine for the old Polish Pistol.

[Racer X]

No real firearms mistakes, but over the decades I have had to replace quite a few replacement parts on my cars. Took 4 tries to do my first set of front bearings on mt '72 Skylark. That being said...

Thanks for stepping up. No grief from me. I have slowly, painfully and expensively learned when NOT to undertake something by myself, and even more importantly, when to stop reassess, and either try again, and get a higher level of expertise than me. As I get older, I find I have far less time and room in my life for hubris. It just gets in the way.

Fascinating project for me, as I want night sights on a HK USP and a Ruger KP-95DC. May or may not undertake them by myself. (now)

[lrrifleman]

@digiroc,

I applaud you for your confession.

@Master Chief,
Thank you for taking the time to exploit this teachable moment to remind us that we all have limitations.

[vigil617]

Master Chief, you should have a TV show. I would watch your projects with fascination, especially if you narrated them exactly the way you write. You're a natural teacher. That part about rotating the part 180 degrees to prevent any beveling from offhand filing is, well, "masterful." One question though: does LocTite-ing the front sight prevent any future adjustments?

[HCH]

Very timely post. Thanks for all the constructive comments. Trijicons for my 4566 are on order from Optics planet.

[BB57]

Originally Posted by HCH

Very timely post. Thanks for all the constructive comments. Trijicons for my 4566 are on order from Optics planet.

I may have missed it somewhere in the thread, but with tritium night sights, all the hand fitting comments apply, but you do not want to drive the sight into the dove tail with a hammer and drift punch.

The shock of that approach can crack the glass vial(s) that hold the tritium and cause it to leak out. The effects may not be immediate either, as it make leak over a period of weeks after the install.

Instead, you want to properly fit the sights to the dove tails and then use a sight pusher to push them into position.

Be sure to properly pad the blocks on the pusher to protect the slide, and be sure that you've clamped the slide securely so that it does not tilt. If that happens you're now pushing against the sides of the dove tail, with a vertical vector as well as the horizontal vector parallel to the dove tail. Stop and re-set it properly before you break something.