I have another thread on an NYPD 5946 I just got. When I carried one like it, I got mine before night sights were mandatory so I never got them. Eventually, new guns had to have them and I believe they were Trijicon. Here's a pic of the gun. If you zoom in you can see the date is 1998 but I'm not sure if they're Trijicon. A test in my dark bedroom last night showed a very dim glow, but that's to be expected of a 22 year old set. Trijicon will re-lamp them for $57 but only if they are Trijicon sights.

Yes, they are.

The night sights that came on my CS9 were not marked Trijicon. When I contacted them they said to ship the slide in and they'd replace the lamps if they were theirs. They were and when the came back, there relamped and now marked as Trijicon.

I'd get an RMA and send them on in.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

Can I just send the sights in, and not the whole slide?
The night sights on my 4566 are dead and I really don't want to risk my slide getting lost in shipment.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

That's what I do, Jaymo.

Just the sights.

I ain't worried if those get lost.

The slide stays home.

John

Amen, brother. If the sights get lost in transit, I can buy a new set for around $129. I'd be willing to bet a slide in as good of condition as mine would be hard to find, expensive, not original to the gun, and may not fit as well.

What sight removal/installation tool do you use?
I've thought about buying one, because I'd also like to add Trijicons to my 5946. Plus, I have other pistols I'd like to replace sights on.
If I only needed to do the 4566, I'd take it to a gunsmith.
Since I have quite a few I'd like to replace sights on, I'd rather have my own tool.

BTW, and totally unrelated, the 1981 Yamaha XS1100 is due for valves to be reshimmed. Valve clearance is a good bit less than spec. Time to find the tool and pull tank/seat/fairings/etc off the bike and recheck gaps, check shim sizes, and do some simple math so I can order shims.
Good times.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

I'm a caveman, Jaymo.

I use a BFH and a brass or aluminum drift to remove and install sights.

I enjoyed setting valve clearance on all the shim bikes.

Of course it's a lot easier with a full selection of shims at hand.

I remember going to Milwaukee right after the V-Rod was introduced.

All of the H-D only mechanics were scratching their heads because of liquid cooling, overhead cams, and shims.

But it was all familiar stuff to me.

John

One of the finest police service autos ever made.
Workhorse. Durable and stone reliable. Love mine. It's also a retired LE pistol. $249. No complaints.
Thinking about switching from the curved grip to a straight grip on mine.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

The one I carried had the curved. I remember picking the gun and they didn’t have a straight grip available. The guy said it’s the same the g just a bit thinner. I picked curved since I didn’t know any better. When I held the straight I wished I had gotten it.

I didn’t know I could just switch them at the time or I would have. Now I only like the straight. I have a set of the curved that was on my other 5946. I’ll trade them to anybody who likes the curved over the straight.

I do HATE taking the factory grips off. I’m afraid I’m gonna break the bar on the top. Don’t remember the name but somebody here broke one putting the grips back on. So much so that I don’t take them off anymore. I don’t use solvent on the frame so it doesn’t get wet back there. I just wipe it out with a dry and clean cloth. I did take the grip off of this last gun. Absolutely filthy top to bottom and inside and out. Like it had never been cleaned.

I’ve thought of putting Hogue panels on there. Little fatter but they’re panels at least and not wrap around like the awful Hogue grip on the 6906. But that little piece to hold the hammer spring in makes taking the grips off a pleasure.

I hadn’t thought to not send the slide to Trijicon. I’ll ask my gunsmith if he’ll take them off and out the new ones back on. I don’t want to lose this slide.

The sight set you have on there is a Trijicon SA23.
On your backsight, that tiny Ŧ® followed by H3 96... Those are Trijicon's markings

The S&W factory equivalent sight set would be p/n: 191030000 The backsight on the OEM set is slightly different but still lamped & marked by Trijicon.

These below are my sight removal and/or adjusting tools:


Copper & brass will not damage any steel parts and only may leave some crayon marks that are easily wiped away with copper solvent. The cardboard channels are for protecting the slide from marring while clamped in the the jaws of a stout bench vise.


Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

Obviously unscrew the little screw first, right?

Just loosen it. You don't want to back it way out or remove it. There's a spring under the sight in the firing pin safety plunger that can snag on the hole and get damaged if that grubscrew is absent. Also S&W sights are known to be very tight in the dovetail so it's helpful to apply some good penetrant and let it set for a day before attempting to bump the sights off. Kroil, PB Blaster, Liquid Wrench, Seafoam Deep Creep are among the good ones.

And... drive the sights off to the right only. The sight bases and the dovetail cuts in the slide have corresponding tapers so the sights only come off on the right side and are driven back on from right to left.

Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

[QUOTE=JohnHL;140764691]I'm a caveman, Jaymo.

I use a BFH and a brass or aluminum drift to remove and install sights.

I enjoyed setting valve clearance on all the shim bikes.

Of course it's a lot easier with a full selection of shims at hand.

I remember going to Milwaukee right after the V-Rod was introduced.

All of the H-D only mechanics were scratching their heads because of liquid cooling, overhead cams, and shims.

Yeah, a full assortment of shims would be a bit expensive for me having only one bike to use them on. I actually considered going that route.
Luckily, the Kawasaki KZ1000 and Ford Taurus SHO used the same shims as the XS1100. That makes it a little easier to find the ones I need.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

Both Yamaha engines.

.



.

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Waiting for the break of day

Regarding the spring under the sights, I was watching a video of a guy removing the sights. It was an older model gun. On newer guns like mine, there is a plate that sits over the springs for the firing pin plunger and mag disconnect(mine has no magazine disconnect) so as the slide comes off, the springs are contained by the plate. A separate video of a newer gun Babi g the sights removed shows this. Matter of fact, the older gun video, the guy removing he sights mentions the newer guns have the plate.

I’m still gonna loosen it only to prevent losing that screw. I got a hammer and punch set and Kroil should be here tomorrow. Thanks for all your help.

That plate... the Firing Pin Safety Lever Spring Retainer p/n: 067940000 does not apply to any 9mm model, it is only found on the forties, 10mm and 45 guns.

Your gun, M5946, lacks that plate so the only thing holding the two springs in place is the sight base.

Even more care is required when re-installing the backsight. You must drive it on part way then carefully tuck the firing pin safety plunger spring under the sight base... Then continue bumping the sight on until you reach the ejector depressor plunger spring on the other side, tuck that spring under the base and continue.

Go slow and pay close attention, it's quite easy to pinch a spring between the sight base and it's recess in the slide and either mangle it or shear it off right proper.

Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

Great! Couldn't be easy, huh?

What do you use to tuck the springs in?

Buckle up... here we go...

First off, with a new sight it will require a touch of fitting. If you're re-installing the sight that came off the gun you can probably skip this.

What I do is reduce the base height & width on a DMT diamond bench stone...


Until trial fitting will permit me to shove the sight in about this far with finger pressure only...


Now install the plungers and their respective springs...


What's coming up next will require some little doodad to push the springs under the sight base. Anything that's small and non-marring will do. I happen to use the non-swabby end of a swab here...


Drive the sight on till about here. You see I'm just impinging on the spring but not pinching against the plunger bore. Be careful here, If you bump the sight on too far you can damage or clip the spring...


This is one of those ops where the spring can get away from you. Cover the work zone to capture the spring if it gets loose. What you want to do is take your improvised pokey tool, compress the spring and tuck it under the sight base...

Like so...


Now you're free to bump the sight on a little further...


Keep going until you get to about here...


This spring is a bit stronger and there's more open space for it to get away from you. Same drill as the other spring, take your pokey tool and get the spring trapped under the sight base...


From here take a look see down the hole where the grub screw goes. Here I can see the top coil of the first spring. I took a needle point forceps and reached down there and pushed to spring towards the muzzle a bit just to make double sure it wont catch on the hole...


There is ample room for the spring to get loose so cover it with a finger or something as you advance the sight...


A couple bumps and it can't get loose anymore, home free from here...


Drive it on the rest of the way and get it properly centered up...


On the bench, invert the slide and with the pokey tool, exercise each of those plungers a few times. This will center up each spring on its plunger and make sure each is working smoothly...


And...


For any gun that's going to be carried where it's exposed to moisture, perspiration and whatnot, I like to seal of the dovetail with a little wicking grade thread adhesive. This will prevent any moisture getting under the sights and cause corrosion welding. Just a tiny tiny dab on one side and allow it to wick across the dovetail joint...


Once the adhesive has cured, wipe off any excess then clean any brass/copper 'crayon marks' with some copper solvent...



And don't forget to snug up the grub screw

Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

Oh and I just noticed the warning etch on your slide.

Since your gun is marked 'capable of firing with magazine removed' presumably the plastic plunger and spring that goes in the left side hole under the sight is absent on your particular gun. If so you can disregard those bits in the post above

Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

Thanks for such a detailed post! I’m starting to think I might screw it up. I want to remove the Trijicon sights on there so I can send them back to Trijicon to be relamped. I was afraid of the slide getting lost. I’ve heard taking the sights off isn’t there easy since there’re on so tight. Could I damage the lamps trying to get it off? How about screwing up putting nice newly lamped sights back on? I sent slides in before and they haven’t been lost but it will be just my luck.

I soaked it in Kroil and used a brass punch and whacked it with a hammer. It wasn’t moving. Maybe I wasn’t hitting it hard enough but I was giving it good whacks. And I was leaving marks on the side body that didn’t wipe off fully with solvent. So off to Trijicon it went yesterday! I sent it UPS so they will sign for it and Trijicon said I’d have to sign for it as well. I’m pretty confident it won’t get lost or go to the wrong address. I trust UPS more than I do my local post office. It’s insured for $500 so even it is is lost I’ll be compensated.

They’ll do it right and I won’t be hassled trying to. They said 6-8 weeks but maybe sooner. No rush. I don’t carry it anyway.

Thanks for all the help. I’ll post again when I get it back.

As of yesterday Brownell's lists S&W replacement grip panels!

Slide arrived at Trjicon. Now just to wait.