Ridiculously TIGHT sights

[swsig]

I had the same issue, I gave up and took to a local gunsmith


The "trick" is to clamp them to a solid base like a cast iron /steel saw,lathe, milling machine, something that will not "give" at all. A bench vise will not work.


He tapped them off in 30 seconds!

Welcome to the wonderful world of M&P sight-moving! This has been a complaint as long as I've been on the Forum. I always felt lucky that my first two M&Ps, a 1.0 40 compact, and a Shield 9 had sights I could live with and were properly zeroed. Then I bought a Shield 45 that shot left no matter what I did. Fortunately, a friendly range officer at my range noticed I was struggling with it (my shots weren't the all-bullseye groupings he was used to seeing from me ). He whisked it away to the range workshop, and in no time he had moved the front sight so it was properly aligned. I should have asked him how he did it so quickly, but I was so happy shooting with my properly zeroed sights, I forgot. I'm guessing they had a gunsmith-type setup similar to what you've described.

 

[Beju]

I don't really know why, but especially tight sights has been a thing since the original Shield. I wouldn't try to replace the sights on them without a sight pusher that interfaces with slide rails like the MGW models.

I suspect that for the average owner, sights that are too loose are a bigger problem than sights are are too tight.

I saw a decent amount of Gen 4 Glocks with then-factory optional Trijicon HD sights that were too easily bumped out of place.

I've also worked on German made, stamped slide SIG P226s and P228s where you could flip a coin as to whether you were going file the replacement front or the rear sight to fit in the dovetails. Despite yearning for the old days, 'hand fitting' was often necessitated by less repeatable manufacturing tolerances. In this case, the sight may be easier to push out, but not fitting the new one may risk damaging the dovetail.

 

[BE Mike]

I just installed a rear sight in a dovetail that it's supposed to fit. I had to stone the rear sight a tiny amount and used a LOT of penetrating oil continually. A brass punch and hammer with the slide in a leather padded bench vise worked. I actually quit, day one and finished on day two. It literally took hours to get it in!