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

[okiegtrider]

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

Thanks BMCM

 

[digiroc]

Mea Culpa ...

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]

The Before Truck and the After Truck ...

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]

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]

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.

 

[dmar]

All's well that ends well...

 

[dmar]

I've had pretty good luck with the right tool(s) and YouTube...

 

[Dvan34]

A couple of years ago I had an XS Big Dot installed.... by a professional gunsmith. $80.00 well spent.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between
My brothers and my sisters
All over this land, uh

 

[S&W Rover]

I've removed and installed sights on M&Ps and SDs. The first couple with a block of wood and a hammer. Then I got a MGW slide pusher and the work got easier.

One M&P sight was so tight that I ended up using a steel punch -- knowing it would destroy the sight -- to knock it out. And I was worried throughout that I would ruin the slide. They cost $300 for an M&P!

When it came time to replace the small sight on my Mdl 915, I sent it to Novak's. There was some milling required to fit the new Low-Mount sight. I also had Novak do the recent replacement of the old sights on my Mdl 5906 and install new Novak Low-Mounts. Their charge for installation of the front and rear sights, with no mods required, is only $35. Well worth it!

We also have a very good gunsmith in Northern Virginia, Sandy Garrett of Northern Virginia Gunworks, and I had him replace old sights on a P239 for a reasonable price.

So, bottom line, I'll tinker with the known and near-difficult, but let the harder work be done by the professionals! Great thread.

 

[BMCM]

One question though: does LocTite-ing the front sight prevent any future adjustments?

Yea but... If the front sight is not dead nutz on the centerline it makes my brain itch Plus... you do your windage adjustment by drifting the backsight that's secured with a pair or grub screws.

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.

Not entirely so. I'll grant you that tritium lamp sights may not be quite as rugged as regular irons, they are non the less a lot tougher than you'd think. They're engineered to survive years of getting the snot beat out of 'em atop a pistol slide so a few taps to drift them into place is no problem.

What you should never do whether using a sight pusher or a punch is shove on the side of sight blade. Deformation of the sight blade or snapping it clean off (as happened here) does risk damaging the lamp.

I also point out that the installation instructions supplied by XS specifically prohibit the use of a sight pusher. And...in point of fact XS even supplies a small delrin drift punch with their sight sets (the short one in this pic, I made the long one). With directions to drift the sight into place after properly hand fitting.

I'm compelled to point out had digiroc set his sight pusher aside and used the drift punch supplied by XS and followed their installation instructions for hand fitting. He likely would not have had to send the thing to me

For this job I used this big chunk of delrin because I couldn't find that little drift at the time. I "beat" on it with a Picard 100 gram cross pein hammer. Hmmm can using a 100 gram hammer actually be considerd beating? Does 100 grams even qualify to be called a hammer? Ugh nevemind

And... here's where we're at now.

Cleaned up all the green schmooo and applied a little blueing to minimize the blemishes to the finish up front.

The only sign something was amiss is this ding from (I guess) punch slipping. Nothing to be done about that unless we want to get involved in welding and re-doing the nitriding $$$

Backsight fitted and installed.

So, all done here, A couple closing comments:

I don't care what contraption you use to install your sights just don't skip the hand fitting. I know I'm being repetitious but you must always fit the sight to the gun. Some will be good to go right out of the package and others with require hours of tedium to achieve a proper fit.

I have a couple sight pusher tools including this old thing.

I find I only use a pusher if I need to precisely drift a backsight a small amount to correct a windage error, otherwise, for the most part they sit around collecting dust.

You'll find some sights just don't play well with a pusher. Primarily those with sloped or beveled sides like you see on these XS Big Dots. I have some special screws with swiveling pads I use with epj's pusher but they are not terribly strong. You'll sometimes find there's no other option but to drift into place with a non-marring punch.

Oh and did I mention hand fitting? Don't skip it. If you need a 5lb drilling hammer and a foot long brass drift to install a foresight... You're doing it wrong!

Cheers
Bill