I can't help you on that, but Welcome frome down in the swamps and enjoy.

Over the years, I have seen many, many pics on various gun forums of messups when people tried to remove and reinstall their own sights. Beautiful 1911s to all sorts of guns.

In my area, a smith charges $20 to install a new set of sights. U didn't say anything about installing anything - U only asked about removing a front sight. If that is all U want, they may charge even less.

But given the chance that you can really screw up the finish on the gun, i'd just pay the $20 or less and have it done right. Think about how much you've already paid for the gun including tax. Isn't it worth another $20?

I took the finish off, and i can always buff/polish out any scratches/gouges. No sense in spending 20 bucks when i can do it myself. Besides im trying to do all the work myself, i find this kind of thing fun. Also the gun is very much used, and got it for around 300 bucks. Now had I bought a 800 dollar gun, i wouldnt dream of doing this to it. But then where am i going to get 800 dollars.

I'm guessing all im going to need is a punch, a mallet, and a lil bit of TLC.

Think the new sight would have installation instructions with it?

I've heard on the XD forum that the XD sights are in there VERY tight. Good luck!