Thread: New Sights

Is this for an XD?

I have seen tons of posts complaining about how hard XD sights are to remove. MANY people have scratched up their slide doing it, and even some have had their gunsmith mess up the slide finish when they were trying it.

Take it to someone who knows how to do it. Sometimes, there is some filing involved - not fitting correctly or 1 sight needs to be a bit shorter, etc.

Go pay the $20 to a local smith and have it done right. Just my 2 cents...

I have thought about that but my XD40 4" has the old blueing finish on it so I bought the Duracoat system that I will be spraying on after I install the new sights!

Originally Posted by Shipwreck

Is this for an XD?

I have seen tons of posts complaining about how hard XD sights are to remove. MANY people have scratched up their slide doing it, and even some have had their gunsmith mess up the slide finish when they were trying it.

Take it to someone who knows how to do it. Sometimes, there is some filing involved - not fitting correctly or 1 sight needs to be a bit shorter, etc.

Go pay the $20 to a local smith and have it done right. Just my 2 cents...

Gonna agree with Ship, don't try it yourself. I can't remember any post where someone successfully replaced their sights without some sort of finish damage or damage to the sights. Pay to have it done professionally.

Heck, on one of the 1911 sights, 1 guy screwed up his slide so bad that he had to send it to a smith, and have some metal re-welded onto it - the smith posted pics of the process on a thread.

even if U wanna redo the finish - PAY someone to do it that knows how. U need a sight pusher, and some experience.

Call me a butcher, but there are several ways to do this, and without damaging your slide.

For each method it would be advisable to set up some sort of padded vise.

First method, take about half an hour out of your day and sit down with a Dremel and saw it out. Key is to take your time and not rush it. One small slip and that’s all she wrote.

The next method is to use a punch and whack it real hard, haha. The sight drifts from the right to the left. The key to not slipping and ruining your slide is to drill a small 1/16th-1/8th hole in the right side of your sight. This will give the punch a place to rest and not jump around when you are drifting it out.

Your new sights will drift in fairly easy, and I would put a drop of Loctite just for good measures.

Ok forum members... which sights are are the best (or significantly better than stock sights and where did you get them installed? I don't want to end up screwing up the weapon when I could have a gunsmith do it.