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Freezing a slide overnight to aid sight removal/installation

4K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Steve64 
#1 ·
Does this work?
 
#3 ·
In a word; no. Nobody I have followed has ever advocated doing that. Use a sight pusher and fit the sight dovetail to the slide with judicious use of a file or diamond hone, removing a little off of the bottom of the sight's dovetail base, trying it, and balancing it for snug fit but able to be moved with a tool, without undue force.

To do what you are implying, I would suppose you would actually heat the slide and freeze the sight body, then assemble, which would most likely result in the slide cooling off and seizing the sight in place almost certainly where you don't need it to be...
 
#4 ·
Thanks. Just trying to separate fact from fiction (Internet gunsmiths).

Sometime today I am supposed to receive a set of Hi-Viz H3 sights for my SD9VE. While I have swapped out lots of Glock rear sights using MGW pushers and one Walther rear sight using a 4x4 Machine shop universal pusher I have no experience with either S&W rear sights or any dovetailed front sights. I was hoping that freezing the slide might make removal of the front sight easier.

(as the rear sight is polymer there won't be any issues removing it)

The manufacturer of the universal sight pusher does recommend that you apply oil to the dovetails and letting it soak in overnight prior to removal. That's prudent.
 
#5 ·
Thanks. Just trying to separate fact from fiction (Internet gunsmiths).
No problem, BUT, you still haven't exactly separated fact from fiction, as you don't know, I could be full of.... Well, you know...

(In this case, just this once, I'm not, and I do a fair amount of sight installs)
And yes, I've been known to let a drop of fine oil sit on a tight dovetailed sight site overnight. Also when installing one.
Good luck, be careful, S&W auto sights are usually a bear to get off or on.
 
#7 ·
Another note to be aware of is the sight dovetail is ever so slightly tapered.
If I remember correctly, when holding the slide in the muzzle forward direction the sight comes out by tapping the sight from right to left. Driving it left to right just tightens it into the dovetail cut.
 
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#14 · (Edited)
Another note to be aware of is the sight dovetail is ever so slightly tapered.
If I remember correctly, when holding the slide in the muzzle forward direction the sight comes out by tapping the sight from right to left. Driving it left to right just tightens it into the dovetail cut.
I can only speak on 3rd Gens (6906, 3914, 4013, 4013TSW, 4006TSW & 4513TSW) and the original
Sigma .40--but to drive the front & rear sights OUT, you push them left to right. All responded well,
btw, to brass punch/hammer/padded bench vise treatment.

Installation is opposite, right to left.

On the 3rd Gen Novaks, it may help removing the set screw and filling the well with penetrating
oil, then turning the screw back in to help push the oil around. Of course, be sure to undo the
set screw before tapping the sight ;)
 
#9 ·
I beat the snot out of mine in a bench vise and could not move them. I ended up paying a local gunsmith who did it in 10 minutes and installed the new ones. Sometimes you just got to pay the man. Sometimes even a sight pusher will crack the sights. My GS drifted them off. He had to use the vise in his milling machine which weighs a ton.(no movement at all)

If you think SW are bad, try older Sigs or SA XDs. Impossible!!
 
#10 ·
"Sometimes you just got to pay the man."

Yes, this is indeed a possibility and in some cases a certainty.

The thought of paying someone $50-75 to install sights might seem exorbitant but if you crack a sight it's on you. If they do it it's on them esp. if you buy your sights from the shop doing the installation.

I have heard many many horror stories about XD and SIG sights
 
#11 ·
Watched numerous sight install vids from Hi Viz. Unless one has a sight pusher that makes contact with the base of the sight esp. a dovetailed front sight the use of most standard pushers including mine is OUT. Will have to drift them in by hand.

For this purpose I just bought two specialty punches from Ben Stoeger Pro Shop: one is a front sight punch with a nylon tip insert and the other is a rear sight punch with a square tip for putting it up against the 'sweet spot'. With shipping they cost a hair under $15.
 
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