Need help moving/changing XDm front sight

[LightningMcQueen784]

Hey guys,

I'm having trouble changing out the front sight on the XDm.... I removed the rear sight just fine with a universal sight press, but the front sight just won't budge!!!

Is there a good way to get it out? I've tried the sight press, I've tried a punch with nylon tip, it just won't move... but I don't want to break it...

Help!!!!!

Thanks in advance,
LMcQ

[Tomcat088]

Howdy McQueen. Some of the XD's have sights that are pretty easy to remove, and others are VERY difficult to move. Many people will try to remove the sights with brass punches, trust me, it ain't gonna happen. I broke 4 steel punches trying to get my front sight off. There are some different things that people have tried, like using some liquid wrench first, and then giving it a whack. Some people have tried freezing their slides, and others just try to put some ice on the front sight only (trying to make it contract slightly) and then giving it a whack. I tried all of the freezing things, and NONE of them could help me made the sight budge. I had a good vice, and I had a "baby sledge"

The sights are made from VERY hard steel. They were much harder than the Heinie Striaght 8's that I put on mine. After breaking a bunch of punches, and being a bit frustrated I decided to try something that was a little bit risky. My dad had a huge eaze out, like I'm talking HUGE, for lugs in an electrical box that was 6 ft tall. The end of the eaze out is almost 3/4" wide across. I put that on an angle and gave it a moderate whack and the sight came out easily. I guess I just needed something that was a little bit larger, heavier, and harder than the punches. You MUST be careful not to ruin the dovetail on the slide, if you ruin it, you'll be PISSED when you have to have a gunsmith try to fix it, and it'll be pretty unsightly. I've heard stories of people trying to knock their sights loose, and weren't making sure that the sight was staying down, and expanding and kind of routing out the top part of the dovetail.

Have you been to the XD forum? There is alot of advice and discussion about sight changing on the site. There have been lots of sight pushers broken by trying to push out XD sights, they're that stiff. I've spoken with Rich of Canyon Creek and Scott from Springer Precision, and they've both told me that sometimes you just can't get them out without cutting them out. They change sights often and don't like to do it, but sometimes the best way to not damage the pistol is to put the cutting wheel on the dremel, cut the sight in half and be done with it. You will be sacrificing the sight, but at least you haven't messed up your slide. If you just have to have your original sights, you can actually call Springfield Armory and just tell them that you need another front sight, I've heard lots of stories about them sending out replacements for free. Good luck.

[eulogyADD]

+1 on the baby sledge. Also for a punch use a heavy piece of metal, 1"X1"X8" steel is what I used. You'll need a padded vise, and Schwarzenegger arms help too.

[LightningMcQueen784]

Thanks a lot, guys...
I haven't had the time to give it another try yet... maybe I'll just take the slide to work some weekend, and try it on something a little more... "industrial".
Maybe I'll be back if I still can't get it out!
Thanks!
LMcQ

[gold cup abuser]

um another train of thought.........

It would be better and faster to just take a dremel tool with the cut off wheel and just gently cut through the middle of the front sight post.

Cut it enough and then with a pin punch drive out the sight.

Its quick and if you go slowly it would work much better than a BFH.

good luck and cut carefully

[dgreene]

I got mine out on my XDm with a sight pusher, I just adjusted it so that it was pushing on the leading edge of the part of the sight that was in the dovetail, otherwise it was putting a load on the thing so it was binding in the slide. I also hit it with some PB blaster the night before, then put the whole thing in the freezer for a couple of hours. Once it started to move it just walked right out. The new front sight is a little loose in the dovetail, looking at it through a loupe I see no damage to the slot so I'm just going to hit it with some Loctite 609 after a degrease. The front was MUCH harder to get loose than the rear I think just because of where I was pushing on it, all the way out at the edge since the sight ends the same place as the part in the dovetail. You just have to be really careful not to shim it up in the pusher so high that the pusher is touching the bottom of the dovetail, I just stuck a strip of a business card in there and made sure it still moved around as I applied the screw to it.

[sprrdhawk44]

I got mine out on my XDm with a sight pusher, I just adjusted it so that it was pushing on the leading edge of the part of the sight that was in the dovetail, otherwise it was putting a load on the thing so it was binding in the slide. I also hit it with some PB blaster the night before, then put the whole thing in the freezer for a couple of hours. Once it started to move it just walked right out. The new front sight is a little loose in the dovetail, looking at it through a loupe I see no damage to the slot so I'm just going to hit it with some Loctite 609 after a degrease. The front was MUCH harder to get loose than the rear I think just because of where I was pushing on it, all the way out at the edge since the sight ends the same place as the part in the dovetail. You just have to be really careful not to shim it up in the pusher so high that the pusher is touching the bottom of the dovetail, I just stuck a strip of a business card in there and made sure it still moved around as I applied the screw to it.

...you do realize this thread is from 2009, right?

[dgreene]

...you do realize this thread is from 2009, right?

Yep. You realize people search forums for answers, right?

[sprrdhawk44]

Yep. You realize people search forums for answers, right?

Yes, 13er with 72 posts, tell me more about how the forum works.

[gold cup abuser]

This reminds me I have a new post for the gunsmithing thread.

Hell I might even add pictures unlike the Norinco thread.

I finally found the pictures of the Norinco on my phone, so I will move them over to the pc and post them. Filling in those gaps with the epoxy came out pretty good. Just need to spray paint over it.

I finally broke down and got an XD compact in 9mm. And the front sight is immune to movement. It's more stubborn than a mother-in-law in menopause.

So dremel tool time for it. Then on with the XS sights.