[Onslaught]

Just venting... and sharing...

I was just trying to install a new set of XS Systems standard dot sights on my USP45. instructions clearly state "do not use sight press".

The sights came with a neat little nylon punch and a small tube of Loctite 262 (red stuff).

I really like the rear sight concept on the XS sights. I can push them on with solid hand pressure, and then a push with the punch gets them in place. Then just tighten the 2 set screws and you're done.

But the FRONT sight! :cuss:

I sanded forever till the front sight would go in half way like the instructions said.

Then remove, degrease, and apply loctite 262 to all mating surfaces.

Did that...

The stuff got all over my hands. But I was able to move the front sight into place using body weight and MUCH downward pressure........ Went too far :what:

Flip slide over, repeat........ Too far again :fire:

Flip again to repeat... hands are starting to sting from the loctite that's on them... I go wash my hands... I come back. The sight won't BUDGE!

I press REALLY hard with the punch... It slips, I leave a nice chunk of skin from the middle knuckle of my middle finger on the slide. I cuss. I try again. This time, it's skin from my trigger finger just below the nail. I pound the bench. Hurt pinkie in process! Now I bring out the hammer and beat on the sight. That's when the nylon punch shaves off a big chunk on it's end, causing it to slip, where I SMASH MY TRIGGER FINGER! :banghead: I threw the hammer out into the yard and beat on the table with my other hand. I have NO idea how I got the 3/4" long scratch on my thumb... :confused:

My trigger finger is swollen, I truely think I fractured it, because it has kind of a prickly odd pain when I try to use a screwdriver or even type now! (this post is taking a while with 9 fingers!) There's blood on the slide, blood on the table, blood on what's left of the nylon punch, both my hands are stinging from the loctite... and to top it all off...

My USP has a BIG GOLF BALL SIZED FRONT SIGHT THAT'S SITTING WAAAAAY off to one side!!!

MORE :banghead:

I wanted to go try out my new sights tomorrow at the range, and of course run some rounds through my new FAL... but I'm not sure my finger will fit in the trigger guard by tomorrow!

OK, I'm done.

Hope you enjoyed it.

:p

[Onslaught]

I guess I better go practice, in case I need my HD pistol tonight!

[J Miller]

Onslaught,

Sorry to hear about your "red Loctite" mess. From what I have read it takes heat to loosten this stuff. Not the kind of heat that discolors metal, or melts it, but heat.

Maybe give it try very carefully with a propane torch. Clean it all off, wait till you heal up, and try again.

Good luck with your.............ah, your difficulties.:(

[Andrew Wyatt]

you should get a sight pusher and a vice.

[boing]

Q: How can I remove a fastener that is "permanently" locked in?

A: The application of heat is needed to remove a fastener that can't be removed with a hand tool. Temperatures of 325F and above is needed to break down a standard anaerobic, 500F for high temperature Anaerobics. A heat gun or propane torch is commonly used to do this process, and careful disassembly should occur while parts are still hot...

http://www.loctite.com/selector/faqs.html#removal

Not sure how the tritium vial and plastic insert are going to take to that kinda heat, but I guess they've got some way of removing 262-ed XS sights.

Then again, maybe 325º isn't all that hot for the muzzle end of a handgun.

[Hal]

Nix the torch,
use a soldering iron

[Pappy John]

I've only got one helpful suggestion....don't buy yourself any power tools.:D :D

[Navy joe]

On the heat, strip the gun and come up from the inside of the slide with the heat so you heat the slide and not the tritium vial. Tap it out in reverse of the direction you were going in with it. Don't hit your fingers this time.

[yotehunter]

And here I thought I was the only one that crap like that happens to. I can make the easiest, simpliest thing into a major ordeal. Anyways, the locktight isnt the problem. Locktight takes hours to set so unless you let it set up for awhile then the locktight should not have dried. I have installed alot of sights on my guns and some are just plan a pain in the a$$.
I have slid them in part way by hand and suddenly they wont even knock back out. Its just the golden rule if any thing can possably go wrong it will.

[dfariswheel]

Loctite can set very quickly in extremely tight areas, so it's entirely possible that's what happened.

DO NOT apply ANY heat to a Tritium insert sight. The Tritium tube is held in with an adhesive similar to Loctite or epoxy, in that it too breaks down with heat.

Also, the tube will "blow" from heat. Even a small amount of Tritium isn't anything you want to be inhaling.

I'd give the sight company a call for advice. They'll have dealt with these problems before, and will tell you what the best procedure is.

[Keith]

Go to a gunsmith. He will have a sight pushing tool and it will take him all of 30 seconds to move the sight over, Loc-Tite or not. If he charges you more than ten bucks, mark him down as a thief and maybe save yourself a more expensive lesson in the future.

Keith

[Doc]

ROTFLOLUIH (until I hurt)

no offense :D

i thought i was the only one with such misadventures. for what it's worth after
a similar experience, I now test fit EVERYTHING
before i put glue on ANYTHING,
then disaabemble and reassemble with glue on

[Standing Wolf]

Gunsmiths know more about these things than I ever will.

[Preacherman]

In South Africa one used to be able to buy a chemical product that dissolved LocTite. It had to be sprayed onto the area which was LocTited, and left overnight, and it was claimed that it worked its way into all the nooks and crannies and by morning, the part was free to be removed. I've never used it myself, and don't recall its trade name. Does anyone else on the board know about this stuff? Is it available here?

[TarpleyG]

GREAT POST!!! I am just now able to type again. Sorry. Anyway, I used to work on SCCA race cars and had many, many similar adventures with red Loctite. Won't use anything over blue anymore as a result. Definitely call XS/Ashley as I am sure they have seen this before.

GT

[Erik]

Well, you could take up twin gunning a la the movies, and that could be your left handed pistol.

:D

[gconan]

I used a 'lit' match only a little to move my front site which had been red loctited

[ShaiVong]

ah hahahaha!

oh man, thats priceless. Sorry about the finger though *whipes tears from eyes*