Anyone suggest a budget sight pusher?

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intercooler

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The XD is shooting to the right and a plastic hammer and plastic set wouldn't move it today. Time to purchase one but on the cheaper end!
 
-16oz hammer
-3/8" steel punch
-3/8" brass punch
-3M electrical tape
-dremel tool with cut off wheel
-some wood scraps
-heavy vice on heavy immovable tool bench
-red thread lock

Expensive sight pushers don't really work all that well, usually. Budget sight pushers are complete garbage. I use the above and that's never failed. Even sights on an XD or Kimber become a breeze with the proper tools.
 
I have used the Uni tool/sight pusher on my springfield 1911 loaded and on my glocks and have had great results. I figure if I move a couple of sights myself it has payed for itself...considering the price of a gunsmith to do the job for you. I tried the vice method w/ the brass punch on my springfield first but didn't have much luck. The uni tool did it without much trouble and the glocks were very easy.
 
I have used the Uni tool/sight pusher on my springfield 1911 loaded and on my glocks and have had great results.
Click to expand...

I have one of those UNI-2OOLs, and hate it. I tried to use it on my Browning Hi-Power. With great difficulty, I was finally able to get it to remove my sights, but the gun's slide kept twisting in the tool as the pusher was tightened, so I couldn't keep it aligned properly. This even happens to the guy who is trying to demonstrate the tool in the video on their website. I ended up marring my gun's finish in a couple of spots.

It might work better on guns with a more squared-off top edge to the slide (like the XD). Better yet, use a pusher that is designed for your particular gun model, if there is one, or just pay a gunsmith to do it. It would be a lot cheaper than buying the tool.
 
XD sights are hard to drift. Call Springfield & tell tem about it & they'll probably send you a call tag to send it in. I had an XD-9 Tactical that shot way off & they took care of it with the shipping both ways on their nickle. It took about 10 days to get the gun back.
 
Expensive sight pushers don't really work all that well, usually.
Click to expand...
I have to disagree here. I have a couple of MGW sight tools (not really all that expensive either), and they work great. From the looks of them, they are the makers for the "factory" tools, that usually sell for twice as much too.

The tool I have for my SIG's does both the front and rear sights. It has "witness" marks on the tool for zeroing. Having replaced a number of sets of night sights with it, Ive only had one gun that wasnt "zeroed" on the first firing, and it was only slightly off.

Those old night sights are actually what paid for the tool too. You can usually get about half of what a new set costs selling them on EBay.
 
Also note that getting new sights in, is only as hard as you make it. The more time you spend fitting the sight the easier it will go in.

I err more towards a sight too big that will get slightly marred when I put it in. Rather than a sight that'll slide in too easy but not get marked up from pushing it.

And factory sights that are super hard to remove, are really easy to remove after you cut them in half with a dremel.
 
I might add that SIG sights are childs play compared to Springfield's.

At least in my experiance they have been.

rc
 
My local gunsmith will move sights for free. You may check with a smith and see. It shouldn't be that expensive anyway. I just put night sights on my new Glock 26. The plastic punch small hammer and vice worked fine until I went a little too far and couldn't get it to move back. I took a steel bolt and larger hammer. It worked fine. Just put some tape over the end so you won't mar the sight. Check the tape to make sure the bolt doesn't punch through.
 
The biggest advantage to the pushers for adjusting the sights is, they allow you to do fine adjustments vs just pounding away with no real feel for what youre doing.

They also take the risk of screwing up the vials in your night sights. I wouldnt use a hammer and punch on them myself.

With any of them, if youre installing "new" sights, or if the sights you took off are to tight, a couple of light drags of the base of the sights across a sheet of fine emery will usually make things a lot easier. The base is all you need address, and you dont want to touch the sides of the dovetails, and you certainly dont want to touch the gun itself.

You also want to make sure you know which way the sights are supposed to go on and come off. Some are direction specific.

Glocks for example, you should push the old sight out to the right, and pull the replacement in from the right to the left.

One other thing on Glock factory plastic sights. I have yet to get one to push out of the gun intact. The plastic has always separated from the metal embedded in the sight. I doubt they would hold up very well to a hammer and punch.
 
Anyone have contact information for Big Money Grip to order one of his sight pushers?
 
Assistance for tight sight romoval

I have had good results by first applying Kano Kroil penetrating oil around (small amt.) the sight to be moved/removed. Let sit overnight then try either drift , MTM tool or P500 universal sight removal tool. Drift and P550 work pretty well on XD m.
Dawson Precision.com has an excellent video concerning sight removal with a drift.
 
Maybe someone can lend you one. Ask around where you shoot, gun shops. They are pricey. Zerodefect has good advice, too. The sight tool allows changes while you shoot, tho.
 
There is a member on THR (EdJennings) that was selling a sight
pusher of his design for $58. You might want to check with him.
 
My new Sig 239's night sights were significantly off. Ordered the MGW sig sight tool from Midway and zeroed it first try. Actually used the tool last night and test-shot it today. Money! I couldn't get it to move as far as I wanted, so I turned it with a vice. For $110, I highly recommend!
 
Homemade sight pusher

I built my own from scratch for less than 10 bucks. I adjusted the rear sight on my Kimber Royal II with it and it worked great. Kimbers are known for their extremely tight sight fits and it's true. I was told by a tech at Kimber that they use a hydraulic ram to insert them into the slide.
 

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