Original Sight removal - Springfield Armory XD pistols?

[krs]

Who here has removed any of these, and what method was used successfully?

I have good sight pushers and plenty of brass punches, hammers, in any and every weight and size. I have acetyline torches, Foredom flexible shaft, Dremel everything imaginable in bits, a South Bend lathe, a Bridgeport mill, a Jet mill-drill, a K.O. Lee surface grinder and a KO Lee tool and cutter grinder, a 50 ton shop press, a 2 ton bench arbor press, several bench grinders, buffing, blasting, mig and tig, full sets of hand and machinists tools, clamps, gauges, jigs, 150 psi shop air, all manor of air tools including air chisels, die drinders, cutoff wheels, overhead crane, and even a Kubota tractor.

In short, I've got everything except the ability to make that damned sight budge!!

 

[kayl]

XD sight tool?

 

[AZ_Rebel]

A squirt of Kroil
A proper fitted punch
An 8 oz. Ball Peen Hammer
A solid vise with aluminum or brass jaws
A roll of Masking Tape (to protect the finish)
2 Popsicle Sticks (to shim the XD slide in the vise)
.....

Off she comes!

(Took off 8 or 9 sets last week alone - with no damage to sights or slides.)

 

[krs]

No way Reb!

Either they soldered mine in or we're talking a different gun.

It even broke the pusher in a B&J sight tool without moving, after Kroil, a little heat, and several good whacks with a 16 oz ballpeen and a good bronze punch.

It's a May, 2007 build - no rust or damage or peen marks unless they're underneath the OEM sight.

 

[ar10]

Either they soldered mine in or we're talking a different gun.

It even broke the pusher in a B&J sight tool without moving, after Kroil, a little heat, and several good whacks with a 16 oz ballpeen and a good bronze punch.

It's a May, 2007 build - no rust or damage or peen marks unless they're underneath the OEM sight.

In two words "pure hell". I have 5 XD's and tried it with that itty bitty tool. I still have the sights and learned to use the factory sights . I did read later on from the XD forum XD sight are one of the worst ones to remove. I also think they're the worst ones to put in as well. You can go to the XD-talk forums and do a search. Some have managed to change them. Not me though, it just wasn't worth the effort.

 

[AZ_Rebel]

No way Reb!

Yep... removed 3 XD sets today!

While XD sights are generally tight, they are no more so then some SIGs or Kimbers.

First, know which way the sights are installed - it does often make quite a difference. As a general rule most sights are removed left to right (as looking down the sights). XDs and Sigs are happier when removed right to left.

The second problem comes in getting the force directed onto the sight flange and not losing it in movement of the slide and/or the vise. Most people do not have the means to hold the slide solid without risking the chance of crushing the slide.

The third problem is that unless you move that sight with the first blow you can actually spread the sight in the dovetail, making it even tighter and harder to move. This is exasperated by using a hammer that is too light for the job. I suspect that is what has happened in your case.

We generally start with the (larger) back sight as this will tell us something about how the front sight may be secured. If red or blue Loctite are on the back sight you can be pretty sure that it will be on the front also.

We secure the slide in a vise with aluminum jaws and using shims and a "filler block" inside the slide if required. Then take (or make) a brass punch that fits the width of the sight. The punch must fit to the sight base and must be straight on to the sight, not at any angle. Give it a solid test wack with a 8 oz. hammer to see how tight it is. If it moves at all just continue to drive it off. If it does not move, and you can feel this better than see it, we use a steel punch again fitted to the sight and highly polished with no burrs. Either an 8 or 16 oz. hammer - depending on the sight. We rarely use heat, even on Loctited sights.

We have not had a sight that we could not remove. Obviously, if you do not take care your slide will be damaged and proper "technique" is essential. Sometimes a slight deformation is visible on the sight base where the punch has contacted but these can usually be easily fixed by moving the metal back and repolishing. Most often sights are removed to install new sights so damage to the old sights is not an issue. Damage to the slide is quite more of a worry, securing the slide against movement and using proper equipment goes a long way to protecting it.

BTW--- we have a lot of "sight pushers" sitting around gathering dust.

 

[krs]

Rebel,

I do appreciate that you know what you're talking about and that your advise is good.

However, this sight is like no other I've dealt with, and I'm not new to this either. I started by trying to hit the rear sight off in the same manner(s) you've described. Nothing up to the point that I became concerned about my hammer aiming when giving a full swing to it. I have a tried and true 3 lb sledge with an 8" handle that I cut down years ago to allow for solid whacking at short ranges and this sight seemed like it couldn't care less.

So I got out my trusty B&J Machining universal sight adjuster/remover that can be vise mounted, suppurts three sides firmly with some kind of phrenolic protectors, put a C-clamp on to hold the slide down into the tool and squeezed, hard, to a point where the hardened tip of the pusher broke and went across my shop like a shot. That didn't move the sight.

I'm at the point of wondering what made me think I needed night sights on the stupid "tactical" pistol for anyway?

Think I'll trade it for a Glock. Putting Heinie's on my Glock 19? No problemo! done in 10 minutes.