Replacing Rear Sight, Any Tips?

[Animal Mother]

My first handgun was a S&W 422 fixed sight model. I still have it after all these years and have decided to fix it up a bit, so I picked up an LPA TPU adjustable sight. I'm planning on removing the existing rear sight by placing the slide in a vice (padding it with some cloth covered wood to prevent marring the slide), and using a brass punch with the tip covered by cloth patch to knock the old fixed sight out, and then tapping the new one into place. I'll have a dremel ready in case the new sight needs some filing to fit. Does anyone have any advice or tips for doing this without marring up the slide or sights? I just really like this gun and don't want to foul things up.

 

[rcmodel]

Tip #1 = Use wire cutters to clip the power cord off the Dremel tool.
It has absolutely no place or use in sight replacements.

Tip #2 = Don't use wood blocks in the vice.
It will absorb too much energy that could otherwise have been used to start a tight sight moving. Thin brass or cardboard shims & smooth-face vice jaws are better.
If your vice has teeth on the jaws, cover them with thin sheet metal shims, + brass or cardboard shims.

Here is a post I did some time back about replacing sights on a Springfield XD.
Most of those tips will apply to your S&W.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=6974163

rc

 

[Mike J]

I did the sights on my XD also rcmodel. I finally wound up cutting the front sight to get it out. Putting the new ones in was a breeze though once I finally got the old ones out.

Animal Mother if you have to remove any material from the sight to get it to go in I would use a file. It would be really easy to take off too much material with a dremel. Take your time & you should be fine.

 

[Remllez]

LOL....tip number one almost made me fall off my chair...judicious use of a FILE would serve you better. Slide cuts and sights are precision fits and fitting them up properly takes time and patience. Good Luck!

 

[Animal Mother]

Yeah, I love tip number one. That's exactly the kinda info I was looking for. I hadn't thought of using cardboard instead wood to prevent marring of the slide, I'll break out my sandpaper and file and see if I can do this right.