Trijicon intall on Xd

[dstark]

I recently purchased a set of night sights for my .40cal service model XD, brought it to a local gunsmith to have them installed last friday (19th), today they call and say they it's too difficult and they want to have trijicon install them for $40+ return shipping. Has anyone sent their gun to trijicon to install sights? It is the same price as the local guy, but two weeks more on the turn around time.

 

[Quack]

one way to get the sights out is to heat it up.

 

[andrsnsm]

Heating up the slide may provide a little help but do not heat up the sights, that will aggravate things. I would find another gunsmith first before sending the slide to trijicon. I just had Meprolights installed on my Kahr PM40; one local gunsmith said too hard just send it to Kahr, another said sure and charged me $15 and did a great job.

 

[Hk Dan]

XDs can be tough. They seem to have some consistency problems with the dovetail milling. I've done 3 and they have been a set of challenges each time.

 

[possum]

my trijicons were put on by SA themselves. since then i have had them changed to xs big dots, my smith did it and he had no issue. sorry that they can't get them done for you. have you tried calling around, maybe another smith in the area that can do it for you?

 

[Sheepdog1968]

XDs are well known to be very hard to install sights. The best local gunsmith in our area won't touch them. I'm sure you can find some yahoo who will try but based on discussions with my local smith I wouldn't get it done locally. My reccomendation is to call Springfield and ship it to them from the install. I had a friend do this for his TruGlo TFO install. The were quick on the turn around time.

 

[EdLaver]

I watched my 'smith remove/install them using a Hydraulic press to get em out. I've had my Mepros for a year now with no problems. You can also try springerprecision.com as well. If you decide to go the "mailing off slide" route they will probably have a faster turn-around that Springfield themselves.

 

[dstark]

Well I gave them the go ahead to send it to trijicon, the next smith nearest to me is about an hr away with about the same turn around time, and no guarantee they can do it either. Guess it'll be three weeks, thanks for the advice, Dan

 

[possum]

I watched my 'smith remove/install them using a Hydraulic press to get em out. I've had my Mepros for a year now with no problems. You can also try springerprecision.com as well. If you decide to go the "mailing off slide" route they will probably have a faster turn-around that Springfield themselves.

yeah this is what my smith said too, something about they have to be "pressed" in. I never heard of that before then.

 

[Just One Shot]

You might want to read my post about the fun involved with changing the sights on an XD over at XDtalk.com.

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/general-sa-xd-xd-m-talk/141400-adventures-sighting.html

 

[Mike J]

I put meprolights on my XD-40. Suffice to say the installation was easy. Getting the factory sights out was extremely difficult. I would consider it worth the money to get someone else to do it.

 

[dstark]

JOS, Thats the exact reason I am willing to pay for the installation, my frustration would probably get the best of me, and something would break. My hand sledge and frustration is not a good combo. Thanks for the link.

 

[JLaScala]

I did mine myself. You just need a vice, towel, can of wd40, small hammer, brass punch, and a couple of wood blocks. A friend to help stablize things when the tapping starts may help. If looking down the slide from the rear, the sights come out from right to left. Spray the stock sights with wd40 and let them soak for a while. Wrap the slide in a towel and secure it in the vice with the left side of the slide facing down. Put the wood blocks under the side you are tapping in order to prevent the slide from walking out of the vice. Place the punch on the right side of the sight being removed and begin tapping. You will need to give it some pretty good taps but nothing too overkill. Eventually you will see the sight begin to move out. Mine took about 30mins, including the installation of my tfo's. Hope I could be some help.

 

[Hk Dan]

JLaScala, you got lucky. Certainly care played a part in it, but having the right tools would have made it a lot less of a risk.

 

[JLaScala]

Paying $100 for a sight pusher that breaks half the time vs possibly scratching the finish on my slide was what it came down to. Let the Liquid wrench/wd40 soak long enough (even a couple of days), and wrap the punch with a layer of electrical tape to prevent scratching. Then the effort is minimal.

 

[ZeBool]

My buddy bought a set of meprolight night sights for his xd40sc. He took it to three local smiths to get the factory sights off, and none of them were able to. In fact, the one local shop broke 2 pushers during the attempt.

He called Springfield and they told him that they would take the sights off for 65 dollars. He told them that was bs, and they eventually agreed to take the sights off if he paid the shipping. He shipped it to them and they told him it would take 4 weeks to take the sights off THEY COULDN'T GET THE SIGHTS OFF EITHER. They ended up sending him a new slide. Well five weeks later no slide was in the mail so he starts calling. After the third call they rudely told him not to call anymore, and finally sent it 5 days later. Not sure how I feel about this.



Mine weren't near as difficult, but the local smith broke the vial on the front sight. However, I contacted Kimber(distributer of meprolight in US) and they sent one to me free of charge. Excellent experience with the CS there.

 

[Tilos]

No one, the smith or factory want/need the liability of breaking a vile and replacing it.
It's more a "don't want to" than a "I cannot".
Usually the sight maker is the only one willing to take the risk and a replacement is within arms reach when they do break one.
The gun factory is more likely to change out a sight if the one going on is sold by them and the brand/model they provide as an option on a new gun.

Usually if a sight is bought on-line, it's a yoyo...you're on your own.
You will have to decide the risk.

Another option is taking your slide to a gun show as people there will usually install while you watch if you buy it from them.
If they refuse, that says a lot about their experience with that brand of gun.

Tilos