XD sights?

[Kaos]

Anyone ever swapped the sights out in their XD?

Im looking to do this and wanted some advice before I decide if I want to do it or have a smith run it for me.

[diputs]

It is a pain but possible.... I changed the sights on both of my XD's and putting in the new ones isn't bad it's getting the front sight out that is the problem. I ended up cutting the one off but was able to get the other one to slide with a punch.

If you're afraid of scratching the slide just have a smith do it.

[Mtbkski]

Never tried it. But I have heard over and over again that it is a nightmare to try and do yourself. And a heck of a job for your local smithy too.

[JIMMYC308]

I put meprolite night sights on my XD9 and It was a real pain in the ass. I personally would not do it again myself. I boogered up my slide a little.

[billamj]

All I've ever heard is that it is a real pain for home smithing so I intend to have a qualified smith do it for me.

[Tomcat088]

I did mine myself. I'm a member of the XD forum, so I read what everybody had to say about it and some of the things that helped others get the job done. I tried everything, including putting the slide in the freezer, it didn't help mine. I also tried putting ice just on the sight and not on the slide, and it did not make the sights any easier to remove. I did have my slide in a heavy duty vice with some blocks on the side (this is a bit of a task on it's own). I had heard to use steel punches instead of brass punches, because so many people had broken brass punches. Well, I broke 3 steel punches. It appeared that the steel on the sights was harder than the steel on the punches because they just seemed to bounce of the sight and not budge it even a mm. I was trying to decide what to do, when my father (helping me figure this out) suggested, well son, how about we try an EZ Out. In case some of you aren't familiar with an EZ OUT, it's what you can use to remove screws that have been stripped out. My father had a HUGE "EZ OUT" that he used on an large electrical panel where someone had stripped out one of the lugs. So we kind of angled the EZ OUT so that it was flat on the sight and give it a good whack with a baby sledge. First hit, the rear sight that I couldn't even budge slipped about 1/2 out. Another light whack had it out. So on to the front sight, which felt even worse than the rear sight. Put the EZ OUT flush on it, gave it a good whack and it came 1/3 of the way out. Then a few more light whacks and it was all the way out as well. When I was putting my Heinie Straight 8's in, I did the reverse procedure. You must be VERY careful to get them started in the dove tail straight, LOTS of people have totally ruined their dovetails for the sights by starting them in crooked. I actually dinged the front sight just a little, the metal of it was a great deal softer than the factory front sight. It appeared that the larger surface area of the EZ OUT made it quite a bit easier to move the sight and there was no "bouncing" like what I experienced with the steel punch.

I'm gonna post a few pictures on this in case some of you are curious about the EZ OUT. Keep in mind they aren't that great because I took them with my cellphone. You can look carefully at the slide in the light, and see which side the sights were pushed in from. I would suggest that you remove them the way they were pushed in, and NOT just try to push them through (the same direction they were pushed in). Then add the new sights in the way the originals were pushed in. If you look carefully, you can also see some indention lines in the slide that will help you get the new sights centered, but they might need slight adjustment after you get the sights installed. There are sight tools made specifically for the XD to install sights, and fit the contour of the slide better, but they cost around $100. Most people would rather just pay a smith to do it. I also know some people that couldn't get the sights out with punch of sight pusher tool, and had to cut them out with a dremel. I didn't ding my slide at all, alot of people do, but I did mark the front sight just a little which I touched up with some bluing. You can search the XD forum for "sight removal" and there are more detailed accounts, I just figured I'd post up a more condensed version to give you an idea of what it entails. If you decide that you want to do it yourself, feel free to PM me or ask any questions you might have for me here and I'll help in any way that I can. Best of luck to you and here's the photos of the punch, it's made by PROTO has the number 952 on it, and I believe that my father purchased it for $6 from a lumberyard. It is very large and the one that we had onhand, you might be able to find a slightly smaller one that would also work as well. I do think that part of what helped deliver all the enegy of the hammer and make things easier though, was partially due to the size of the punch.

[Zef_66]

Someone on here awhile back bought a sight tool for the XDs. And they were in PA. Maybe try to search the sight, and with any luck, they will be close to you. I have heard it is a pain to do, but very doable. If I ever upgrade my sights, I plan on doing mine myself. I don't trust other people to work on my stuff.

[eviltelsa]

changing sights are easy on the xd just use old school tech, put a little peace of leather at the base of the dove tail and use a center punch, tap on it and release

[Tomcat088]

I tried with and without leather eviltelsa, and I just ended up breaking 3 center punches. Mine would NOT budge, then I finally decided to try that big EZ OUT after I was out of center punches and that's what got my sights to move. I'm not sure if you have changed XD sights, or if you just got lucky and yours was one of the sets that was "easy", but almost everybody I know on the XD forum has had trouble with theirs. Some of the premier gunsmiths for XD's like Scott Springer tell me that they have problems with them all the time and have to cut some out with a Dremel. There are a few who get lucky and have an easy set, but for the most part, it's not the easiest sight swap. There are even a few guys on the XD forum who have broken sight pusher tools trying to get their sights out. I'm not trying to be a jerk or something, I'm just wondering how much experience you've had with changing out XD sights.

[Kaos]

So I decided to try it myself...30 minutes later my new sights are installed.

Was actually not that hard, even for me who had never done that before.