Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading anyone install sights on an xd themselves ?

I’ve done close to one hundred sets back when I was gunsmithing.

Put some Kroil or something on the dovetails, may not help but it won’t hurt.

Make damn sure the slide is clamped securely in a vise with a set of leather jaws. Rubber jaws will absorb too much of the force and the slide will move too much. Don’t collapse the rails with a cheater on the vise handle or anything, but you want it tight so it will not move.

Don’t plan on saving the old sights, if they come out okay then great but don’t count on it.

Once you have it clamped up tight with only about 1/4” of the top of the slide above the vise jaws use a smooth faced steel punch to drive them out. A brass punch will deform before you can get them moving and you’ll end up with gold marks that are hard to get off on the slide. Put a cotton patch between the steel punch and the sights if you want, it can help stop you from scratching anything if you slip. Use a good sized hammer, no 4 or 8 ounce ball peen for this job. One firm tap with a 16oz hammer will move the sight better than swinging for the fence with a little jeweler hammer.

Once you have the stock ones out fit the dovetails on the replacements slowly with a sharp dovetail file. You want them to be snug but no sense in fitting them like the factory where you need a hydraulic press to put them in.