I was fit to be tied last night. Got a set of Ameriglo CAP sights and proceeded to put them on.
I knew going in I was in for a fight. I swapped out my sights on the full size I have and had a little trouble even using my sight pusher on it. The Shield was a whole new hell.
Front sight was a pain but not horrible. Took about 30 min to get it moving and then all was well. The rear took a lot longer and I had to pull out the 1/2" drive sockets and breaker bar to get enough leverage on the pusher. The pusher has seen better days now but the sights are on and the gun is no worse for wear.
If I could pay money to smack the person who runs the press that S&W uses to put in the sights it would be money well spent in my eyes.
Try changing the sights on an Springfield xd or xdm.
I called three gunsmiths in my area.
They said they did not want to bother with it to much work need special tool etc.
Sent the slide out of state to have it done.
The front sight on my M&P 40 full size was that way also. I ended up letting just the front end of the slide soak in Deep Creep for several hours. Using a sight tool it finally broke lose but with a sound that made me think I snapped the slide in half. It was still difficult to remove but I did win that battle.
With affordable sight tools on the market today there's no excuse for every pistol owner NOT to have one. I bought several off of ebay for around $26 and they work as well as the $100 versions from other companies.
Even with sight tools the shield sights are the tightest sights I have ever replaced. I have a MGW made specifically for the shield and it was an ordeal to remove the rear sight. I have changed sights on full size and compact M&P's, Glocks, and Sigs, the shield by far was the worst. The sights do not have to be as tight as they are, why they bother to put a set screw with red lock stuff on it is another mystery to me.
I'd be scared to get the slide too hot as it's tempered steel. Once you go past a certain temp there is no going back without a good retempering and heat treating.
If you are having a lot of trouble .... place a few drops of your favorite liquid gun lube in the corners where the sight and slide meet. Let that sit for 5 minutes or so and then go back to working on it. 99% of the time this works EVERY time. I've had some stubborn 1911 sights that I thought wouldn't come off with an air chisel. A few drops of oil and patience, and my problem was solved.
Shield sights have always been several times harder to remove than f/s and compacts. I've been thinking about shipping up our 50 ton hydralic press (currently in storage out of state) and milling a jig specifically for the Shield. In the interim, Shield factory sights are considered nothing more than sacrificial material.
The problem was too many people bitching about sight drift in the other models, so they used geometric tolerancing to increase the amount of interference fit. I'm very certain that it was intentional.
I put my slide in the freezer for a few hours and the front sight came out pretty easily. The rear sight was a whole different story though. I had to take a torch to the set screw in order to break the red loctite they put on there.
I realized that going into removing the sight. It isn't difficult, just annoying more than anything. On the safe side, I also removed the rear slide plate and striker assembly to protect the plastic parts.
I've heard a real easy way to remove the front sight is to use compound w freeze off wart remover on the base of the sight. Haven't done it yet, but it seems logically sound and much quicker than putting your slide in the freezer.
You think S&W sights are hard to drift? Try a Sig sight. I literally needed to use a sight moving tool with an 18" crescent wrench to move it and it really took that much force. No amount of pounding with a brass drift would budge that thing. It makes the S&W sights feel like warm butter. Amazing what the mechanical advantages are of a jack screw
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