front sight loose

Biggjimm · Post by **Biggjimm** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 9:30 am

I finally got the factory sights out of my xdm. They were tight but not as bad as all the stories I've read about. I think a lot of people are scared to use a big enough hammer to get the job done. Anyways on to my problem, I had anticipated fitting the new sights but they went in fairly easy. The rear sight has a set screw on it so I'm not worried about it going anywhere but the front one is loose enough that it moved after I shot it for a while. Is there any neat little tricks to tighten the sight up? I thought about putting some red loctite on it but didn't know if there was a better idea. The sights are the tru-glo tfo ones w/ fiber optic rods & tritium in front of the fiber rods to make them glow at night. I thought maybe there was way I could stake the flange that goes into the dovetail a little to snug it up some but I don't want to damage the tritium vial inside. Any suggestions?

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:58 pm

There are several ways of doing it. Red LocTite will work just fine. Just remember it will require heat for it to release. But if you do not get all of the oil off it may not bond tight so heat may not be needed. They also make a flowable Loctite now that will work too. You can stake the bottom of the sight or put a shim under the sight. Always work on the cheapest part, aka sight.

Biggjimm · Post by **Biggjimm** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:01 pm

I just realized there is a hole (roughly 0.095") in the top of the slide under the front sight. Any reason why a guy couldn't tap that & install a set screw to hold the sight in place? The only drawback I can see is perhaps the hardness of the slide??? There's not a lot of room under the slide to access the set screw but I think I could cut a Allen wrench down & get in there to tighten it up ok.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:01 pm

Red Loctite will work, yes, but how will you then adjust the sight for windage?
You can use a center punch too raise some spots on the bottom of the sight, or peen the sharp edges of the dovetail to burr them over a bit, either way will make the sight ftr tighter. You could also center punch some spots on the bottom of the dovetail slot or peen the top edges down a little, this will also make it fight tighter,

Biggjimm · Post by **Biggjimm** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:04 pm

bearandoldman wrote:Red Loctite will work, yes, but how will you then adjust the sight for windage?
You can use a center punch too raise some spots on the bottom of the sight, or peen the sharp edges of the dovetail to burr them over a bit, either way will make the sight ftr tighter. You could also center punch some spots on the bottom of the dovetail slot or peen the top edges down a little, this will also make it fight tighter,

I thought if I just centered the front sight I could adjust the rear for windage if needed.

Post by **Bullseye** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:19 pm

Red LocTite is my preferred method. Don't worry, it's not as difficult as people think to remove the sight later with this sealant. The good thing is the sight won't move by forces of recoil.

R,
Bullseye

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:55 pm

Bullseye wrote:Red LocTite is my preferred method. Don't worry, it's not as difficult as people think to remove the sight later with this sealant. The good thing is the sight won't move by forces of recoil.

R,
Bullseye

Guess I still believe in the old ways. Did all of my mechanic/machinist stuff in the old days when those type of products were really new. A little crude but they work and can be done easily and no one will ever notice any of the work.

Biggjimm · Post by **Biggjimm** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:35 pm

I appreciate all the suggestions & input from everyone. That is one of the reasons this is my go to place for everything gun related. I've decided the first course of action should be to contact tru-glo & see what they had to say about the matter. I sent them an email explaining my situation today (Sunday) at 2:41pm. The web site said it may rake a couple days for them to respond. So I figured it would be mid week before hearing anything from them. They replied today (remember its Sunday) at 4:08pm & said to send them back & they would promptly make it right by me. So as much as I hate to not be able to shoot it for a while I would just as soon have the sights fitting properly. After all, I didn't spend good money for these sights only to have to monkey around with them to get them to work as advertised. Maybe if their repair people are as on the ball as the email answering people, I'll be back in business by the weeks end. With nice tight, not glued in sights no less. I'll let you know how it turns out. I already tell everyone about these tfo sights & how much I love them on my 9mm, but to know that they stand behind their products makes me feel that much better about recommending them to others.

Biggjimm · Post by **Biggjimm** » Wed Sep 19, 2012 5:01 pm

I got my new sights from tru-glo in under a week as promised. When I installed them they fit nice & tight. I had to fit the rear, it has a little hump on the dovetail, I guess to make sure they're tight, I had to remove that & they fit fine. Actually they were kind of a bear to get in but I wanted them tight. I've probably only shot it two times maybe 50 rds total since the new sights, and last night I was cleaning it & noticed the front sight looked off center so I gets my micrometer out & sure enough its moved 0.025" to the left. I can't understand why it's moving because it was so tight going in that I thought I was gonna tear something up before I got it centered up. I did put a tiny amount of oil on the sight to aid the installation but perhaps I shouldn't have. Perhaps I'll just knock it out & clean it good & put it back in with the red loctite. I still wonder about tapping that hole in the slide that's under the front sight & putting a set screw in it from underneath to hold it in place? Maybe I should call Springfield & make sure that wouldn't goof up the warranty & see what they suggest. ???

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:39 pm

Every time you remove the sight it will get looser. I would just degrees and then apply some loctite along the edge and give it a day to set.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:59 pm

I still prefer to make it fit tightly by making the male dovetail on the sight larger than the female in the barrel. This allow you to drift it easil for adjustment and no use red loctite that is gluing it in the slot,

john323 · Post by **john323** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 2:34 pm

I aggre with Bear.It's the old way and correct way to do it.

Post by **Bullseye** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:21 pm

In a lot of cases the manufacturer has the installer drill slide and pin the dovetail front sight in place to prevent walking. You don't get a press-fit with dovetail sights and there's a lot of forces acting upon the slide during recoil. You don't desire to apply LocTite that's up to you.

R,
Bullseye

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:26 pm

john323 wrote:I aggre with Bear.It's the old way and correct way to do it.

It worked lng before anyone ever thought of Loctite and will still work now.

Georgezilla · Post by **Georgezilla** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 11:40 pm

I have used red LocTite on rear sight dovetails before, just one little drop to the dovetail holds them solid. When removing the sights, I have not had to heat them up, the brass punch and hammer easily get them out.

A red LocTite'd screw is another story. As Blue points out, you will usually need a bit of heat to loosen up the red LocTite. Not a big problem either, just take a soldering iron to the screw and you're in business.