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I've made a few calls and it seems that noone wants to touch an XD for a sight install due to them being particularly fickle.
I can send the slide to Springer Precision but would rather spend my money locally.
Any ideas on a reputable, quality gunsmith that could help me out?

Many places that sell the sights will install them for free. Where I've seen problems is when you buy the sights online then want a local smith to install them. You could always opt for getting your own rear sight pusher too and just doing the work yourself.

I was about to suggest the XD forum but I see you've already posted there!

Quahog wrote:Many places that sell the sights will install them for free. Where I've seen problems is when you buy the sights online then want a local smith to install them. You could always opt for getting your own rear sight pusher too and just doing the work yourself.

I was about to suggest the XD forum but I see you've already posted there!

The reason most smiths don't want to deal with them is that they're so extremely tight in their milled slots that even professional sight pusher tools won't work on most of them. They often have to be cut out before replacements can be installed.

I had mine done at DFW Guns on Mockingbird Lane, and they did a great job.

Changed the sights on 2 of my xd pistols. Sights on 4" .357sig came out fairly easy with brass punch. Sights(rear) on .40sc would not move with brass punch so I bought a sight tool. After 2 hours of tapping and turning on pusher the rear sight finally came out. It can be done but sometimes they are a little tough. If you buy a universal tool you will always have it for future sight adjustments.

Sidro wrote:Changed the sights on 2 of my xd pistols. Sights on 4" .357sig came out fairly easy with brass punch. Sights(rear) on .40sc would not move with brass punch so I bought a sight tool. After 2 hours of tapping and turning on pusher the rear sight finally came out. It can be done but sometimes they are a little tough. If you buy a universal tool you will always have it for future sight adjustments.

You've got more patience than I have. I've also seen techniques that start with putting the slide in the freezer for a few hours and then heating the sight area suddenly, but when things get to the point where extreme measures are needed, I'm happy to pay the gunsmith to make sure it comes out right rather than risk a slipped punch or a change in the temper of the slide material.

Excaliber wrote:

Sidro wrote:Changed the sights on 2 of my xd pistols. Sights on 4" .357sig came out fairly easy with brass punch. Sights(rear) on .40sc would not move with brass punch so I bought a sight tool. After 2 hours of tapping and turning on pusher the rear sight finally came out. It can be done but sometimes they are a little tough. If you buy a universal tool you will always have it for future sight adjustments.

You've got more patience than I have. I've also seen techniques that start with putting the slide in the freezer for a few hours and then heating the sight area suddenly, but when things get to the point where extreme measures are needed, I'm happy to pay the gunsmith to make sure it comes out right rather than risk a slipped punch or a change in the temper of the slide material.

Been ther done that and had an original Belgium slide on my Browning Hi-Power destroyed by a well thought of gunsmith! My point is that if youhave thecorrect equipment and the patience to do it doing it yourself is a viable option.

CompVest wrote:

Excaliber wrote:

Sidro wrote:Changed the sights on 2 of my xd pistols. Sights on 4" .357sig came out fairly easy with brass punch. Sights(rear) on .40sc would not move with brass punch so I bought a sight tool. After 2 hours of tapping and turning on pusher the rear sight finally came out. It can be done but sometimes they are a little tough. If you buy a universal tool you will always have it for future sight adjustments.

You've got more patience than I have. I've also seen techniques that start with putting the slide in the freezer for a few hours and then heating the sight area suddenly, but when things get to the point where extreme measures are needed, I'm happy to pay the gunsmith to make sure it comes out right rather than risk a slipped punch or a change in the temper of the slide material.

Been ther done that and had an original Belgium slide on my Browning Hi-Power destroyed by a well thought of gunsmith! My point is that if youhave thecorrect equipment and the patience to do it doing it yourself is a viable option.

I've got a pretty good set of tools and a lot of experience in the shop.

I took my XD and night sights to the gunsmith only after multiple attempts to remove the originals with a heavy duty P-500 steel sight tool cranked as hard as I dared without stripping the threads on the tool, and a lot of enthusiastic pounding on the vise mounted slide with hammer and punch. The sights on that gun wouldn't budge.

Sights on other individual guns might not be that tight, but the ones on that gun behaved like they'd been installed with a hydraulic ram. I don't think they were unique because the gunsmith wasn't at all keen about accepting it to work on. After trying all his tricks and tools, he ended up having to mill them out.

That was the only time I've had a gunsmith work on sights on one of my guns in over 20 years.

I have another XD sight replacement project coming up, and I'm going to give it another try in my shop. I'll let you know how that comes out.

With something like an XD I wouldn't have any problems taking it to a gunsmith as it is possible to get a new slide but something like my Browning... It took that gunsmith a while to find a replacement!

CompVest wrote:With something like an XD I wouldn't have any problems taking it to a gunsmith as it is possible to get a new slide but something like my Browning... It took that gunsmith a while to find a replacement!

The reason I took that XD to the gunsmith was that if he messed up the slide, replacement was on him. If I did it, it would've been on me. The cost of the gunsmith work and the cost of a replacement slide differed by about a factor of 10. That was more than I was willing to risk in that case.

Excaliber wrote:

CompVest wrote:With something like an XD I wouldn't have any problems taking it to a gunsmith as it is possible to get a new slide but something like my Browning... It took that gunsmith a while to find a replacement!

The reason I took that XD to the gunsmith was that if he messed up the slide, replacement was on him. If I did it, it would've been on me. The cost of the gunsmith work and the cost of a replacement slide differed by about a factor of 10. Risk management principles drove that decision.

Edit: Well, I took a shot at changing the sites on an XD compact yesterday. No go with either the punch and vise or P-500 sight tool methods.

The biggest issue is that the XD slide doesn't have flat sides. When it's clamped in either the vise or the sight pusher tool and heavy pressure is applied to the sights, the slide twists in its mount before the sights begin to move. This prevents the full force of the effort from being concentrated on the sight.

Has anyone come up with a clever way of getting around this, short of creating a holding jig by routing out a couple of pieces of wood or plastic to match the shape of the slide?

AndyC wrote:I had a 1911 like that once; I eventually had to take a Dremel and cutting wheel and slice vertically through the sight-blade from the side. Didn't have to cut all the way through, either - only partly through the dovetail base of the sight to give it enough room to distort slightly when hit with a punch.

Andy:

Thanks for the tip. I had considered doing something similar, but my thought was to cut a V shaped groove along the sight's axis and either try to collapse it with pliers, or use a fine tooth hacksaw blade to go far enough into the dovetail to give it the flexibility you describe. Your method sounds simpler.

I came up with one more clamping option I'm going to try - adding a wood block on top of the slide while it's mounted in the P-500 tool and using a C clamp to put enough pressure on the block to keep the slide from twisting in the tool. I'll give that a shot first because it's simpler and less prone to a slip that could damage the slide.

I'll let you know how I make out.

Medicman, if you can't find someone to install adjustable sights, I have an XD 45 ACP i would sell you will Dawson adjustable sights already installed. They were installed by Dawson.

gwtrikenut wrote:Medicman, if you can't find someone to install adjustable sights, I have an XD 45 ACP i would sell you will Dawson adjustable sights already installed. They were installed by Dawson.

Thanks for the offer but as of right now Im not in the market for another pistol though I do really want to get into the 45 realm of awesomeness and putt the BG on his butt power.
So shoot me a PM with the proce and I'll holler at you when Im more in the market.
Also, I already have the sights I need installed and will probably just send it off to Springer Precision.