Questions:
1. Have you re-zeroed the gun yet? Was there any difficulty in re-zeroing it?
2. Installation: Did you use a sight pusher, or a mallet and a soft punch, or what?
3. Are the sights at all fragile? Were any special techniques necessary?
4. How does the "glow" part work? Tritium? Phosphorescence? Light exposure?
As to "1"...no. Only have the sight on and centered to where the factory sight was, based on a tell-tale "memory mark" on top of the slide.
As to "2"...After watching youtube videos, and studying the "sight pusher"(s) for sale online here and there...I decided to clamp the slide to a solid surface (in this case, my dresser top <<Suzi doesn't know yet...so Mum's the word...>>)...then, using a square wooden drift that I fashioned myself and a small hammer, drove the original sight out the LEFT side of the slide.
Then, cleaned up the dovetail area of the slide with solvent and 600 grit sandpaper before driving the new sight INTO THE LEFT SIDE of the slide dovetail notch.
There is a hole on top of the slide, as if the factory sight is "pinned", but there was no "pin". I plan to apply loc-tite to the entire assembly soon, as soon as I am completely satisfied that the new sight assembly is precisely where I want it to be on the slide. That hole will come in handy for that application.
As to "3"...the sight assembly is "light" enough that I feared it was polymer...but turns out it is aluminum, or at least, shines up like aluminum. Could be Mg (magnesium). After I realized THAT, I felt much better about sanding the surfaces and driving it in the notch with a drift (wood).
As to "4"...the tritium causes the "glow", and the open top for the light tube allows daylight to enter and make the "glow" brighter in daylight.
It's just now getting dark outside, so I'll cruise around out in the yard later to see just how much "glow" there is on the front sight in "total" darkness.
I know already that the "dot" is much smaller than the blade I had the glow tape on, and will therefore be a harder thing to see at night.
On the other hand, I won't have to charge the tape up with a flashlight every night like I've been doing for over a year.
So far, I'm pleased with the whole thing.
Force necessary was at the high end of what I'm willing to exert on materials.
If it was any harder to drive the factory sight out of the dovetail, I would have stopped and gone to a gunsmith, for fear of distorting the metal.
Turns out, for this installation anyway, it was just "hard enough" to get it done and feel good about it.
It was a good thing all around. I'm happy about it.
Now, if I can just SEE it at night, I'll be even happier!
