Richmond Area Gunsmith Capable of installing Sights on XD?

[xjohnx]

So in my quest to find some Trijicons for my XD Subcompact tonight, I was told by green top they don't stock them because they don't have the tool to install them. I found them at gander mountain, but they dont' have a gunsmith at that store yet... So does anyone know of a smith in the Richmond area who has installed sights on an XD before, and is capable of doing it again?

[xjohnx]

anyone? I called southern police equipment and they don't have a gunsmith. They recommended Dominion Shooting Range (who is in the same lot as them.). Has anyone here used them for any kind of gunsmitthing service?

[tom357]

I can recommend Charles Sodan, at TTI International, in Glen Allen. They are located on Route 1, not far from Bass Pro Shops. The website is still under construction, but this gives you contact info. If he can't take care of it, himself, there are several fine gunsmiths with various specialties in the shop. Excellent turnaround and workmanship. Reasonable prices.

[xjohnx]

Damn, wish i had saw this earlier. I took it to dominion on my lunch break yesterday and was in such a rush that i didn't inspect it before leaving.

after i got it home and looked at it, this is what i found:











I tried to clean it up a bit with a file, and it looks a little better now. I'm trying to find someone that i can send the slide to and have them try to clean it up a little more, and then recoat the slide. Here's how it looks after i cleaned it up..

[herohog]

I would NOT be happy with that job...

[Moccasin]

I could have done better than that. I suspect that you could have too xjohnx.

[allingeneral]

did THEY do that to the slide, or was it already damaged like that when you took it to them? If they did it, I would take it back and raise hell! Take the pictures with you. I can't believe that they did that to your piece and just left it like that. Pretty shoddy workmanship!

This might be worth adding to the "Gunsmith reviews" forum!

[Moccasin]

Rick, looks to me like they did it removing the old sights. I'm guessing they used steel punches instead of brass punches.

[xjohnx]

yeah, it was perfectly fine when i brought it in, but i have a feeling that I have little recourse since i made the mistake or not noticing it before i left. Even if they wanted to try and fix it, i'm not sure I'd trust them to at this point.... I think i'll just take my lumps and find someone that i can send the slide off to and get hard chromed.

Maybe these guys, they appear to do good work..

http://www.originalmetaloy.com/

[Moccasin]

Buy yourself a set of brass punches and a vice. At that point you'll only have yourself to blame.

[xjohnx]

Thankfully it's not going to impact how effective the gun is, but still an ugly little scar. Oh well, it's my daily carry weapon, not a safe queen.

I agree about purchasing the punches. That's my plan for the future.

You live, you learn.

[Moccasin]

I try to do as much "gunsmithing" as I can on my own. Really, unless you are talking making a barrel or some such, most of us can do what we need to have done. Most of the tools needed can be paid for after a couple of uses.

[zephyp]

Wow. I would not be happy with that. Glad you posted it since I'm looking at getting a sight job on two of mine. Thanks for the link too. Looks like those guys have competitive prices. Only problem is I would hate to ship one of my guns anywhere.

[Trackers]

Wow ! I just finished gunsmith school and that job looks awful. I agree it looks as if it was hit with a steel punch. I would hope I would never let something out of my shop that looked like that. Accidents will happen at times but I feel it would be my responsibility to replace the slide if I messed up like that.

The best way to move a sight is with a sight pusher that is made to do this with. I just bought a pusher and they are expensive though. Well to be truthful everything concerning gunsmith tools are expensive.

It looks as if there is space on each side of the new sight. Maybe you can get a piece of metal machined to fit on each side of the sight with a dovetail and cover this botch? Actually a piece of composite material would be better.

Just a thought. I would have to study it a while and see if it can be done.

[wrt81]

Man that sucks, they should pay to have it fixed or at least refund the money you spent on having the sights installed.

As far as refinishing, I've seen great feedback from the below two companies on sigforum.com

http://www.customizedcreationz.com/home.html

http://www.ccrrefinishing.com/

[gunderwood]

The best way to move a sight is with a sight pusher that is made to do this with. I just bought a pusher and they are expensive though. Well to be truthful everything concerning gunsmith tools are expensive.

A steel punch should not have been used here. IMHO, steel should only be used to push certain pins out. Brass can work for sight adjustments, but a sight pusher is a significantly better option. Especially with tritium sights.

I have the a nice Glock sight pusher if anyone wants to barrow it.

[gregj]

That definately sucks. If nothing else, I would take it back and talk to no one but the owner/manager, and see if this is the normal level of quality that leaves his store.

The XD sights are notoriously tight. So much so that sometimes a punch is not enough to get them out.

Here's a post on the XDTalk.com website about sight pushers. Too bad this is after the fact.

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/sa-xd-xd-m ... usher.html