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Tricks to remove stubborn front sight on Match Elite


Qbert

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I have a Witness Match Elite in 40 that I got a Dawson FO front for. For the life of me, I cannot bang out the front sight. I took out the set screw, bathed it in Kroil, tried heat, etc, and it won't budge. I've banged on it so hard that a brass punch dented, peened, and warped the hell out of the face of the front sight blade.

Any tricks to removing the front sight? For the record, I've replaced the one on my Match 9mm, and it also was tight as a drum, but it came out. But this 40 is giving me fits!

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Make sure you are hitting the sight as square as possible. If the punch isn't touching the top of the slide, it can cause the sight to bind up. I always worry I'm going to hit my slide when removing sights.

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Put it in the freezer. I catch the front sight on the edge of a saw horse then hit the front of the slide with a rubber mallet.

This works great.

OP are you sure you removed the setscrew? I made that mistake once before on a rear sight, LOL.

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himurax13,

I'm no PhD, but yes, I did remove the set screw. I tried Kroil, heat from a propane torch, brute force, and even sprayed butane directly on the front sight for cold. I'm going to try sticking the whole slide in the freezer tonight and give it another whack.

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himurax13,

I'm no PhD, but yes, I did remove the set screw. I tried Kroil, heat from a propane torch, brute force, and even sprayed butane directly on the front sight for cold. I'm going to try sticking the whole slide in the freezer tonight and give it another whack.

Soooo, did it work?!?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry I've taken so long to reply. No luck. I let the sight soak in Kroil for a couple days and then stuck it in the freezer for a couple hours. Did the whack a mole thing with the rubber mallet and everything. Didn't even budge. I'm considering using a dremel or drill press to just 'mill' the dang thing out.

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I wish it were that easy on my particular pistol. It's like they welded that bad boy in there and then peened the edges of the slide to stake it in as well!

I tell you, I'm beginning to think the only way to remove it is to have it milled out!

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