G19 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 (edited) I'm replacing the factory rear sight on my M&P 9L with a Dawson rear. I noticed that after heating up and removing the sight set screw, the slide no longer mounts to the frame. The polymer housing in the rear of the slide sits lower and its tabs are now down far enough to block the slide rail that the frame's metal tabs would fit in. Is this normal once the rear sight set screw has been loosened? Hope I didn't damage anything by using a heat gun - required a fair bit of heat to break the loctite bond. Pic of underside of rear of slide: I went ahead and removed the rear sight. There is a flat circular piece and a spring just below that, and those are the only 2 loose pieces. Just wanted to make sure everything looks normal and that I don't need to search the floor for something that came flying off without my noticing. Edited June 11, 2015 by G19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nwhpfan Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 The striker retaining plate should be pushed in more until it clicks. Then those plastic tabs you speak of will be out of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G19 Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 The striker retaining plate should be pushed in more until it clicks. Then those plastic tabs you speak of will be out of the way. Doesn't seem to want to click into place. But then again, I have the sight removed, so maybe that's why. Is it safe to remove that retaining plate and striker assembly while the rear sight is off the slide? Might as well use this opportunity to check that everything looks ok and to clean the striker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horseman Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Am I not seeing the striker housing melted into a blob? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkreutz Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Am I not seeing the striker housing melted into a blob? Looks like that to me as well, the striker and rear cap should have been removed before using a heat gun since they are both plastic. I'd say it's time for a new striker assembly and possibly a rear cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G19 Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 (edited) Am I not seeing the striker housing melted into a blob?Yep, it's melted: Looks like that to me as well, the striker and rear cap should have been removed before using a heat gun since they are both plastic.Indeed. I watched a couple of videos on M&P sight replacement and none of them mentioned this. Should have asked here instead! Didn't realize how much plastic was inside the slide (never performed any slide disassembly before). It looks like the striker spring guide is damaged as well. How to remove that? It seems somewhat stuck. Also, I've got the sight off and striker block spring out, but the striker block seems stuck as well. Shouldn't it come right out once the sight is off? Edited June 11, 2015 by G19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G19 Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 (edited) Got the striker spring guide and striker block out. I think they were 'stuck' because the spring guide came partially out when I pulled out the striker assembly (I think the polymer parts of the assembly were partially fused to the spring guide, thus pulling the guide when I removed the assembly). The partially retracted spring guide was pressing against the striker block preventing the latter from being removed. After working the spring guide back and forth with some needle nose pliers, I was able to fully remove it, and then the striker block fell out. Any other parts in the slide that might have been damaged by the heat? Might as well order everything together. I suppose I should clean out the striker channel and the rest of the slide with acetone to remove any trace bits of melted plastic. Edited June 11, 2015 by G19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash74 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Replace the plastic parts and the striker spring and you should be good to go. I don't think enough heat was applied to affect any of the metal parts except for possibly the striker spring. Springs are cheap so I would replace it for piece of mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G19 Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 Replace the plastic parts and the striker spring and you should be good to go. I don't think enough heat was applied to affect any of the metal parts except for possibly the striker spring. Springs are cheap so I would replace it for piece of mind.Do you know if the striker assembly is sold in parts? On Brownells, I only see the entire striker assembly, not the components. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveac1 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 (edited) Get some replacements parts as stated from Midway or Brownells. Edited June 11, 2015 by steveac1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWallace Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 From my understanding that delrin sleeve you pulled out is pressed in at the factory. Though I do believe you can reinsert it yourself, I'm not aware of a method to do it as I've never done it before. I'm sure it's as easy as pushing/pulling it out and then just being very careful on reinsertion. Also, in the future you want to remove the firing pin assembly before removing the front sight. From personal experience you can cause a small knick or burr in the plastic sleeve that can cause the firing pin/plunger to stick. You also shouldn't need to heat the rear sight up much (if at all) to remove that set screw. I know I haven't had to in the past for any of the M&P's I own/have worked on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G19 Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 (edited) Called S&W and ordered the following: - slide end cap assembly - striker spring guide - striker assembly From my understanding that delrin sleeve you pulled out is pressed in at the factory. Though I do believe you can reinsert it yourself, I'm not aware of a method to do it as I've never done it before. I'm sure it's as easy as pushing/pulling it out and then just being very careful on reinsertion.I asked about that; sounds like you just push it in to install it. It does have some teeth that mate with the end of the striker channel, so that has to be lined up. Also, in the future you want to remove the firing pin assembly before removing the front sight. From personal experience you can cause a small knick or burr in the plastic sleeve that can cause the firing pin/plunger to stick. You also shouldn't need to heat the rear sight up much (if at all) to remove that set screw. I know I haven't had to in the past for any of the M&P's I own/have worked on.Good to know re: front sight. I guess it's all good as I'm replacing the striker assembly anyway. That set screw was on pretty tight; felt like I was going to strip the screw head, which is why I used the heat gun. Edited June 11, 2015 by G19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkreutz Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Installing the spring guide is easy, just push it in as far as you can with your finger, then put the striker assembly in and push it in, then push down the striker block and put the striker all the way forward and the guide will be installed. I change the striker guide every 30 K rounds, blowback gets in there and embeds into the plastic and after a while it gets gritty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G19 Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 Installing the spring guide is easy, just push it in as far as you can with your finger, then put the striker assembly in and push it in, then push down the striker block and put the striker all the way forward and the guide will be installed. I change the striker guide every 30 K rounds, blowback gets in there and embeds into the plastic and after a while it gets gritty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougM Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 MrWallace said, "Also, in the future you want to remove the firing pin assembly before removing the front sight. From personal experience you can cause a small knick or burr in the plastic sleeve that can cause the firing pin/plunger to stick." Afraid I don't understand this. I've pulled and replaced my front sight 3 times so far and don't think (hope?) I've damaged anything. Can you explain how the damage may occur to the plastic sleeve? I want to watch out for that in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bkreutz Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 MrWallace said, "Also, in the future you want to remove the firing pin assembly before removing the front sight. From personal experience you can cause a small knick or burr in the plastic sleeve that can cause the firing pin/plunger to stick." Afraid I don't understand this. I've pulled and replaced my front sight 3 times so far and don't think (hope?) I've damaged anything. Can you explain how the damage may occur to the plastic sleeve? I want to watch out for that in the future. I'm pretty sure he meant to say "rear" sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWallace Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Yeah I meant rear sight haha sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salsantini Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 I've replaced the rear and front sights many times on M&P pros and standard length pistols. I've never needed to heat the slide. Luckily its not that expensive to replace the damaged parts. Heat does work well if you remove all the parts from the slide. Cold also works well. You can put the slide in the freezer overnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgj3 Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 You can often get the individual parts from Speed Shooter Specialties as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougM Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 +1 on Speed Shooters. Great people to deal with and fast shipping. Definitely my "go to" place for the M&P parts they stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeinctown Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Salsantini, rather than leaving your slide in the freezer, a can of compressed air turned upside down also works to freeze parts and can be placed with some accuracy. Though I haven't ever used the method on a pistol, I have used it on some auto repair applications. One of the videos on the Apex website also shows removal of the rear site, though it didn't look like there was any thread compound on the set screw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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