Sight pusher tool

ironmike86 said:

Any good places to get a good sight pusher tool? All the ones I see are ~$90. MGW.For a Glock. Is that pretty much the prices?? I don't want to use punches.
And beat the heak out of my guns. :headscratch: TIA.

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Generally you either Pony up the bucks (good ones that do front and rear are usually more than $90), go to a gun shop where you're a regular and ask to borrow, or ask on a forum to borrow one.

If you belong to a club they usually have one or two lying around and the Range officer will let you use it if you ask nicely. It's in their interest to have you hitting the paper. All my movable sights are metal, and a brass drift punch, with a little electrical tape on it causes no problem. Plastic sights? I wouldn't use a punch either!

ironmike86 said:

I see you use punches and don't have any problems? I seem them use punches and a vise on Ytube. No problems but some ppl miss.

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Well I just do it, you know? First of all, I OWN my guns. I don't think about resale, or trading. So a blemish here or there, and I don't mind. Some of my ruger 22 auto pistols have scrapes and bruises from having to deal with the PITA field stripping of them, like a stuck pin and me not having the a brass punch around. They function 100% so I don't care. I've actually not damaged any of my guns adjusting the sights, but I've also never removed or replaced sights. just made minor adjustments.

Just determine a couple things. Watch some videos of installs on glocks without a press. Ask yourself "am I comfortable doing this?"

If you aren't comfortable, ask yourself, "Am I likely to do this again!". If working on sights isn't going to be a lifestyle for you, $40 for a pro to do it, especially if they are going to sight you in at least on the black, if not dead center, is $50 less than buying a tool you aren't going to use again.

We all hate to pay, but sometimes it's cheaper than learning hard lessons.

ironmike86 said:

Yup I agree. If I could find on used. I may just go with the punch. I saw a goos vid with one guy that was actually carefull. They are fixed sights so. Thanks

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well secure the slide well, and I do put a couple layers of electrical tape on my punch.

If you use brass to drift the sights some metal may transfer... I use some gun solvent and brush it usually cleans right up... night sight are not recomended to be punch drifted.. but my local gunsmith told me about guys dropping their guns on cement on the sights and not breaking the tubes... so as long as they aren't to tight and you don't have to beat the bejeeziz out of them to move you should be alright...

I like to caution anyone who goes looking for a "sight pusher" to first make sure that they need one. I've seen way too many shooters blame their inability to hit the center of a target on the sights. In many cases it's merely a matter of adjusting grip or the amount of trigger finger used.

If you haven't, try shooting from a solid rest. A machine rest is best but any rest from just a box to a sandbag will help. Make sure that the point of impact is off because of a mis adjusted sight first. Then, one more step. Check out this:



Lots of people that have asked me for help on adjusting a sight have used this chart to correct what they first blamed on the gunsight. You'd be amazed at how much difference just the placement of the trigger finger can make.

Just print this out and use it as a target. It will tell you a lot about your shooting style.

deadshot2 said:

I like to caution anyone who goes looking for a "sight pusher" to first make sure that they need one.

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True dat. I always bench fire when adjusting sights. With my M&P the first 20 rounds off-hand were low and left. I just figured, hey, I'll hold at one o'clock with this gun at 25 yards, and at closer range it's not a problem. By round 15 the shots started creeping up towards one o'clock, and by round 25 I was holding dead center, and had many shots in the 9 and a full on bull.

It took a couple hundred rounds to really get a feel. And I still go low left every once in a while, and it's always a surprise. I always feel like I'm holding well and pulling straight back smoothly.

Another consideration is the "sight picture".

An example:



When aiming, this picture is an example of a perfect sight picture. Does it remain that way when you pull the trigger? It's essential that the "post" be perfectly centered in the "Notch". You'd be amazed at how often this isn't the case and it's just a little off center. With a short sight radius on a pistol (as compared to a rifle) this can mean huge errors on a target, depending on distance.

Just another one of the many factors effecting accuracy that need to be addressed before moving a sight.

deadshot2 said:

Another consideration is the "sight picture".

An example:

When aiming, this picture is an example of a perfect sight picture. Does it remain that way when you pull the trigger?

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I do a lot of dry firing with snap-caps just for that reason. You can watch how things move when the trigger breaks.

philster said:

I do a lot of dry firing with snap-caps just for that reason. You can watch how things move when the trigger breaks.

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Another trick is to use a pencil.

First tape a piece of paper on the wall with a dot on it.

Place a sharpened #2 pencil in the barrel of your cocked but unloaded pistol, pushing the eraser tight against the breech face.

Take aim on the dot while holding the tip of the pencil about an inch or so from the paper.

Shoot. (the firing pin will drive the pencil forward enough to leave a small dot on the paper just below the aim point)

Repeat several times and then see how many dots you have made on the paper. It's not so important that they be in any relationship to the dot you used to aim but it's important that they all be together. One nice dark dot would be perfect and indicate that your trigger technique is uniform. Once you have that achieved then other adjustments can be made if necessary to bring the POI to the POA.

Just make sure that the paper is thick enough so you don't make big black dots on the wall. Wives, girlfriends or Significant Others take a dim view of that and your practice sessions may be curtailed.

deadshot2 said:

Another trick is to use a pencil.

First tape a piece of paper on the wall with a dot on it.

Place a sharpened #2 pencil in the barrel of your cocked but unloaded pistol, pushing the eraser tight against the breech face.

Take aim on the dot while holding the tip of the pencil about an inch or so from the paper.

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Ha! I'm not above giving that a try! I've been doing something I saw on the Magpul dynamic handgun video. Keep your eyes glued to the front sight even after the shot is launched and try to call your shots based on where the sight went as you shot and during recoil. You know gun raised to the right after the trigger pull = 1 o'clock. It's pretty cool, and it really forces you to keep your eyes open. No flinching allowed!

One advantage is it really slows you down and helps you concentrate on technique because you can't help thinking "what did I do on that last shot" as you check your hit, and analyze what to do next shot.

philster said:

Ha! I'm not above giving that a try! I've been doing something I saw on the Magpul dynamic handgun video. Keep your eyes glued to the front sight even after the shot is launched and try to call your shots based on where the sight went as you shot and during recoil. You know gun raised to the right after the trigger pull = 1 o'clock. It's pretty cool, and it really forces you to keep your eyes open. No flinching allowed!

One advantage is it really slows you down and helps you concentrate on technique because you can't help thinking "what did I do on that last shot" as you check your hit, and analyze what to do next shot.

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That's a good exercise too but unlike using the pencil it makes too big a hole in the wall when you do it at home:scared:

I'm a big fan of repetition. The more one does something right in practice the greater the likelihood they will do it right when under stress and their life depends on it.

Another good "flinch catcher" is to have a friend load your magazines and include some random snap caps. Set up a video camera and then shoot. The video will catch that flinch when you hit one of those snap caps.