I bought a P320 from a favored FFL this summer, but was gone all summer; I asked them to replace the sights with Trijicon HD's, to be ready when I got back. They agreed. When I picked up the pistol this fall, no sight replacement.

I had another set of sights for it, so yesterday stopped at the same place, asked them to install the sights. They didn't have the correct pusher, it turned out, and couldn't. I stopped in a couple of other places; they couldn't either, but pointed to a gunsmith at a nearby indoor range.

I went to the range, the smith said he could do it while I waited. Twenty five bucks. I thought he would use a pusher, but he didn't. He slapped the slide in a vice, got a drift (not a brass drift) and hammered away. I could have done that. He handed me the sights that had been installed...I'd have sold them, but they're messed up now, clearly beaten and peened. He left marks on the new sights, which were brand new, and the slide, and touched it up with cold bluing.

This guy is the gunsmith at a fairly high volume range, ought to have more ability than getting certification out of a correspondence school or box of cracker jacks. Not the first one I've seen like that...but deeply disappointing.

I had a sight pusher at home, but wouldn't work well with the sight configuration on this particular pistol.

Quite disappointed. I wonder how many other pistols he's screwed up for people? The worst I've ever seen was a range in Reno. This one is in the Phoenix area. Sad days.

I hope he didn’t crack a vial by hammering them in. I’ve lent my pusher to quite a few people who tried to hammer their night sights in, cracked a vial, and had to buy a second set. Trijicon is adamant that they won’t replace anything under warranty unless you send it to them so they can make sure you didn’t beat them in. If they’re damaged, they’ll go dark within a few days, and I’d march right back to the smith that did it.

That's too bad. I've had nothing, repeat nothing but bad experiences with gunstore gunsmiths. Frankly, I think they are a lot of hacks out there.

I don't think a vial was cracked, but the edges of the dovetail material near the site was badly peened, especially on the sight coming out.

I could have knocked the damn thing in and out with a hammer...and with a BRASS punch, too. I paid twenty five bucks for someone who was supposed to know what he was doing.

That was the first and last time that guy got any business of mine.

I hate that. If a gunsmith ain't backed up at least a month or more - pass. They ain't worth fooling with. I have run my own shop and speak with experience.

Sorry for you to read that, but I’m grateful to “professional gunsmiths” like that.

After several such experiences long ago I finally decided I couldn’t screw things up any worse than such gun butchers and I started learning how to work on my guns myself. With the exception of Grayguns that I’ve had do a couple of things in recent years (and performed excellent work), if I can’t do it myself, it doesn’t get done.

There are some nice guys on this forum that lend out their sight pushers to those who want it.

Next time you should consider it.

As far as the sights go, you can file/blend the damaged areas and hit it with some cold blue.

Bob

The traditional cold blues I’m familiar with won’t work on stainless steel, so I’d be conservative about planning to fix something with a file and then hiding the work. Rather than a real cold blue, I suspect the “’smith” just covered it up with a paint or ink product like a Sharpie.

I had the exact same experience as you with an XDS when they first came out. The “gun smith” killed the front sight on my brand new trijicon HD’s and then denied it and wouldn’t do anything to make it right. I’ll never go back there again. It’s a shame because I really liked that store and it’s a very popular one in my area

I am not the handiest of guys. But many years back I started buying the appropriate tools and doing minor installs/mods myself. SIGHTS currently one of them.

The second he was going to HAMMER them out I would have stopped him. ESPECIALLY without a brass drift.

One can learn most all of the common mod's we like to do , from You Tube videos.