Sight replacement directions

[adman]

I have to replace some contrast sights on a PM9 next week with night sights. Is there a direction of travel for removal and installation I should be mindful of?

Some pistols like a certain direction of removal and installation. Is this the case with the PM? I'm doing several pistols next week, this one included.

[wyntrout]

Take them off from left to right and install from the right to the left, as looking from rear of pistol. Don't beat on Night Sights or modify the dovetails. Remove material as necessary from the base of the sight or the sides to tightly fit your dovetail grooves.



I use a "cheap sight pusher" and am very careful with constant checking as not to scrape the slide or the dovetail walls... or the sights, when installing.

Wynn :)

[adman]

I use a similar rig (mine is Fisher), and for Sigs, I've been instructed to do the opposite: either way out; but left to right in. Nonetheless... I will defer to your experience on this, for sure...

I am concerned whether I have an old slide or new slide as it relates to ordering replacements. The Kahr site says look for the dimple. Well mine has two dimples. But mine is an old "blunt nose" PM9, so I wonder it it is really "new style."

Any help with this?

[b4uqzme]

The red arrow points to the dimple that indicates new/old style:

[gb6491]

I use a similar rig (mine is Fisher), and for Sigs, I've been instructed to do the opposite: either way out; but left to right in. Nonetheless... I will defer to your experience on this, for sure...

I am concerned whether I have an old slide or new slide as it relates to ordering replacements. The Kahr site says look for the dimple. Well mine has two dimples. But mine is an old "blunt nose" PM9, so I wonder it it is really "new style."

Any help with this?

Kahr is pretty specific about the location of the dimple that is used to indicate a "new style" slide (located towards the rear of the slide).
http://kahr.shopvisible.com/images/newslidestyle.jpg

My CW9 has the "new style slide", but like another member's (blunt nose) PM9, has two dimples on the underside of the slide. The rear one is as per the photo from Kahr's website.
http://i49.tinypic.com/1056r0i.jpg
If you look closely, it's apparent how the dovetails differ between the old (left) and new.
http://i47.tinypic.com/1zfklte.jpg
Notice that the old dovetail is also cut deeper into the slide.

BTW, I'm with Wynn on the off, left to right and on, right to left thing. However, I prefer a punch and hammer to remove the sights and a pusher for installation.
http://i51.tinypic.com/20h0vo4.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/20igs45.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/1z5tbiw.jpg
Regards,
Greg


Oops! I see b4uqzme has posted the gouge for the slide dimple as I was hunting and pecking on my keyboard....Well Done!

[adman]

Yes, I see the subtle difference in the dovetails and mine appears to be in the "new" category dimple-wise. I do have another dimple just north of this one, between the one in question and the extractor.

I am only reluctantly changing to tritium sights... I think all pistols used for an individual's personal defense should have the same sight systems across all guns (and platform, but that's difficult now), so I'm changing several at once.

[wyntrout]

I prefer the 3-dot Tritium sights and the TruGlo TFX Pro's are for my wife. Her vision is worse than mine and I thought the Fiber Optics and Tritium combo's would be best for her. I just sold 3 pistols at the last gun show and now we're down to 4 Kahrs and 4 Glocks, all of which have Night Sights. My Ruger MK III 22/45 Lite has the iron sights and a reflex-dot sight.

I really want one of those Wheeler Engineering Sight Pushers, but no one has them in stock with waits of 1 to 3 months or more. Then I read a review where someone broke one trying to remove an XD's sights... supposedly one of the hardest ones to remove. I would still like one, though, as it seems like the perfect thing for MOST pistols.

I would have had one by now if they were in stock... birthday in 13 days!

Wynn :)