mjsdas
08-18-2011, 04:38 PM
I wanted to replace the original hard sights on my PM9. After reading several postings on this forum, I was concerned that it would be too difficult for me to tackle. I went ahead and purchased a set of green and a set of red Williams fiber optic sights directly from KAHR. I did this because I wanted the green rear and red front sights. It only took me 15 minutes to do the entire job. When I examined the slide on the PM9, it was easy to see that there was a very slight flare on the sight dove tails on one side of the slide. Removing the existing sights was easy. I use a bench vice and taped a piece of 1/4" flat alumium to each side of the vice opening. Painters tape worked well for this. I then removed the slide from the PM9 and put masking tape on both sides but not on the top. I then clamped the slide into the vice and only tightened it a little to snug the slide in place. Make sure that the slide is clamped in such a way as to allow the top to protrude above the top of the vice a little. Then I taped the end of a brass drift punch that fit into the dove tail opening. Put the taped drift punch onto the side of each sight that is oposite of the side that has the slight flare on it. Use a hammer to hit the drift punch until the sight starts to move out of the dove tail. When the sight is almost at the end of the dove tail you can remove it by hand. Then take the new Williams fiber optic sights and test fit them to the slide. Be sure to remove the allen screw from the rear sight before inserting. If the sight slides into the dove tail almost half way, you should be able to use the same brass drift punch and hammer to tap the new sights into place. If the sigths are too tight in the dove tail, remove them and use a file to remove material on the bottom or sides (whichever is rubbing). Test fit the adjusted sight often and only remove material very slowly. You can always remove more but you can't add it back. Once you get the new sight to fit almost half way into the dove tails, you can tap them in place with the brass drift punch and hammer. Take your time and go slow and you shouldn't have any problems. Be careful not to let the punch or hammer slip and hit the slide because it will definitely leave a mark. If you a reasonably handy with tools, you should be able to tackle this job in no time at all. After your new sights are installed take it to the range and make sure that they are sighted in properly. You may need to drift the rear sight left or right to get it into perfect alignment. Once you are happy with the sight alignment, put the allen screw into the rear sight and tighten it. Also put a couple drops of red lock-tite onto both sights and let it sit for a couple minutes. Then clean up the excess lock-tite with some alcohol. Good luck with this.