Loose Sig front sight, fix advice needed

[Iknownot]

I recently picked up a sig 225 that came with night sights.

The thing shoots straight as an arrow but the front sight is loose and will come off after x amount of rounds.

The sights are still reasonably bright, so I don't want or feel like spending money on a correct sized front sight.

I was thinking of possibly using some clear silicon to hold the front sight in place. This option seems like it could get messy and would look goobered up on close inspection. I'm also not sure what gun cleaner will do to silicon so it might be a temporary fix.

The other option I have been thinking of is getting an epoxy of some sort or something like JB weld and getting blob on the front edge of the sight and then smoothing it down with a dremel tool.

I figure that will give me enough material to provide enough tension to keep the front sight in place.

Good ideas? Anyone have any better solutions?

Thanks in advance.

[savasyn]

You should probably find a gun smith in your area to take a look at it. They should be able to find a way to set it in there without adhesive. You really don't want it in there permanently, especially with night sights that'll have to be swapped out in 15 years or so.

[Josh]

loctite #290 or #609

[chuck762]

Is it a dovetail the sight fits into? If so you have a couple of options. You can either use red loctite or you can use a center punch to raise a bunch of small dimples on the bottom of the sight BUT with your night sights that wouldn't be a good idea as it might break the vial of toxic glowing goo. You can raise them on the slide in a small areain the middle of the slot also but generally you want to do it on the cheapest part.

One other option is you can pin the sight in place with a roll pin. Not sure if there is enough metal in front of the vial to go through the center like they do with 1911 style sights such as the Novack ones but it is something else ihave seen done.

[supersonic]

OR, you could try "shimming" it with very small/very thin pieces of aluminum until you achieve a very snug fit. I did that to a friend's P226 2 yrs. ago (he was having same problem as you), and the SIG's been good to go since.

[Iknownot]

Is it a dovetail the sight fits into? If so you have a couple of options.

Dovetail? I'm not sure of the definitions, but the slot the sight fits into starts wider and then becomes skinnier towards the middle. You push the sight in from the side until it sits snuggly in the middle of the notch.

The front sight is just slightly too small so there's not enough tension to hold it in place.

I'm not sure what a roll pin is. Is there a link to a photo of it somewhere?

As for the shims, I was thinking shims would be a great idea. Where would I get super thin aluminum shims from? I've never run across really thin small aluminum pieces.

Any suggestions where I can find tiny shims?

As for the red lock-tite questions, would that actually hold the sight in place, if there's not quite enough tension to hold it in place? I'm thinking it'd eventually fall out. If this works for sure, let me know because this is by far the simplest solution.

Also, can you remove dried lock-tite easily later on? It leaves a mark, from what I've seen as it is basically super glue. Do solvents remove it with out ruining the finish on the slide?


BTW, thanks for the help everyone.

[aca72]

Spend a little more and send it to SIG Sauer for complete spa package aka SIG Service Plan (SSP).

http://www.sigsauer.com/CustomerService/SSP.aspx

To save on shipping, you may pre-pay SIG Sauer the round trip ticket if they still offer that service.

[supersonic]

Look in yellow pages under something like "metal/steel fabrication" or "metal/aluminum supplie(r)s". A lot of the time, at the fab shops they'll have "scraps" lying around that they will give you, or sell you for next to nothing. You want to find scraps of aluminum as thin (.250-.500mm) as possible. Sometimes, you will get lucky & one piece will do the trick. Just make sure to cut the piece(s) to exactly the same dimensions as the underside of your front sight. Good luck to you!

[jchen76@gmail.com]

That happened to my NIB SIG 228 the first range session. If it's still under warranty call SIG arms customer support. They emailed me a UPS overnight label, fixed it one week and overnighted back. It seems they installed the incorrect front sight size from the factory.

[Iknownot]

Look in yellow pages under something like "metal/steel fabrication" or "metal/aluminum supplie(r)s".

http://www.solarstop.net/mrshims/alumplastic.asp Would that website be appropriate? And which size to get?

As for the suggestions to send it into sig.. it's a 225/p6. I don't really feel like spending another $125 on the thing when I could get away with spending $5.

Plus, the sig is spotless and barely used. It'd be throwing away $ to send it in.

[randy]

This is very easy to fix! It's not brain surgery at all.

Tools needed hammer and brass or nylon punch.

1 make sure the gun is unloaded.
2 remove slide
3 center site
4 place slide on a board
5 place punch on front or back side of dove tail
6 tap with enough presure to just hold it in place

Or you can take it to a gun smith watch him take it into the back room and hear a loud wack as he does steps 1 -6

[Iknownot]

This is very easy to fix! It's not brain surgery at all.

Tools needed hammer and brass or nylon punch.

1 make sure the gun is unloaded.
2 remove slide
3 center site
4 place slide on a board
5 place punch on front or back side of dove tail
6 tap with enough presure to just hold it in place

Or you can take it to a gun smith watch him take it into the back room and hear a loud wack as he does steps 1 -6

Would the above apply to a sight that could be pushed in and out by strong finger pressure?

I'm just not seeing how the sight I have will remain in fixed position with out being slightly larger. I don't think it's the right sized front sight.

Unless I'm missing something somewhere.

I think I'm going to stop at a hardware store tonight to see if I can find anything good. Otherwise I think I may mail order shims from that website I found.

[BamBam-31]

I use aluminum cans. Very thin aluminum, I've fixed God knows how many loose sights with the ol' beer can shim fix. Cut small slivers the same width ad the dovetail, insert under loose sight, re-tap sight back in. You can cut off excess w/ a razor blade. If one layer isn't enough, fold a piece over and use that. Should do the trick, especially if you also use a dab of red loctite.

[Iknownot]

I use aluminum cans. Very thin aluminum, I've fixed God knows how many loose sights with the ol' beer can shim fix. Cut small slivers the same width ad the dovetail, insert under loose sight, re-tap sight back in. You can cut off excess w/ a razor blade. If one layer isn't enough, fold a piece over and use that. Should do the trick, especially if you also use a dab of red loctite.

Why is it the simplest solutions are the ones you miss?

Lets see, I need a shim. I need a really thin shim. Aluminum would be nice.

Where am I going to get really thin aluminum? Hmmmm... I've never seen that anywhere before.

LOL.

Thanks.

[BamBam-31]

How much were you gonna spend on aluminum, again?

Have a beer on me.