How do I fix this pistol sight?

[Beansie_Time]

The rear sight on my S&W Sigma 40VE is messed up. I haven't shot this gun in a while. I mainly just keep it to let my friends use at the range as I don't like it much but they like shooting the .40 S&W and I have no other guns chambered in that caliber. I also make them clean whichever guns of mine they use after a range trip. Either way I was going through the safe today and noticed the sight on this thing is way way off as seen in these pictures:

I'm guessing someone dropped it or banged it off something and hid it from me since I have them clean them after the range anyway. How do I push this thing back where it belongs. I tried squeezing it with my thumb and tapping it with a rubber mallet, neither worked and I figured I should stop before I made things worse. Does this need a gunsmith or should I be able to fix it myself?

 

[Ripach]

find somebody with a sight pusher, or a brass punch with a rubber mallet.
It's a sigma, if you break it throw it away.

 

[Beansie_Time]

a sight pusher? (googling now)

 

[BOBKATT]

Put it in a vice, take a punch and hammer, and drift it. Put something over the punch like a cleaning patch or two if you don't want it to blemish the sight when your hammering away at it.

 

[szaino]

Put it in a vice, take a punch and hammer, and drift it. Put something over the punch like a cleaning patch or two if you don't want it to blemish the sight when your hammering away at it.

+1

You don't need anything to complicated for this. Hammer and a wood dowel and just tap it back to center.

You may want to first tap further over to the right and put a drop of blue loctite under it and then center it.

 

[Brian48]

Put it in a vice, take a punch and hammer, and drift it. Put something over the punch like a cleaning patch or two if you don't want it to blemish the sight when your hammering away at it.

+1

 

[Beansie_Time]

Ok guys thanks for the advice. I'm going to try to fix it with the dowel/punch and mallet and post pics of my fixed sights or successfully ruined S&W.

 

[depicts]

I wouldn't put locktite on it until I was sure the sights were alligned correctly for windage.

 

[Beansie_Time]

I wouldn't put locktite on it until I was sure the sights were alligned correctly for windage.

sounds like a good idea.

 

[Andy in NH]

Once you get the sights centered up by eyeballing them, shoot the gun and see how far off center the group is. You can then calculate the amount needed to move the sights by using the following formula:

Multiply the sight radius (in inches) by the number of inches of impact movement, divided by distance to the target (in inches).

Remember the acronym “FORS”.

Front (sight) - Opposite, Rear (sight) - Same”.

In other words;
Moving the front sight left will move the shot group right.

Moving the rear sight left will move the shot group left.

Moving the front sight down will move the shot group up.

Moving the rear sight down will raise the shot group down.
---------------------------------------------------------

I just put a set of Warren Tactical sights on my Advantage Arms.22 conversion kit to mimic the sights on my carry gun. Even thought I centered the rear sight with a caliper micrometer, the shot group was hitting 3" to the right at 15 yards. A quick calculation with the above formula, then tap, tap, tap with a brass punch and mallet centered the next group on the target.

+1 for no locktite until the sights are dead on.




.

 

[Gammon]

Make sure the set screw is backed out before you attempt to move the sight. Green "wicking" Loctite works well on sights. After the gun is sighted in, apply a little of this locker to the sight/dovetail joint and it will work its way in. Best to let it set for 24 hours.

 

[Beansie_Time]

all fixed the punch and hammer worked. thanks for the help.

 

[vellnueve]

Well, I see you've gotten it fixed, but the best way to fix a Stigma is to buy a new one

Seriously though, they're reliable, although performance-wise they're not really a superior choice in any area, and they're cheap. If I wanted to keep multiple loaded handguns around the house in scattered fast-action safes , I'd use Sigmas. At least in a defensive scenario, brass ejecting straight into my face is the least of my worries.