The Wheeler Engineering Handgun Sight Tool pictures and a review.

[wyntrout]

Well, I finally bought a "universal" sight pusher that works for most guns. I've had 4 others that I bought and sold... still got #4, the NcSTAR, until the next gun show.

The MRSP is about $240 and I finally ordered one for $175 shipped plus $12 something tax.

This is a solid and well-built tool. I could offer an improvement or two after using it, but it works pretty well and I didn't have to bolt it down or secure with a vice, though it could help. I just set it on some "anti-skid" matting on the dining room table, or main work bench.

I'll start with the box which really gives you a great deal of information before opening it.

[wyntrout]

It takes a bit of fiddling with the various knobs to secure the slide in place. I wrapped the slide with a piece of cardboard to protect the sides and bottom. The etched lines on the base allow you to keep the slide aligned perpendicular to the force applied to the sights.

To start, I unscrewed the two large knobs on top that secure the top in place and raised the small one with the plastic "pad" that pushes down on the sight. This is the only part that is plastic to protect the slide. With the top able to move to the topmost position, you can slide your protected slide it as needed front from the rear or rear first from the front for the front sight. There's a cutout in the base to accommodate the recoil housing under the slide.

The 4 slide holding pads are metal, so you need to make a U-shaped folded piece of thin cardboard or Card stock to protect the slide. The slide is easily captured by the four horizontal clamps minding the alignment with the lines on the base. The top clamp is used set the height of the top before using the 2 vertical screw/bolts to securely clamp down the top. I would do this repeatedly until I felt sure that I had the clearance to use the straight-edged pusher to puah at the lowest part of the slide protruding above the top of the slide. I had to allow for the slight curvature of the pusher and the curve of the top of the slide.

The large parts are mad of anodized aluminum and the screws, bolts, and bearing surfaces are all steel. The clamp for the top of the slide is polymer.

The sights that were Red Thread Locker sealed require some oomph before they popped loose. The OEM sights on the new P40 did so as well.

It takes a bit of fiddling with all of the knurled knobs to get things set up and make fine adjustments, but doing so, I didn't scratch anything with either pistol. You want to make sure that the slide is immobilized vertically and horizontally. This pusher can sure do that, but you have to really watch how the pusher bit is moving and allow enough clearance. I had to get a light and get on my knees to check constantly, so this might be better mounted higher than the table I was using.

I would still like a pusher that puts the force at the very base of the sight at the bottom of the dove tail, but this worked okay with these sights. I'm not sure how it would go with sights such as the TruGlo FTX Pro's and the like with larger housings... with fiber optics... and glass vials of Tritium gas.

More Pix. I used a piece of the cardboard to lower the upper slide restraint and allow a little clearance, then I eyeballed the clearance and kept adjusting until I was satisfied that I wasn't going to strike the slide, before finally clamping down of the top.

[wyntrout]

With all of the top knobs in the uppermost position, you have to wiggle the top and raise it to put the slide in, it may or may not stay up on its own at first, then fall as you're inserting the slide. I took photos of the instructions, too, and might post those 8 pages, if someone wants to see them. i did post the front and back of the instructions.

This pusher is well built, except for one reviewer who sheared the two screws off of the pusher part on an XD. It seems the Springfield XD's are among the hardest sights to remove! I was worried about this, but finally decided that I would try one of these.

It weighed about 4 pounds 1.75 ounces. I'll post the first page of the instructions, which I SHOULD have used in my explanations!

I posted a few pictures of the sides of the sights. There were some marks from installation and maybe you could use tape of some of the cardboard to protect them, but I'm happy that nothing broke or got major scratches!

Wynn

[kenemoore]

This guy has been selling a lot of sight pushers on the 1911 forum. Seems to have the pusher arrangement you mentioned.

http://www.sightpushertool.com/

[DavidWJ]

I must be nieve, but what's wrong with just using a drift punch?

[marshal kane]

Drift punches can leave ding marks on the sight and slide. In my limited experience, dove-tailed sights are pretty hard to move. A strong, controlled push with the slide locked in the sight pusher is what's best.

[Bobshouse]

Wheeler Engineering puts out some quality tools. I just purchased the laser sight-in tool, saves me a lot of time and unnecessary waste of ammunition sighting in my laser. Its magnetic and aligns your bore up perfectly.

[Scarywoody]

I just use my drill press with a punch installed. I also have a milling vise from Harbor freight for alignment. Total cost around $30 assuming you already have a drill press.

[wyntrout]

+1... whatever works! I used a drill press attachment for my hand drill to give uniform crimping with a Lee Loader back in the mid-70's when I was loading shot shells... instead of a mallet or hammer... improvisation!