TFO Sights on LC9s? Anybody done this?

Hey all,

Been carrying an LC9s for a couple of months now. My eyes aren't what they used to be and the factory sights aren't very high contrast to these eyes (more like light gray dot on dark gray)

Anyway, I ordered a set of TFO sights (have them on a couple of my full size pistols and love them). I noticed that the front sight is pinned on the LC9s and that it doesn't look like there'll be room to use the pin with the new front sight.

I'm pretty handy and have a fair set of tools for gun work so I'd planned on installing these myself. Has anybody installed the TFO sights on the LC9s? Did you just omit the pin or is there room under the sight to drill a small hole for the pin without hitting the fiber or the tritium capsule?

Thanks,
John

I have them on mine and they work fine without the pin. Have put about 400 rnds through it with no problem. I did use some blue loctite on the front sight to be sure.

Thanks @Ferges99. My half-formed plan was to see if they were tight enough to stay put without the pin so that's good news. I suspected it might be the case as I've usually found the dove tail tabs on aftermarket sights to be a bit oversize vs. factory sights. Fallback plan is to tap the pin hole in the slide and use a tiny socket-head set screw to press up against the bottom of the sight but I'm really hoping that won't be necessary.

John

Put them on. THey work great and you will want them on all your guns.

Yep, have 'em on my Glock 22C and have a set I bought for my Para LDA but haven't installed yet because I had to order a better sight pusher to get the front sight off that one. I figure the cheap sight pusher that wouldn't work on the LDA probably won't work on the LC9s either so I ordered a better one when I ordered the sights.

I have had them for about 3 months. Best investment I have made in awhile, other than the LC9s. Installed XSBD NS, but shot 2" to the right at 7/10yds. If I moved the rear sight, I Think it still would have not corrected this problem Sent the slide to Galleway and had them install the TFO's and keep my BD for the installation.
Now Ruger comes out with the LC9s Pro. Pisses me off. Buy the best SC Pistol for the money out there and now my great pistol is now second.I have FTO sights on most of my CCW pistols-MP Shield, XDM 3.8 9mm, soon my MP9"c".

I'm not too wrapped around the axle about the Pro. I actually picked the LC9s partly because of the manual safety...only because I ride a motorcycle sometimes and if I get punted off by some idiot in an SUV and end up sliding down the highway there is slightly less chance of the gun firing if it gets pulled from the holster or the holster is damaged.

I could certainly do without the magazine disconnect, though. I considered disabling that but our legal system...especially in civil courts...is so goofy I decided not to take the chance.

Even though I wasn't extremely enthusiastic about purchasing the LC9s (took about three trips to the dealer to sell myself on it) it's been growing on me more every time I shoot it so I've been thinking about getting a second LC9s anyway, so maybe I'll get a pro for off motorcycle and keep the other for on motorcycle. I developed the habit years ago of sweeping my thumb down the side of the slide on a draw anyway, even though probably 95% of my non-revolver shooting has been using Glocks, so the presence or absence of the thumb safety doesn't matter much.

Don't know why I've ended up liking the LC9s so much...rough as a cob compared to most of the guns I've owned and I had to polish the bejabbers out of the feed ramp to get reliability up with HST and Gold Dot ammo (out of the box it looked like a washboard - if washboards featured sharp edges) and the accuracy is only so-so...but, I'm at the point I wouldn't want to have to switch to something else if I had to send this one off for service... I'm thinking about getting a second one and then sending them off one at a time for one of the miracle coatings on slide and barrel.

On the other hand...I'm kind of waiting to see if Ruger decides to introduce an LC40s. I'd be in tall corn if they would do basically an LC9s but in .40 with a 3.5" barrel (so I could have it magna ported without dropping the velocity down to the point that terminal performance from defensive ammo becomes spotty).

John

I like the idea of having a manual safety on the LC9S. I don't like its disconnect thou.
As for the sights, how good are the fiber-optic sights and are they breakable?

rimmer said:

I like the idea of having a manual safety on the LC9S. I don't like its disconnect thou.
As for the sights, how good are the fiber-optic sights and are they breakable?

Click to expand...

Anything is breakable, I suppose, but unless you are planning on driving nails with the sight I wouldn't worry about it. The front sight on my Glock 22C is practically between the gas ports and several hundred rounds, including probably 300 rounds of crappy, dirty Wolf ammo I blasted through the gun to break it in haven't damaged or fogged the fiber.

As for how good...how do I put this...12 on a scale of 1 to 10. Very visible in almost any lighting condition. In daylight or room light the exposed part along the top of the fiber optic tube collects light making a very bright dot. In a very dark room or total darkness the tritium capsule behind the fiber channels directly through the fiber optic. So, the dots actually adjust brightness to conditions. If you're in very bright daylight, the dots will be brighter than when you are in a dim room, etc. Short of a red-dot or holographic optic sight the TFO is the most visible sight I've ever used. In fact, I would say if you can't see the TFO sights you probably are at the point that you need an optical sight...and that's a bit hard to manage on a CC pistol.

I wish I'd had them back when I was shooting action pistol 20-odd years ago. I didn't really NEED them then but they would have been nice. Now my eyes are bad enough that I need very high contrast I actually need something like the TFO.

John

I am thinking that maybe Ruger will make an LC380s/Pro. I carry an Sig 290RS 380 sometimes and might look at the LC380 s if they make one. I would like to remove mag safety also. Thumb no sweat. I have one on both Shields.

Just an update. Sights came in yesterday afternoon and I just mounted the rear; waiting for my better sight pusher to install the front. FYI for anybody interested in TFO sights on the LC9s - if you want the rear sight loose enough to adjust windage by hand by loosening the set screw (i.e. to make it easily adjustable at the range without lugging a sight pusher around in your bag) you will probably need to do a little fitting on the sight and possibly on the dovetail in the gun. The factory sight was so loose it would fall out of the dovetail if you tilted the slide to the side after loosening the screw. I didn't want the TFO rear sight that loose but out of the packaging it was tight enough that I'm pretty sure that a sight pusher couldn't have pushed it in without a bit of sanding on the sight base. For a "thumb slidable" fit I also had to remove a bit of metal from the point of the rear dovetail point on the slide - I was a bit surprised at that as I haven't had to do that when putting TFO sights on other guns but a strong light and magnifying glass revealed that that was the contact point even after the sight base was sanded enough to leave light clearly showing around the base.

None of that is a problem if you're reasonably handy and don't mind taking a hacksaw blade with wet-or-dry paper over the back to your slide. If you're not that sort you might want to have your LGS install the sights (in which case you might as well buy the sights from them because if you don't they will make up the difference in what they charge you for installation ).

I was a bit concerned at how much of the set-screw was showing above the bottom of the sight channel initially and thought I might want to grind it shorter but it didn't seem to interfere with acquiring the front dot...and then I realized why: the bottom of the channel ramps downward...I actually used a straight edge to confirm that a sight line across the back of the channel and the top of the screw contacted the slide about an inch back from the base of the front sight. So, obviously not the issue I'd though it might be. The screw in my other TFO sights is definitely lower in the channel, though.

Sight pusher should be here tomorrow or the next day. I'll mount the front sight and then it's off to the range...

John

And a final update - sight pusher came in yesterday so I installed the front sight today. Hopefully I will be able to get to the range Monday or Tuesday as I am taking vacation next week.

Only one more thing worthy of comment and that is that when I pushed out the front site pin it raised some burrs in the throat of the slide. Not sure if they were high enough to ride on the barrel but I didn't take any chances and polished them out and then cold-blued the inside of the throat.




John