FYI to those looking to install sights on the RAP / RAPc

Just a little FYI to anyone who wants to swap out the sights on the American and American Compact... after loosening the set screw on the rears, there is a decent chance it might just fall out... the front sight, however, OH BABY.

Penetrating oil, freezing, heating, drifting left, drifting right, using a sight pusher, using a wooden dowel, using an aluminum punch, even a 3# dead blow hammer. I tried just about every trick in the book. They are on there TIGHT! I now have two blood blisters and an almost dime-sized chunk of skin missing from my left pointer finger. And yet the sights didn't so much as budge a millimeter.

I gave up trying to save them. I took a Dremel with a cutting wheel and carefully cut them in half. Once the night sights arrive tomorrow, I plan on stoning / filing them to ensure a "proper" fit into the dovetails. If they are sized anything like the non-tritium ones I just removed, I would need an arbor press (or the Hammer of Thor) to get them on there otherwise.

I've never encountered a front sight that was so tight, including SIGs, M&Ps, and the notorious Springfield XD. Hopefully my (literally) painful experience will serve as good information to someone out there. Considering the only replacement sights that are available are direct from Ruger (and over-priced, IMO), I suspect not many have tried this so far.

I can relate, although not a Ruger. The front sight on my 40 cal. Browning High Power, took about everything you did to be removed, although I didn't have to cut it with a Dremel. When sights are that difficult to remove, most of the time the sight has to be sacrificed . I wonder if a sight pusher would have been better.

I am not one to heat parts on a gun to remove them. A lot of times now, sights are installed on the pistols before the finish is applied, and I think the heat affects the dimensions after that for some reason.

Sorry for all your troubles.

I've had a firearm where the front sight flew off while shooting. So I can appreciate the value of a snug fit but that sounds absolutely crazy. I can't believe it took all of that to get it off of there. I'm sure you didn't really want to destroy the sight but it seems like a logical solution maybe the only one.

It's always nice to have them as backups but the stock sites are not very expensive anyway and probably will never be needed again.

Good luck on your recovery P.S. I wouldn't mind seeing what the RAP looks like with night sights installed if you get the time.

Sunset_Va, I tried my universal sight pusher; and it was so tight that I would have broken it, I'm sure.

Rei40c, if I remember, I'll post up pics once they are installed. I'm guessing the front sights will likely require some filing / stoning because I'm not going to be able to force them into the dovetails if the fit is anything like what was on there to start. It's kind of scary to start filing away on something that costs $92 shipped to replace if boogered up, but in my experience there is a reasonable amount of tolerance between "too tight" and "too loose" with dovetailed sights. Plus a little red loctite can compensate if you go just a tad too far. It takes a lot of patience (and a good set of calipers) to go slowly enough to do it correctly, though.

tacticalreload said:

Sunset_Va, I tried my universal sight pusher; and it was so tight that I would have broken it, I'm sure.

Rei40c, if I remember, I'll post up pics once they are installed. I'm guessing the front sights will likely require some filing / stoning because I'm not going to be able to force them into the dovetails if the fit is anything like what was on there to start. It's kind of scary to start filing away on something that costs $92 shipped to replace if boogered up, but in my experience there is a reasonable amount of tolerance between "too tight" and "too loose" with dovetailed sights. Plus a little red loctite can compensate if you go just a tad too far. It takes a lot of patience (and a good set of calipers) to go slowly enough to do it correctly, though.

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I recently installed a Dawson Precision Charger rear sight on my SW MPc, replacing a 10-8 sight. Dawson recommends Loctite in the dovetail, I will use Blue loctite on any sight set screw, but won't use it anywhere else on a gun.

Any coated firearm, also inherits sight installation woes at times, more than blued, parkerized, and Ion Bond DLC / Nitrided guns.

The Novak / Trijicons arrived from Ruger today (two sets... one each for my RAP and RAPc). The rears went in without tools, just the way the stock ones came off. The fronts were like I expected them to be... oversized, IMO.

I used a file to take the base down about .005" -- ironically, it appears that the stock sights don't have totally flat bases, but I assume this doesn't matter due to the nature of the fit. Then I used a triangular file with a dead side to the sides a little at a time. After that, they drifted in fairly easily with an aluminum punch and a brass hammer. I used red loctite to make sure they don't go anywhere. Both guns together took about 45 minutes from the time I started... the second one took half the time of the first. At this point, I could probably do it again in 10 minutes. It looks factory.

One other thing I noticed... the front sight is definitely brighter than the rears, which is a nice touch. At first I thought the rears were orange, but I think they are just a dimmer green... maybe a smaller vial.

tacticalreload said:

One other thing I noticed... the front sight is definitely brighter than the rears, which is a nice touch. At first I thought the rears were orange, but I think they are just a dimmer green... maybe a smaller vial.

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I've done very little shooting in truly low or no light conditions. But on one occasion out with a friend I was firing a Glock 19 he had installed night sites on. I do not remember the brand as this was a while ago. But both the rear and front site appeared to be the same size as you held the pistol and presented it on the target. Worse yet they where also the same color. I remember a split second of confusion wondering if the dot I was looking at was really my front site or one of the rears. This caused me unconsciously to wiggle the front sight left and right once or twice just to reassure myself I was in fact looking at the front post and not mistakenly at the left or right rear dot before firing making for a slow delivery of the first shot. The problem really only presents itself in near total darkness.

Luckily recently I've noticed a trend by all the major night sight makers to both differentiate the apparent size of the rear dots and also the color of the front site which solves this problem completely. You can still find all green tritium night sights of course but if you notice the ones that are always low in stock or out of stock seem to be the ones of the type with a different color front sight post. The most common combination I've seen is the green rears and an orange, yellow, or red front sight.

So I do think that's good that they are that way on yours. So long as you can instantly tell the difference.