I Picked up the XD from the gunsmith Friday afternoon. I put the bore sight on it when I got it home and it looked like it lined up a scooch to the right so I shot the IDPA match this morning with the Para-Ord .45. After the match, I tested the XD on one of the IDPA targets and, sure enough, it was grouping a few inches to the right at 20 yards. I should be able to fix it with the trusty sight alignment tool now that the dreaded XD factory sights are gone.
The TFOs are MUCH better than the factory sights. That green front sight draws your eye like a magnet. It’s hard to NOT look at it. They show up good in the dark too. The tritium gives it just enough glow to see without being too bright. (Nuclear powered sights… Makes my inner geek squeal with happy.) I need to find a fiber optic front sight for my Para-Ordinance .45 now.
The gunsmith said he wound up having to use a steel punch and a big hammer to get the factory sights out. They were pretty mangled, but I was going to throw them away anyway. So if you have an XD and you want to replace the factory sights, don’t even bother trying it yourself, unless you’re a competent gunsmith and in that case why are you listening to me?
UPDATE: Trusty Sight Alignment Tool worked. Bore sight laser is now dead center on the front sight. Of course I’ll have to actually shoot it to make sure, but that’s the fun part.
And here’s the picture of XD with TFOs and the Trusty Sight Alignment Tool. You can see the front sight glowing even in the somewhat dim room light. It’s extremely bright in daylight.
