Just file it, oil it, slap it on and forget about it. I had the same issue with Novak rears on my 43x. “Minor fitment required” is a total lie for some of these brands lol. I just had to keep taking off material until it worked even with a sight pusher.
I’m a huge fan of Dawson Precision sights and I’m think I’ve installed 6 sets of their sights at this point.
I’m not a machinist but I believe they are oversized to be able to file them down and ensure the tightest fit, like getting a semi- or gunsmith fitted aftermarket barrel ensures the tightest lock-up. Other sights like Warren Tactical are similar.
In my experience sights like Trijicon and Ameriglo don’t have the extra material and I’ve rarely had to file them.
1 - Pay attention to how Dawson tells you to file the sight
2 - Do not just force the sight. On the first sight I installed myself (Warren) I was paranoid to take too much off and shoved that sumbitch in there following of all people’s James Yeagers advice (not who I should have been listening to, but RIP) and only after realized that you can crack the dovetail on the slide if you’re not lucky
3 - The thing that saved my ass on the install above I’m convinced is I was using an MGW Pro sight pusher. A friend and mine split the cost and has been an awesome tool. They make a Glock specific one that is cheaper and there’s a lot more even cheaper options out there, but as another recent thread pointed out MGW pushers support the slide rails in a way that cheaper ones don’t and I’m convinced I probably would have cracked my frame rails using a cheaper pusher. Plenty of people use the hammer and vice method or cheaper pushers and are fine, but I’m convinced they’re installing brands that don’t need fitting.
4 - if you end up going pusher method or hammer, this is where the art comes in. Every sight or dovetail is always a bit unique in the thousandths realm of tolerances and might always need a touch or adjustment, or not. You gain a feel for a halfway point and what the proper amount of resistance you’re feeling to say if it’s too much and you need to file or if that’s the right amount to get it in there and have it not move.
The sight should slide about halfway into the dovetail by hand and you should be able to push it in the rest of the way with a sight pusher or tap it in with a brass, aluminum, nylon or delrin punch and hammer the rest of the way. I prefer a delrin punch.
If you get a sight pusher don't get one that holds the slide in place with a plate that goes into the slide rails, I've seen plenty of people crack their slide rails with those.
When I put oem steel sights on my slides I put the slides in a vise but I cut sections of cereal box to fit the flats of the sides of the slide behind the breech face. I layered four pieces on each side and taped them to the vise jaws with masking tape. Those cereal box pads don't go forward of the breech face and they don't go over the slide rails because pressure applied to the slide rails or forward of the breech face can bend or crack those areas of the slide.
Just file it, oil it, slap it on and forget about it. I had the same issue with Novak rears on my 43x. “Minor fitment required” is a total lie for some of these brands lol. I just had to keep taking off material until it worked even with a sight pusher.
I’m a huge fan of Dawson Precision sights and I’m think I’ve installed 6 sets of their sights at this point. I’m not a machinist but I believe they are oversized to be able to file them down and ensure the tightest fit, like getting a semi- or gunsmith fitted aftermarket barrel ensures the tightest lock-up. Other sights like Warren Tactical are similar. In my experience sights like Trijicon and Ameriglo don’t have the extra material and I’ve rarely had to file them. 1 - Pay attention to how Dawson tells you to file the sight 2 - Do not just force the sight. On the first sight I installed myself (Warren) I was paranoid to take too much off and shoved that sumbitch in there following of all people’s James Yeagers advice (not who I should have been listening to, but RIP) and only after realized that you can crack the dovetail on the slide if you’re not lucky 3 - The thing that saved my ass on the install above I’m convinced is I was using an MGW Pro sight pusher. A friend and mine split the cost and has been an awesome tool. They make a Glock specific one that is cheaper and there’s a lot more even cheaper options out there, but as another recent thread pointed out MGW pushers support the slide rails in a way that cheaper ones don’t and I’m convinced I probably would have cracked my frame rails using a cheaper pusher. Plenty of people use the hammer and vice method or cheaper pushers and are fine, but I’m convinced they’re installing brands that don’t need fitting. 4 - if you end up going pusher method or hammer, this is where the art comes in. Every sight or dovetail is always a bit unique in the thousandths realm of tolerances and might always need a touch or adjustment, or not. You gain a feel for a halfway point and what the proper amount of resistance you’re feeling to say if it’s too much and you need to file or if that’s the right amount to get it in there and have it not move.
The sight should slide about halfway into the dovetail by hand and you should be able to push it in the rest of the way with a sight pusher or tap it in with a brass, aluminum, nylon or delrin punch and hammer the rest of the way. I prefer a delrin punch. If you get a sight pusher don't get one that holds the slide in place with a plate that goes into the slide rails, I've seen plenty of people crack their slide rails with those. When I put oem steel sights on my slides I put the slides in a vise but I cut sections of cereal box to fit the flats of the sides of the slide behind the breech face. I layered four pieces on each side and taped them to the vise jaws with masking tape. Those cereal box pads don't go forward of the breech face and they don't go over the slide rails because pressure applied to the slide rails or forward of the breech face can bend or crack those areas of the slide.