How hard is it to make a set of sights fit a gun they weren't designed for?
It's probably a silly question, but I will ask it anyway.
I want a set of Truglo TFO sights for my Walther P99, but they don't make them and I doubt they will.
If a guy has some files, maybe a Dremel, and some patience how hard would it be? I am generally pretty good at arts and crafts projects like this, but I don't know how hard the metal is that most sights are made from. I also imagine it may be tricky to take the same amount of material off of both sides so the sites aren't canted or twisted in relation to the slide.
Sure. Get yourself a triangular file or two, turn them into safe edge files on the grinder, then modify the sight. If the dovetail in the pistol is not 60 degrees, that can be changed with your files, too.
Turn the sight upside down, level it up and clamp it in the jaws of your vise, then use the file on the underside of the dovetail (underside in this position) with the safe edge of the file riding on top of the vise. Go slow and try often when you're close.
Leave the dremel tool in the drawer.
Thanks for your input. I may give it a shot.
Note that I didn't say this will be easy; it might be, but the pistol might have a different dovetail angle, or the geometry of the two parts are simply not compatible for this mod.
Take a bunch of measurements before you start. Take the sight out of the pistol to see if there is some weird feature that complicates this swap.
Getting the sights to work isn't as much of a problem as the possibility that the sights will change you POA because they are not the same height as your oem sights. I run the kimber TFOs on my Para Ordnance pistols, and had to change out the barrel link to compensate for the fact that the TFOs changed POI to about 4" below POA @ 15 yards. Not sure if you can do something similar with the P99 if you had to.
ETA: Are you sure the slide cuts on your P99 are smaller than the ones the TFOs are meant for?
Originally Posted By chibajoe:
Getting the sights to work isn't as much of a problem as the possibility that the sights will change you POA because they are not the same height as your oem sights. I run the kimber TFOs on my Para Ordnance pistols, and had to change out the barrel link to compensate for the fact that the TFOs changed POI to about 4" below POA @ 15 yards. Not sure if you can do something similar with the P99 if you had to.
ETA: Are you sure the slide cuts on your P99 are smaller than the ones the TFOs are meant for?
I haven't checked on sizes yet. I am just deciding if it is possible and worth the effort.
