Theory Vs Practice

So, installing front and rear sights on your Slide...

My gunsmith had a little class.  For two hours he expounded on how to fit sights to dovetails.  All sorts of minutia to consider to keep them straight, not mung up your slide, how neither the dovetails nor the sights are perfect from the factory, how the angles aren't necessarily sharp or the right depth depending on how worn the mill cutter was to start.

Well, I had already worked the rear sight I was fitting for a while.  The metal of the sights is pretty hard, and my file will wear out pretty fast, but how many sights am I gonng fit, lifetime?  I did some prep work on the slide itself, months ago.

The site was about a quarter of the way into the slide.

So, hours of filing, two hours of further instruction and he looks at my work.  "You are doing great!  You can tell by the wear marks that you are filing straight.  Let me see that..."  He takes the sight, touches it to the belt sander, put the slide flat on the table and BAM BAM!... with a rawhide hammer.

"Ok, it's going in fine.  Hit is a coupla few more times til it is straight, centered, and there is the same amount of metal on both sides."

All that.  I was hours in and thought I had hours to go.  And it's done in less than 60 seconds.

And it's good, too.

"Don't get mired in the details."   That's a phrase that applies to nigh every part of gunnie-dom I've been telling myself lately.  Know the details, yes.  But when you do, DO.  Gunsmithing, gear selections, shooting.  Learn, know, do.