Replacing A Fiber Optic Sight Filament
The filament in the front sight of my Springfield Armory XD Mod.2 Subcompact broke. I have been looking forward to this because the firearm came with two replacement filaments. The filament installed at the factory was red, and the filament I can see better is green. I have been dreading this because the instructions make it seem like the sort of thing I am not good at. It takes some trial and error, a little finesse, and maybe a little luck. Let me just say the only one I am familiar with is trial and error, with an emphasis on error.
As usual I overthought the process and took it to obsessive places that made things much harder. In addition, I used an X-ACTO knife instead of a razor. I also used very fine emery cloth, calipers, a toothpick, and a lighter. What I needed was a razor and a lighter.
If I had used a razor blade (as mentioned in the instructions) it would have been much easier. The knife I used was too thick and left a crooked cut. I felt this might lead to an uneven bulb so I sanded it down with emery clothe. This was probably not necessary even with the uneven cut as it was not particularly jagged or steeply angled. Again, too obsessive.
Anyway, rather than go through the entire process I followed I will simply share a series of poorly taken photographs, followed by a video of a man doing it properly in a matter of seconds.
Interestingly, the manual states that the bulb needs to fit in the pocket of the front sight (as the video below also mentions, and as it was installed at the factory), yet the image in the manual clearly shows a botched job. Also, my filament has a tiny, and I mean tiny, amount of forward/backward play if I push on it with a toothpick. I am not sure how this would not be the case for a large percentage of installations given the quick and dirty nature of the way most people are probably doing this. I am not concerned with this having a negative affect on the sight picture or accuracy of the firearm, but it may cause the filament to break earlier than would normally be the case. I will find out in the future obviously. The end result does indeed give my eyes a better sight picture, but this is subjective.
notice the large bulb NOT sitting in the pocket
installed the stupid way, but installed nonetheless