Glock 17 Gen 4 Front Sight post movement

[BWT]

You know, I struggled with how to title this, and I thought, why make this more complicated than what it is.

I have a .245'' height (normal are .215'') front sight post for a Glock 17 Gen 4. Now, I holster it in a holster that protects it, honestly I don't carry it with much regularity these days. But for some reason, the sight developed a "wiggle", where you could slightly cock it to one side or to the other, there is a small bit of side to side movement. Figuring it came loose, maybe from carry, maybe from knocking it around, heck maybe from shooting it. I took it to the Gunsmith that installed it, explained what happened, he tightened it back down and stated that he loctited it and we should be good.

I let it sit for 24 hours (I handled it some, but... nothing to touch the front site post) and it's rock solid. Anyway, fast forward, I've been out of town visiting family and I've probably put between 350-450 rounds through the gun in the last three days. Out of curiousity, I touch it tonight, and there's a very slight side to side movement.

My brother has a Glock 21 gen 3, that has had the same front sight base for...4 years? and it's... it's been through the ringer, and nothing. I've never seen/heard of this happening with glocks anywhere else before.

So my question is actually three.

1.) Is this significant enough to affect accuracy, thoughts/opinions on this section, and honestly, do we think it needs to be addressed, because it will develop into the issue as it did prior and get progressively worse.

2.) Is the sight defective, or do I have a defective screw that goes into it, possibly defective slide?

3.) Should I go back to the smith and have them re-tighten it, because it doesn't seem that loctite or hand tightening fixed it, any suggestions in this regard? I thought rockset is a hypothetical option, but... I may want to change my front sight post, and eventually that tritium vial will go out and it will need to be removed, either way, I just don't think that'd necessary, I might be wrong, but, I figured loctite would work. But is there something else that I should look into?

To answer it before it's asked, no I wasn't using the sights for any kind of slide manipulations or banging the gun around, it was literally re-tightened, loctited, handled around the house, dry fired some and then shot about let's just say 400 rounds.

ETA: I also wanted to say thank you for any and all input, I really appreciate it.

As a side note, this is also IIRC, a .115'' wide Front Sight Post, his is not this thin, could that be it? Are my expectations unreasonable?

ETA 2: I was mistaken, it appears it's a .125'' wide, .245'' tall sight.

http://www.cpwsa.com/warren_sevigny_sights.htm

As a side note, the sight is very precise, I've never shot a handgun this accurately before. I'm pleased with the sight performance, how they function, etc, but... this is the only down side.

ETA 3: I also forgot to mention (Holy ETA's Batman), I had it tightened about a week approximately before these last three days, I'm thinking the vibration and maybe heat could've caused the issue, it does sit right above the barrel.

[JBP55]

You know, I struggled with how to title this, and I thought, why make this more complicated than what it is.

I have a .245'' height (normal are .215'') front sight post for a Glock 17 Gen 4. Now, I holster it in a holster that protects it, honestly I don't carry it with much regularity these days. But for some reason, the sight developed a "wiggle", where you could slightly cock it to one side or to the other, there is a small bit of side to side movement. Figuring it came loose, maybe from carry, maybe from knocking it around, heck maybe from shooting it. I took it to the Gunsmith that installed it, explained what happened, he tightened it back down and stated that he loctited it and we should be good.

I let it sit for 24 hours (I handled it some, but... nothing to touch the front site post) and it's rock solid. Anyway, fast forward, I've been out of town visiting family and I've probably put between 350-450 rounds through the gun in the last three days. Out of curiousity, I touch it tonight, and there's a very slight side to side movement.

My brother has a Glock 21 gen 3, that has had the same front sight base for...4 years? and it's... it's been through the ringer, and nothing. I've never seen/heard of this happening with glocks anywhere else before.

So my question is actually three.


Remove the sight, clean it and apply blue loctite to the screw and the base of the sight. If it continues to loosen after this you may have a defective sight/screw. The small amount of shooting you did loctite should have held the sight on without a screw. If you want it installed semi permanent use red loctite on the screw and base of the sight.

1.) Is this significant enough to affect accuracy, thoughts/opinions on this section, and honestly, do we think it needs to be addressed, because it will develop into the issue as it did prior and get progressively worse.

2.) Is the sight defective, or do I have a defective screw that goes into it, possibly defective slide?

3.) Should I go back to the smith and have them re-tighten it, because it doesn't seem that loctite or hand tightening fixed it, any suggestions in this regard? I thought rockset is a hypothetical option, but... I may want to change my front sight post, and eventually that tritium vial will go out and it will need to be removed, either way, I just don't think that'd necessary, I might be wrong, but, I figured loctite would work. But is there something else that I should look into?

To answer it before it's asked, no I wasn't using the sights for any kind of slide manipulations or banging the gun around, it was literally re-tightened, loctited, handled around the house, dry fired some and then shot about let's just say 400 rounds.

ETA: I also wanted to say thank you for any and all input, I really appreciate it.

As a side note, this is also IIRC, a .115'' wide Front Sight Post, his is not this thin, could that be it? Are my expectations unreasonable?

ETA 2: I was mistaken, it appears it's a .125'' wide, .245'' tall sight.

http://www.cpwsa.com/warren_sevigny_sights.htm

As a side note, the sight is very precise, I've never shot a handgun this accurately before. I'm pleased with the sight performance, how they function, etc, but... this is the only down side.

ETA 3: I also forgot to mention (Holy ETA's Batman), I had it tightened about a week approximately before these last three days, I'm thinking the vibration and maybe heat could've caused the issue, it does sit right above the barrel.

Remove the sight and clean it then apply blue loctite to the screw and the base of the sight. If it becomes loose again you probably have a defective sight/screw. If you want it installed semi permanent follow the same directions and use red loctite.

[Kyle Reese]

Remove the sight and clean it then apply blue loctite to the screw and the base of the sight. If it becomes loose again you probably have a defective sight/screw. If you want it installed semi permanent follow the same directions and use red loctite.

Given the amount of heat generated by prolonged practice sessions, I've had to resort to using green loctite on one of my Glock 17's. Both blue and red loctite were insufficient.

[BWT]

Wow, okay, so this isn't just me.

That's encouraging to hear. Okay in that case, I'll get a proper size socket, some red loctite and give it a shot.

ETA: Checking around, what do you guys use to install? I'm fairly certain the guys at the gun shop used this,

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1304/Product/FRONT-SIGHT-TOOL-for-GLOCK-reg-

Anything you'd recommend in it's stead?

[Spr1]

Some sights have more clearance between the tang that sticks slightly into the slide than others. This will make them more likely to loosen and they will require a higher grade Loctite than others. The blue, 242, will work with a tight fitting sight, IF, you never get it extremely hot. The red, 271, will work for a loose sight, IF, you don't cook it. The green, 620, will work in all cases. The green is available from Dawson sights and others (I can't recall if brownells has it).

[Crow Hunter]

Some sights have more clearance between the tang that sticks slightly into the slide than others. This will make them more likely to loosen and they will require a higher grade Loctite than others. The blue, 242, will work with a tight fitting sight, IF, you never get it extremely hot. The red, 271, will work for a loose sight, IF, you don't cook it. The green, 620, will work in all cases. The green is available from Dawson sights and others (I can't recall if brownells has it).

You can also use Rocksett. It is a high heat thread locker. It is what AAC ships with their suppressor mounts. It resists heat well but doesn't weld into place and is easy to remove. It seems to come off much like blue (242) loc-tite.

[BWT]

Thanks for the insights guys, I'm going to buy the front sight tool, and some red loctite today, see how it goes.

If that doesn't I'll scale to the green loctite.

I appreciate it.

Brandon.

[JV_]

I use 620 on all of my Glock front sights, I've only had one come loose (out of a dozen or so).

It happens more frequently with 242 and 271.

[ErnieB]

One thing you may want to double check is the length of the screw. I had a few sets of sights in which the screw was slightly too long and bottomed out inside the sight before it would get tight enough to keep the sight from wobbling. I filed the screw down slightly and it snugged right up.

[BWT]

I use 620 on all of my Glock front sights, I've only had one come loose (out of a dozen or so).

It happens more frequently with 242 and 271.

That's some serious Loctite. I'll give it a shot if Red doesn't work, in your honest opinion, can you get sight post loose from your gun with that? Did you need to heat it?

I don't want to permanently attach a front sight, but, this wiggling is also getting old, extremely fast.


One thing you may want to double check is the length of the screw. I had a few sets of sights in which the screw was slightly too long and bottomed out inside the sight before it would get tight enough to keep the sight from wobbling. I filed the screw down slightly and it snugged right up.

I'll look into that once I receive my tool, (it shipped today).

You know now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know that the gun smith didn't use Red Loctite. I guess we'll find out when I take the front sight post off.

Thanks again for insights, I appreciate it.

Brandon.

[JodyH]

The thread lock that ships with XS sights is the best i've used.
It not only resists heat it also fills in small gaps which fixes problems like loose tenons.
Its not Locktite brand, and I dont have any in hand to see what it is but it's worth researching.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

[JV_]

can you get sight post loose from your gun with that? Did you need to heat it?Yes, I could remove it - without heat.

[JBP55]

I have changed a couple where I used Red LocTite that in order to remove the front sight I had to lock the front sight tool in a vise, heat the sight and use the slide as leverage to turn the screw.

[BWT]

Got my sight tool in today, used 271 Red Loctite.

We'll see how this goes, we'll go Hulk Loctite if this doesn't work. :D

Thanks again for all the input.

As a side note... isn't it so hard to not handle your gun waiting for loctite to cure?

I appreciate,

Brandon.

ETA: Forgot to mention, maybe the Loc tite burnt off, but... there was no sign of any loctite ever being on the front sight screw, that I could determine. I imagine even if it burnt off to a degree... the screw would have some blue or red on it. So hopefully there was none, and this resolves it.

[Crow Hunter]

ETA: Forgot to mention, maybe the Loc tite burnt off, but... there was no sign of any loctite ever being on the front sight screw, that I could determine. I imagine even if it burnt off to a degree... the screw would have some blue or red on it. So hopefully there was none, and this resolves it.

Blue Loctite cures white. As does Rocksett.

I don't know about the Red.

Kind of looks like white somewhat rubbery stuff is stuck in the threads. If the threads were new looking and clean, you there probably wasn't any thread locker of any type used.

[BWT]

Blue Loctite cures white. As does Rocksett.

I don't know about the Red.

Kind of looks like white somewhat rubbery stuff is stuck in the threads. If the threads were new looking and clean, you there probably wasn't any thread locker of any type used.

You're right then, because it was clean as a whistle.

[BWT]

So I was handling my glock today, just looking down the sites, dry firing, because I didn't shoot so well yesterday, and I notice... that the dang rear sight set screw was starting to drift up high enough to be in the U-Notch of the gun.

I've passed the 1,000 round mark yesterday, and I realized, when we were trying to hit a very small target it wasn't that my shooting was that poor, because I kept shooting left, it's because the dang set screw came loose and now I notice, the rear sight has drifted.

And no. They did not loctite the rear sight.

That being said, since I've tried red loctite on the front sight, it's been problem free. I've drifted it a bit. I'm going shooting in just a little bit. I'm going to shoot for groups at small targets, and if looks on, I'm going to unscrew the set screw and loctite it when I get home. If it's not on accurately enough, I'm bringing it back to the gun smith that installed it, asking them to drift it, and trying that.

[Spr1]

I would use Blue Loctite on the set screw.