Cylinder & Slide provides the service of sending your pistol out for special finishing after customization strictly as a convenience for our customers. Cylinder & Slide has no control over the quality or durability of any special finish that is not applied by Cylinder & Slide. Cylinder & Slide only offers rebluing as an in house finish. Therefore, any other special finish that is requested must be sent to a specialty shop for application. Cylinder & Slide will not warranty any special finish applied other than bluing. Should you have a problem with a special finish, we will be happy to furnish you with a copy of the invoice that we received from the shop that applied the finish so that you can show proof of when and for whom the finish was applied.

POLICY ON NIGHT SIGHTS

Cylinder & Slide provides the service of installing sights with the Tritium glow tubes or sending out a specific set of sights for the installation of the Tritium glow tubes. Cylinder & Slide will not warranty any tritium glow tube as to their brightness, longevity, or durability. Should you have a problem with a Tritium glow tube, you must return the sight to the manufacturer for warranty. We will be happy to supply you with a copy of the invoice that we received from the shop that installed the Tritium glow tube so that you can show proof of when and for whom the Tritium glow tube was installed.

POLICY ON ZEROING FIXED SIGHTS MANUFACTURED
BY
NOVAK, HEINIE, C&S

The installation of these sights, include the installation of an oversize dovetail front sight. The installation of an oversize dovetail front sight allows the front sight to be cut to the height needed to zero specific ammunition at a specific distance. Cylinder & Slide will zero the fixed sights that we install at 15 yds. to the best of our ability with the ammunition that we have. However, Cylinder & Slide cannot guarantee that the handgun will shoot exactly to your point of aim. There are too many variables involved with fixed sights to be able to guarantee our point of aim will match your point of aim. A handgun’s point of aim and point of impact is affected by grip pressure, bullet weight and velocity, ambient light, and the biggest variable, how each of us sees the sights and aligns them. A fixed sight handgun, that shoots within 2” of point of aim at 15 yds. is considered to be zeroed for practical use. If you require that your fixed sights shoot “dead on” you will need to zero them yourself. We can furnish you with a dovetail front sight that has been left tall. This tall front sight will shoot low. You can shorten the front sight to bring the point of impact up to match your point of aim and ammunition. You can also drift the dovetail front sight or dovetail rear sight to correct the windage. If you want to zero your fixed sight handgun please specify that you want the front sight left tall. Be advised that the dovetail front sight that is installed on a Browning Hi Power or a 1911 is normally pinned in place to make sure that it does not drift left or right. Be sure to advise us if you do not want the sight pinned in place.

POLICY ON THE ZEROING OF FIXED SIGHT SETS
WITH
PREPROGRAMMED FRONT SIGHT HEIGHTS

Fixed sight sets manufactured by companies such as Trijicon, Heinie, Wilson, MMC, IWI, and Novak that are furnished with a precut front sight cannot have the elevation changed. The sight sets that are most often ordered are the sight sets with the Tritium glow tubes pre-installed. The manufacturer has determined the front sight height that most normally zeros a specific type of pistol with the average type of carry ammunition. This means that your pistol may or may not shoot to point of aim for elevation. There is no way to change the height of the front sight when a Tritium tube has been preinstalled. Even if the set of sights you order does not have Tritium tubes installed we cannot make the front sight taller to lower the point of impact unless we install one of our oversize front sights and cut it to the proper height. Cylinder & Slide can only zero these types of sight sets for windage. Again, we cannot guarantee that our sight setting will be perfectly zeroed for windage for your sight picture, hold, and ammunition. You should be able to adjust the windage yourself by drifting the rear sight to correct the windage.

RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE INSTALLATION
OF
FIXED SIGHTS AND THE INSTALLATION
OF
TRITIUM GLOW TUBES

Cylinder & Slide recommends that you select the fixed rear sight that you want and have us install that rear sight along with one of our oversize fixed front sights. These sights will not have the Tritium glow tubes installed until we return your pistol and have you check the sights for your zero. We also recommend that you have us leave the front sight slightly taller than needed so that the pistol shoots low. You can then shoot the pistol and establish your elevation zero by placing a tiny piece of masking tape across the front sight blade. You place the tape on the rear edge of the front sight that you see through the rear sight notch. By aligning the top edge of the tape with the top of the rear sight you pretend that the top of edge of the tape represents the top of the front sight. By moving the tape up or down the front sight blade as needed to change the elevation impact of the bullet you can establish the exact front sight height needed for your sight picture and ammunition for a specific distance. Once you have the tape placed for your zero, you can return the slide of your auto pistol or just the stripped revolver frame to us by UPS Ground so that we can cut the front sight to the proper height. Then, if you want Tritium glow tubes installed, we can then send the sights to the manufacturer of Tritium glow tubes you select for installation of the tubes. This costs more that buying the sights with the Tritium glow tube already installed, but if you require a precise zero of your pistol or revolver this is the only way you can do it.

RECOMMENDATIONS ON ADJUSTING FIXED SIGHTS

Adjusting the windage of a set of fixed sight requires that you move the rear sight left to move the point of impact left and right to move the point of impact right. We do not recommend that you attempt to move the dovetail front sight to adjust windage. The C&S dovetail front sight has a 1/16” roll pin installed in a hole that is drilled through the blade and the slide. This roll pin insures that the front sight will not drift out of the dovetail. There are two reasons to install a dovetail front sight. One reason is to allow the initial centering of the front sight for windage zeroing. The second reason is to insure that the front sight will not fly off of the pistol as the old style staked on or silver soldered on front sights did.

Adjusting the rear sight for windage requires that you loosen the small Allen set screw and then drift the rear sight right or left. The rear sight must be installed tightly in the dovetail to keep it from moving during firing. The Allen setscrew is merely a back up to add more tension to resist movement during firing. You must never tighten the Allen set screw too much. You can actually jack the rear sight up and bend the dovetail edges in the slide up and loosen the tension that they create on the sight by over tightening the Allen set screw. You should always place the long end of the arm of the Allen wrench in the set screw and use the short arm as the lever to turn the set screw. A small drop of thread locker is recommended on the setscrew. Do not use the red thread locker; use the type that is designed to be loosened without heat.

Drifting the rear sight is accomplished by using a brass drift and a 4 oz. ball peen hammer. The brass drift should be made from a 3/8” piece of brass stock that is about 4” long. You should also file the end of the drift into a rectangle to cover as much of the rear sight through the dovetail as possible. If you only touch the rear sight in a small area on the upper edge you will dent the rear sight when you try to drift it.

You must put the slide in a padded vise to hold it properly when attempting the drift the rear sight. NEVER ATTEMPT TO DRIFT THE REAR SIGHT BY LAYING THE PISTOL ON ITS SIDE ON THE BENCH!!! You can damage the slide to frame fit or the rear sight if you do this. Place the slide in the padded vise so that the rear sight is just above the vise jaws. This will give the slide the most support and allow the blow of the drift to be fully transmitted to the rear sight. DO NOT PLACE THE SLIDE IN THE VISE WITH THE PORTION OF THE SLIDE THAT HOLDS THE REAR SIGHT HANGING OUT OF THE JAWS! This will allow the slide to spring sideways when you try to drift the rear sight. This absorbs the hammer blow and usually makes the drift glance off of the rear sight damaging the rear sight or the slide.

I also recommend that you put a couple of layers of masking tape on the end of the drift that you place against the rear sight. This helps reduce the brass marking of the rear sight. You will have to replace the tape every time you use the drift.

A word of advice when you are zeroing your handgun: You must shoot your handgun exactly as you normally would. You cannot shoot your handgun off of a bench and then expect it to shoot to the same point of aim when you stand and shoot with a two hand hold or one hand hold. The reason for this is the leverage you exert on the recoil of the handgun when shooting off of the bench is more than the leverage you exert on the handgun when you stand. The increased leverage you exert on the handgun when shooting off of the bench is greater so the barrel raises less before the bullet leaves the barrel than when you stand to shoot. The handgun will always shoot higher when standing than when shot off of the bench. This is based on the premise that you don’t flinch or jerk the trigger when shooting. The handgun will also shoot higher when using a one hand hold than when using a two hand hold. The grip pressure that you exert must be the same for each shot or you will experience vertical stringing of your shots. The magnum handguns are more likely to be effected by changing your grip pressure than the lighter loaded calibers. You will find that the magnum revolvers that have been ported are easier to shoot groups with than the un-ported ones. The porting tends to reduce the vertical stringing. This is due mostly to the fact that your grip gets looser as your muscles tire because of the recoil. We rest the side of our forearm of the supporting arm shooting with a two hand hold when zeroing a handgun. This does not effect the bullet impact and steadies the handgun so you can be as accurate as you can when shooting standing.

William R. Laughridge

President, Cylinder & Slide Inc.