[jon_in_wv]

I disagree. a brass punch is soft and NOWHERE near the hardness of the slide or the melonite finish. Any marks you leave will be the brass transferring on to the slide and that is easily cleaned off. The only real danger is hammering too hard on the sight causing it to peen or actually damaging one or the tritium vials. I've changed my rear sight three times and front sight twice with a brass punch and the finish is still like new. Believe me, the first time I tried to remove the factory front sight it needed more than a little persuasion to get it out. It was SUPER tight.

I've also used a brass punch on my FEG HiPower with its fine bluing and softer metal with good results also. I do agree with you that if you have a smith locally that is CERTIFIED to do the work with those sights I would let him do it to protest your warranty. If he isn't, I would say you probably have as good a chance as getting it right yourself. I've had bad luck with smiths installing sights on my weapons.