I understand your reluctance to send your gun back, but let me say for the record, I had to send my SA 9152L back and the turn-around time was VERY quick. The service (warranty) was exactly what was needed to fix the problem and it turned a weapon that I was seriously considering selling off into a daily carry that is scary accurate. I sent the gun Fed-Ex and got it back the same way. I can't remember how long the work took, but it was less than 2 weeks total time.
I have no doubt that you CAN do the repair yourself, but SA warranties their product for a lifetime. They will fix your gun "as good as new".