A while back I purchased a Beretta 96 Centurion from an ODT Member. This model came with factory installed Trijicon night sights, which I was told were still self-illuminating, but later found out after the sale they were virtually dead.
Over the last few months tried to find out where I might get these sights replaced, and contacted Trijicon who used to drill out old sights. Found out that due to changes in NRC regulations Trijicon could no longer change out old tritium sights. A couple other shops that used to do this work could not perform this work as well. I thought I was stuck with old non-illuminating tritium sights on this weapon and was fairly disappointed.
Searching the web just a few weeks ago in a last ditch effort I came across the Amerigun USA website. It appeared they had a method of replacing fixed front sight on Beretta models and I reached out and contacted them to confirm. The owner Gary McVety called back and left a message, and confirmed they could do the work. The process they use is to cut off the old front sight without compromising the tritium vial, leaving a portion of the front sight post in place. They then machine the front sight area and mill out a dovetail slot for installation of a new Trijicon tritium front night sight, which by the way leaves the new front sight at the original height of the old front sight.
I shipped the slide to Amerigun USA on a Friday afternoon and waited for the work to be completed. In less than 7 days my slide was returned with brand new rear and front Trijicon sights. The entire cost for the work was $260 which including them shipping the weapon back to me. I was also given at $20 credit for the existing Trijicon night sights.
I have attached some pics for the work completed. The work is excellent, top notch, customer service was fantastic, and I took the Beretta 96 to the range this past weekend and the sights are dead on!
Contact info for Amerigun USA is as follows:
4024 Marty’s Road
North Branch, MI 48461
248- 343-4854 (Ask for Nathan or Gary)
www.amerigunUSA.com
Wanted to pass this along since I am psyched that I have a fully operational Beretta 96 with new Trijicon night sights that I can replace in the future as the front sight is now dovetailed. They also do custom work such as this on other weapon platforms that have fixed, non-removable front sights.
Hope this info helps somebody out!
Semper Fi!
Marc