Just picked up a PSA 5.56 upper and I want to replace the front A2 sight/gas block with a low profile gas block. I've beat the snot out of the pins but they will not move. I added some oil last night and let it soak all day but that didn't work.

Suggestions?

They only go in one way and out one way. They are taper pins. Make sure you are hitting them on the correct side.

This.

A little heat won't hurt either.

Hacksaw

Measured both sides to make sure I was.

one way in..one way out and no heat

Why didn't you just buy an upper with what you wanted already in it?

Economics....I wanted an inexpensive 5.56 upper to carry around in the truck for varmits. I gave up on taping out the pins. Mr. Dremel's cut off wheel made the A2 shorter and ready for optics.

You could have left the front sight alone if you only wanted to remove it for optics. With 3x magnification or higher, you don't see the front sight in the sight picture.

I've removed two PSA A2 sights. Both were alarmingly hard to remove. You'll need something other than mil-spec pins if you wanted to ever put one back on too. They use an over sized pin of some sort.

Occasionally you will find a front sight post with really tight pins. A front sight block such as this one makes the job much, much easier.

The key to A2 sight removal is having the correct tools and know how to do.

I'm sure that helps but I watched a gunsmith beat the hell out of mine because I couldn't free them.

Did the pins come out? Yes.

Did the sight look like [censored] when it was all said and done? Yes.

Does PSA use over sized pins? Yes.