Just posting my experience and bringing this up from the dead in case some poor guy is searching how to do this at midnight like I was.
I've done this 3 times before but forgot the details and struggled until I remembered... So here are my hints.
Several of the 3 were extremely difficult to remove.
Pre-work - remove the front sight roll pin.
Stuff you'll need:
* Get an 11mm socket with a 1/4 drive (that's the small square drive). The reason for this specific size is that it is small enough to pass through the slide but will get caught in the barrel bushing. The purpose is to knock the bushing out of the front of the slide using the socket as your contact point. (See pic #1. The socket just barely fits inside the bushing)
* Get some 1/4 extensions. You'll need at least 6 inches. I recommend 12 to 16 so it sticks way out of the gun and you don't stand a chance to whack the slide with a hammer as you start pounding away. (See pic #4 for why you need the length)
* Get a heavy hammer. Not a gunsmithing hammer. One for pounding nails or larger if you have a difficult bushing.
* Take a piece of wood (a 2x4 is fine) and drill a 3/4 hole through it. You'll hold the slide vertically against this piece of wood as you knock the bushing out. The hole is for the bushing to pass into it. It also protects the finish of the slide.
Steps:
1. Insert the socket into the slide with the square side TOWARDS the muzzle. The large open cavity of the socket should face the rear of the slide. You do this because the extensions you insert can go in at a greater angle so your extension doesn't touch the slide and cause damage.
2. Insert the extensions into the socket from the rear of the slide towards the front.
3. IMPORTANT : put the wood on a hard surface. This is where I forgot and it took me 45 min to remember. I was banging away on my solid wood workbench making zero progress. The bench absorbed too much of the impact. I moved my block to the concrete floor or my basement and I had the bushing out in 30 seconds.
4. Place the bushing over the hole that you cut in your piece if wood. Support the slide vertically. Also hold the extensions in the same hand
9. Take your big hammer and hit the top of the extensions. Try and take up all the slack in the extensions before you hit it. You don't want things to jump around once you make contact.
You may need some serious whacks to get your bushing out. No seriously. If yours is in there tight it'll take some force.
The biggest factors for me in doing this successfully are:
1. Block of wood with 3/4" hole
2. Putting the block on concrete
3. Putting the socket with the drive side down towards the muzzle.
Good luck.
Here is how the extension and socket should be set up (with the socket essentially upside down)
The hole in the wood
The slide covering the hole with the bushing ready to drop into it
Ready to whack
