98/99 dated SA Loaded. The front sight is not a dove tail slot, the rear is.

How difficult is it to change the front out?

I have a Springer that is about that age too.  Ten or more years ago I decided to change out the sights for trijicon sights and did the work myself.  I had to drift out the back factory sight and drift in the new night sight and then rip off the factory staked front sight and restake the new night sight.  It was a bit difficult to do because first I didn't really have the right tools for the job and second the tritium viles on the new night sights are sort of fragile when you start beating on them with a hammer and punch.  
Suffice to say, when I was all finished I hated it.  It looked bad because I had dinged the new sights up installing them, the front one I didn't get staked very good and it changed my point of aim by quite a bit.  I ended up taking it to a local gunsmith and having him mill a dovetail into the slide for a front sight and had him install a set of Wilson Combat combat pyramid night sights and have never been happier.
Lesson learned, I could have saved myself a lot of time and money if I would have just taken it in and had a pro do it right the first time.  The way it was, I ended up buying two sets of tritium night sights and threw the first set away.
YMMV

if you have a staked front sight let me give you some advice based on 35 years shooting 1911s and some 25 different guns.  Just sent it to Novaks and have the slide milled and a sight of your choice installed.  You won't regret it.  First rate work, fast service and your front sight will never fly off.

Pretty easy. Take a set of vice grips and twist off the front sight. Then use a small punch to clean out the channel and inside of the slide.

IIRC, Springfield uses a wonky "medium" tenon sight that further complicates installing aftermarket sights without the dovetail.

+1 to just sending it to Novak's and calling it a day.

~Augee

Dropping $250 + into sights on a 650 dollar gun i have only shot once. Not good for business

Well in that case, just sell that gun and buy one that already has the correct sights on it.

Looks to be the route I might go

If that's the case, doing it yourself really isn't that hard. Here's a video describing the staking process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SP23rgq0c4