Front sigiht on S&W 686

[mhdishere]

I have a Smith and Wesson 686, 6" full-lug barrel. It has a ramp front sight with an orange doohickey (I think that's the technical term) in it. In short, I hate that sight, my eye's just don't pick it up in anything but the brightest sunlight. My 617 has a black partridge sight that works great for me. How hard would it be to change the sight on my 686? Is that something I could do with basic hand-tools, or does it have to go to a smith? Or would I be better off painting the thing black and trying it that way first?

Thanks!

 

[ChristopherG]

Not that hard, if you're willing to be a little handy. Use a brass punch to knock out the pin holding the ramp sight in place. When you get a new sight, you'll probably have to drill it for the pin, and that requires a little bitty drill bit--don't remember the dimension, but you can take a caliper to the pin to find it. Insert the new sight into the slot; carefully drill the correct diameter hole from both sides, straight in, until they meet; insert the pin, and you're good to go.

You'll want to pay attention to the height of the new front sight when you order; if it's not the same as the height of the ramp, it will affect your POI dramatically.

I highly recommend replacement front sights from sdmfabricating.com. Their fiber-optic 'super sight' is a very sharp, well defined post with a very easy-to-pick-up fiber optic dot. They also make a gold bead patridge sight that looks very good. You can order direct or from Brownells. They have given me excellent customer service in the past, repairing a sight that I broke entirely by my own fault for free, and returning it to me in mere days.

 

[Dave Sample]

Paint it black.

 

[searoom]

Not all S&W 686's have pinned front sights( my 686 has not but my 617 has). If yours is pinned, switching is relatively easy. If it is not a pinned sight ,changing will require the old sight be milled off and a groove milled to recieve a new partridge type.

 

[ken B]

front sight drilling....

I swapped the sight on my wife's 686+, and the #54 bit was what fit to drill it out. Brownells even said so on their site wh en I ordered

Places like Lowes and Home Depot don't get that small, what they keep on the shelf...just an FYI...I ordered some from Brownells after I broke the one I borrowed from my 'Smith

Brownells are like a buck a piece I think.. I needed some other stuff so just clicked '5'!

just an FYI

KEN B