I bought a K38 at a gunshow a few years ago, as a shooter, but I decided I had to return it to it's original form. The front sight had been filed into a smooth ramp, the rear sight was missing and a Red Dot was mounted, but the front screw of the rear sight (which was used to mount the weaver rail to mount the red dot) was sheared off. So I was faced with 1. locating a patridge front sight, 2. locating a period correct rear sight. 3. replacing the incorrect stocks. 4. having the sheared off screw drilled out and re-tapped.
I was able to locate both a front and rear sight via a acquaintance in Wash. state who worked on S&W's and attended a lot of gunshows. Kind of pricey for that vintage stuff.
A shooting friend was a pretty accomplished gunsmith/machinist and drilled out a d tapped the screw hole.
Another acquaintance on the forum supplied the correct non-relieved target stocks, and our DWFan did his magic to make them over.
The result:
This is before:
Bringing a nice 1951 K38 back to original isn't cheap. But the process was fun.