Does anyone of the experts out there know when S&W stopped using the all stainless rear sight assembly on the model 66? Was it 6 months, one year, 2 years? SCSW just says "early production guns" had the stainless sight.
Thank you for your help;
Mike

First as you know Smith is notorious for doing what they want and if they find something they use it.

Here is what I can tell you the early 66's had them and I was very happy to pick one up last week that was all SS. Interesting point is the SN# is in the 4K94xxx range so for me fairly late in the game really.

Post from last week Darted into a pawn shop - Out with a 66 no dash

Supposedly from around 1974. I just did some searching around and found a SN# in the 9k range with the SS sights (that would be around 1976 - now that I looked again it had the RR, so I'm thinking they just put them on there - but who knows!). So they were around for years that way - plenty got tossed and were replaced.

Hope this helps.

M67's came with SS sights as well.

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Sure you did

The early Model 66 sights were bare, uncoated stainless steel.
Soon they changed to stainless steel with a black finish.
These sights have a flat black finish and an "S" stamped on the bottom of the sight leaf.

At some point in the early 1990's I "think" S&W went to carbon steel sights with a flat black blued finish.

I was told by one of the instructors at the Armorer's school that the stainless sights were discontinued because they were prone to break when the gun was dropped......stainless being a little less forgiving than carbon steel. I think they stopped using the all stainless ones around 1973.

About five years. They did away with the all stainless sights at the same time they moved the gas ring from the cylinder to the yoke, or late 1975 and in the 7K25xxx(-ish) range for the 4".
The 2.5" versions didn't have all stainless sights and also showed up in late 1975 at 6K6xxxxx.

I thought it was because the target was hard to acquire with stainless sights especially in dim lights. I have a 1972 Model 66 with stainless sights and a 1976 Model 66 with blued sights and a red ramp up front. As much as I love the 1972 66 the later one is far easier to shoot no matter what the light.

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

And again, up until the early to mid 1990's all stainless steel S&W's with adjustable sights had stainless steel sights with a blackened finish.

On the under side of the sight leaf is a stamped "S" designating a stainless sight.

The reason S&W went with the black finish on the stainless sights was due to police and customer complaints about glare on the bright finish sights.

Your right, mine does have the slightest blued tint to it.

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

I have a 66 no dash in the 7K145XX serial range that I recently bought used. It had stainless sights but the sight blade and the adjustment screw were replaced (I assume) with blued parts. I also have a 67 no dash with all stainless sights (3K591XX serial range). Comparing the two, I find that the 66 with the blue sight blade is much easier to me to aquire a sight picture than the all stainless 67.
Timbo

I had an all stainless Model 66 that had been a safe queen for 20 years. I decided to see how it shot, since I had a Performance center K-comp Model 66 that was a tack driver......incredibly accurate. Once I shot the early 66, I could not wait to sell it. Not only were the sights nearly impossible to acquire on a target, the gun locked up repeatedly with .357 loads, even moderately light ones. In order to open the cylinder, with more normal .357 loads, I had to use a teflon mallet and a rubber mat. I could not believe that S&W would deliver a gun like that. I sold it immediately......


Terry

I just acquired a 4" 67 with stainless sights Tuesday...does it make the weapon more valuable?

Like this one? I got it with the original box and tools.