Just picked up a Model 66, 4 inch,no dash, serial indicates 1972. It has stainless steel rear sights on it. when did Smith switch to steel sights on this gun?

Thanks in advance

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Psalms 37:4

They were introduced with stainless front and rear sights.................1970 IIRC

turned out to be a not so good idea... couldn't see sights in bright sun.... -1s (?) added red ramp and blue rear sight blade...... in the mid 70s.

the all "stainless" guns tend to bring a premium if in 95%+ condition.......... remember these were "police guns"

Thanks so much for the info! It is a nice gun but I'm not a stainless guy. Will probably put up for trade. Thanks again!

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Psalms 37:4

I had one back many years ago and could never find the sights in the sun. It went away a long time ago. However, a few years back I saw one in a gun shop for a very reasonable price. The action was superb and the finish appeared to have spent some time in a holster. I bought it and still can't find the sights, now even in normal light. Don't shoot it much. But, I had a thought that blackening the sights with carbide or a marker would make it shootable. I don't want to alter the sights. Smith went to a black rear sight and red ramp and later to all black sights on the 66. They had a reputation for binding up when hot from shooting magnums, but I never had that experience with either of mine. Prefer to shoot .38s in them though. High pressure magnums shooting 125 grain bullets have been accused of splitting the forcing cones as well.

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Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

Actually sights were changed while no dash was still in production. I've seen them.

I also have a no dash with stainless sights. I think that stainless on stainless looks sharp. I've only shot it indoors though. I'd guess more than a few guys here would like to trade into it.

Lot of guys just modified the front and rear........... I think the change over started about a year and a half into the 66-nuttins

Recently bought an early 1974 M66 with stainless sights. The previous owner painted the front sight off white. A little #9 took care of that. I bought this revolver as a collectible and doubt I will ever shoot it. Big Larry

I've got a 66 no dash with the stainless rear sight. It has FHP markings indicating it was once the property of the Florida Highway Patrol. They didn't use them very long due to the alleged binding problem. Traded them in on 5" nickel 27's. I have one of those from FHP also.

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Retired Dep Sheriff & Armorer

I have a 67 no dash from 1973. It too has the stainless front & rear sights. Painted the front, and left the rear as is. Never caused me enough problems to do anything about it. Bob

I like the stainless, but many don't. Easy to replace rear sight blade with factory blued one.

I have a 66 no dash with stainless sights but a blued rear sight blade and red insert front.

I bought a 66 no dash that belonged to my friend's F-I-L, took the SS Sights off, saved them,and put W-O blued on. Saved the targets that were on it and put nice Stags on it. Shoots like a dream.

One of my "Favorites".

WR

Yes, he was a local LEO.

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God, Country, Family

The first change was to stainless rear sights with a black finish combined with a red ramp front. The second change was to blued carbon steel rear sights. Stainless rear sights with a black finish have an S on the bottom. I do not know if both changes occurred during dash "nuttin" production. So many 67 and 66 stainless rear sights were changed that looking at what they have now does not necessarily give good information on when the changes occurred.

While replacing the stainless rear blade with a blued one was and is easy and inexpensive for a very long time we have not been able to switch them back to restore collector value. The reason is that the windage bolt or screw is broken to remove the balde and S&W quit making stainless windage bolts along with the stainless sights. The better way is to paint them with hobby store model airplane or fishing lure paint. That comes off easy with paint remover.

I have a no-dash Model 67 with the stainless sights that I had restored to like-new condition. It wasn't mechanically worn at all but did show some scrapes and scuffs and was polished. Since it is so nice now and has the stainless sights that so many collectors value over the black ones, I don't plan to shoot it so the sight coloration problem won't affect me. In fact, I recently obtained a set of the correct flat-bottom Magna service stocks for it. But I can see where brightly-colored sights in a bright environment could be tough to shoot accurately.

Ed

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