I recently bought a used M686 (no dash) that had a red ramp front but black rear. To put it back to original, I ordered a white outline rear sight kit from S&W.
What I got today was basically a black blade with a white pattern inked onto the surface. No groove with white paint in it , like they used to do. Hell, I could have done that with the sight I have in there now! Ruger still provides a deep groove for the paint.
This bugs me more than MIM parts!

Does anyone have a 0.160" grooved white outline sight they'd be willing to sell?
Thanks.

That's the bean counters for 'ya and their continual quest for cost reduction. Goes right along with the ****** MIM parts if you ask me. Give me the old time S&W's any day no matter what the cost.

Unbelievable! I'd send it back on my dime, just to make a point!!


rags

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RIP Shipmate

What he said--send it back.

I doubt it will do any good to send it back. They don't make good WO sights anymore. Same exact thing happened to me when I ordered one from S&W for my 625 MG. You can see from the pic below that the new WO sight is actually grey, compared to a 1970's WO on the left. I called S&W, and after 3 contacts got someone to go thru their stock and pick out a better one, but he said they all looked basically like the first one they sent. The new one came in and was a little better, but not much. Good luck getting one from S&W that looks like the old sights!!

Good lord stiab, not only are those guys foolish but they also seem to be color blind. Back in the 1980's I put a white outline rear sight on my 28-2 when I dropped it on a hard surface and damaged the original and it is true white like your first one.

What is so unbelievable? They have been doing the white outline blades that way for the past 15 years or so!

Get a Millet white outline rear sight, they're alot better than the smiths.

I like it. The 1st thing I do is remove the white ouline. Allows me to focus on the front sight. YMMV

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NRA - All Day

Agreed that it is a crummy way to do white outline rear sights, even if they've been doing it that way for 15 years, but I never much enjoyed using my white outline sights anyway. Seems to confuse the sight picture. I never removed the ones on revolvers so equipped but didn't see much use in it.

I guess everybody's vision is different, but for my poor old tired eyes the RR/WO is by far the best combination I have ever tried. The rear sight without the WO is just a dark blur that doesn't allow me to pick up the front sight. Thanks goodness there are options to cover most needs.

Mule, I looked at the Millet website this morning. It appears that they no longer offer iron sights. Only scopes, bases, red dots, etc.

Millet was bought out by Burris or Bushnell about a year ago. The new company stopped making their sights and closed their plant in Huntington Beach Ca. I recently tried to find one of their excellent revolver sights for my 325pd to no avail. It is sad that so many old mainstays are disappearing. You might try Cylinder and Slide if you can use a fixed replacement sight.

Only two of my S&Ws have the WO rear sights and they are both 20+ years old and in great shape. Lately however, I've been shooting my fixed sight guns more. At my age and vision, it almost becomes a point-shooting issue!

I tried for a Millet rear sight for my 625 when I learned the current S&W WO sights were ****, but was told everywhere I went that they were no longer available.

The last 2 brand new S&W revolvers I bought were a M29-5 6" and a M586-4 in March of 1994. Both were bright as can be.

If that's what they've been doing from that point forward, that may explain why I like the older Smiths when they didn't cut corners.

How much could they have saved by doing THAT?

I doubt if I ever buy a currently manufactured S&W revolver. (For more reasons than this issue.) Sorry OP for the drift...

rags

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RIP Shipmate

Millet no longer makes sights.

Try Brownells for a different replacenent.

My ORIGINAL nickel 586(no dash) came with a RR front sight and a plain black rear blade. It remains that way today.

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S&W Accumulator

I used to despise the WO&RR sight's, black on black for me. Nowaday's with my eyesight not so hot I have come around to liking them. Yeah it's a shame S&W is cheaping out on so much these day's, at the current price's you would think they would get thier act together.

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Stay safe people!

I didn't know millet sights were in demand.. I see them on eBay often about one every week or two and the prices go between $25. & $45. I recently bought a S&W rear sight assembly for $45. with the W.O. since S&W no longer makes the old ones. Ten years ago S&W sent me an N frame assembly for $0.00 the actual cost then was $20. My guess is between giving them away for free and inflation they had to cut costs somewhere. I should start hording these older parts and make some money later in life...

I bought a Millet sight for my 696 a few years ago. After I installed it on my gun, it shot high and it was impossible to adjust it down far enough to get it on target. I put the original sight back on, put the Millet back in the box, and I'm saving it for something. I don't know what I'm saving it for, but if I live long enough, maybe I think of something. I wish it would have worked.

My eyes have come to the point where I need [dare I even say it] the fiber optic versions. I like the small round red front sight/green rear dots that the Top Gun folks sell. Hate they cost so much, yet they still do the job I need.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

Like Vulcan Bob, my aging eyes need help. A bright front and the white outline actually helps. I was going to order a couple WOs for older guns that don't have them but if that's the quality of what S&W is selling these days...no thanks! I'd rag more on Smith but all the other gun companies have gone the same way. The bean counters rule and the customers just pay.

Dave

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RSVN '69-'71
PCSD (Ret)