Who has a gold dot front sight on their revolver? How do you like it versus other types such as red ramp and black ramp?

The M27, 8 3/8" that I use to own had one and I really liked it for target work. For a shorter barrel self defense gun I'd rather have the ramp, black if possible. JMHO, YMMV.

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S&W M642-2,
ATI 1911a1, 4.25"

The only one I have is on my 625 JM. I like it.

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Stay safe people!

I have the V-notch rear and gold bead front sight on my Ruger Redhawk. It was my favorite back when my eyes were better and I shot silhouette.

I have the gold bead Patridge on my 625. IMO it's the best sight going for shooting in a wide range of lighting levels.

Here's a McGivern Gold Bead on a Pre-Model 24 1950 Target

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Dick

I put one on my 5" 629 Classic DX. It can be seen under all sorts of lighting conditions yet the black Patridge is still there for a sharp sight picture.

Ed

Have one on my bear hunting always with me 329... really like it in any light

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Bob Giese

I had the "V" notch rear and gold bead on a Redhawk...I thought I really liked it... but when hunting I always seemed to revert back to the partridge sight picture when I had the occasion to shoot fast and it cost me several animals because I would shoot way high.

The bead front on the 629 classic works real well when paired with the partridge square notch of the rear.

I installed a McGovern gold bead on my 29-8 Mountain Gun. It gives good visibility against all backgrounds whenever there's some overhead light. I kept the original rear sight with a square notch. It would make sense to file it out or replace it with a round notch so you could see the entire bead when the sights are aligned.

I installed Meprolight night sights on another revolver, which are better in any kind of light, particularly for self defense. I'll keep the gold bead for now, but will probably change in the future.

S&W installed a McGivern Gold Bead on my 5" pre.M-28 and a white outline rear. Old eyes continue to like the picture this combination presents.

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Sam
S&WHF 333 S&WCA 2198

Glad this question was asked, looks like most responses were in the affermative. I spoke with S&W today about having one installed on a 6 1/2" 624, looks like I'll go ahead with this. How hard is it to do yourself? Where can one get the front sight? Is this something that has to be sent to S&W to be done or is it even feasable to find parts/do the work?
Doesn't look like there should be much to it given the proper height sight and cupped punch.
Any comments would be helpful.
Again OP thanks for asking this.
RD

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Got a Phd from Hard Knocks U

SDM gold dot front sight on 629-4 OK at range but prefer Bowen's Rough country white square front sight on a partridge front on my 329 PD. Look in to this sight as it is a great all round sight.

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T. Johnson

i put a gold bead sight on my 3" conversion s&w m10. sight came from bradley, just happened to be the proper height .shoots dead on at 25 yards.

I have SDM gold beads on both my 629 and 625 Mountain Guns. The bead is slightly larger than the rear notch is deep, which presents a different sight picture when shooting fast versus shooting slow. Since fast double action is a close affair, it hasn't bothered me yet. I am, however, in a constant state of research and development! (And no, I am not very fast with either gun, but I have watched Mr. Miculek and know it can be done!)

My PC625 came with one. 1st thing I did was swap it for a plain black Patridge. The traditional black on black sight picture works best for my 57 year old eyes.

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Go NRA

I put one on my 624 a couple of years ago. My only complaint is that with the rear sight bottomed out, I have to use a 6 O'clock hold even at 25 yards to be on target. Other than that, it works great, maybe a little too shiny in the sun but I usually have sunglasses on when outside so its not much of an issue.

I have one on my 625 JM. I think I would prefer a plain black patridge sight.

I have them on 2 revolvers ( 44 mag and 357 mag) and really like them. With my old eyes it just seems easier to pick them out and center the shots.

Both the 625PC and a 5" 627PC have a gold bead front which can be easily interchanged, it is spring-loaded in the ramp. I like them for any sort of "fast" shooting application, which would include hunting, plinking, daytime self-defense, and shooting games like IDPA. I prefer a standard sight for bullseye target.

Kurac-
Slight thread hijack:
Are those lovely grips Buffalo Horn or Ebony?
I'd love to get a set for my 625 .45ACP Mountain Gun. Can you reveal the supplier?
Thanks!

+1 Same here! I have interchangable front sights too on the DX, but settled on the gold bead over the florescent. Gold works in sun or woods and if hunting things that bite back, I just can't trust a fragile plastic light tube. My bead is as good as gold., And it's real gold too, not a brass bead like on rifles that tarnishes.

My 627 came with the Gold bead patridge, but I changed it over to plain black patridge, which seems to work better for me overall for ICORE.

It's not hard, but you need to feel comfortable with tools.

You can get the sights from Brownells, MidwayUSA or Smith & Wesson. You need a .030 pin punch to remove the roll pin, and a 1/16" roll pin punch to replace it. It is a very tight fit, so you need a vice or press to install it. Once installed, you need to drill through the old hole with a #54 drill. It takes careful alignment to drill straight and not enlarge the old hole. You should be able to reuse the old roll pin.

There's no way to pre-drill the sight blade. The hole is too close to the edge, and you can't easily move the sight to align it once it's in place.

You might feel more comfortable having a professional do it.

Well, now you can count me as one who has a gold bead. I bought an SDM gold bead sight from Midway. Received it and installed it today. The bead looks good through the rear sight, and I am thinking that I will like it.
I plan to mainly shoot .38 target loads in Steel Challenge matches with this gun.

1964 production model 57 with gold bead.

I like the gold bead a lot. I'd love to get some for my revolvers. I have a 6" M27 with a Patridge front sight that I find very hard to see. I've painted it orange which helps, but I'm not really happy with it. My M19's all have slant sights which I have also painted -- one gold and two red. The gold paint is OK. My 586 has the slant sight with a red insert and it is fine.

I have some Novak 1911 sights with black rear and gold bead on the front of my Hi Power. They work great.



Question for you guys with the gold bead Patridge sights: how do they work in a holster? I've always worried that they would catch.

Vern

I replaced the day glow plastic sight on my 329 with a gold bead front and plain black standard square notch blade rear. Unlike trijicon the gold bead will not dim after a decade or so. It works amazingly well in dim light.