Greetings, has anyone changed out the red ramp front blade for a patridge blade? I'm shooting a 617, 14-3 and 686 at the same time and am really starting to prefer the patridge blade over the red ramp. I would also change to a .243" front sight and a .126" rear blade to maintain a sight picture more consistent with the other 2 revolvers. The present rear blade is much higher on the 686 than the 617 and 14-3.

It's Patridge.

Thought I would throw that in before the bird and pear tree jokes started up.

Cant say I have seen one on a 686, but plenty of them on 586 6" guns, including one I own.

Your 686 can be changed to a patridge. How much work or cost is involved depends on how its red ramp is attached. If you have a newer 686 it’s relatively easy to drift out the pin and pin in a new patridge. If you have an older 686 with a sight blade that was forged integral with the barrel a milling machine is required to remove the old sight and mill the slot for a pinned in blade.

There are other ways to install a patridge like milling a 3/8” dovetail across the barrel rib, but milling in the slot for a pinned in blade would look most similar to a factory installation.

I have one on my 6 inch 686. I shot bullseye with it and I believe that it is the only way to get the most accuracy.

Jay

Thanks Buddy, edited just for you I think I'm still in the Christmas spirit! My 686 is a -6 so it is a pinned front sight.

Can anyone tell me where I can get a Patridge front sight for my 686 SSR? Looked all over the internet..... not sure if what I found is really suitable or not. Thank you very much.

Have you tried S&W customer service? They sell all kinds of parts.... if they're in stock. They might even send you a free one if there was something wrong with the original blade.

__________________
~ S&W aficionado in training ~

I had a 686 no dash and the front sight was a Patridge style pinned in place. Were there some 686's that did not have pinned in blades?

Kevin

__________________
Unshared knowledge is wasted.

My 686+ seven shot 5" Pro came with an interchangeable Patridge front site. I installed a fiber optic site to replace it. Here is what my experience has been and although this scenario is different from yours, it may help you determine if you want to go forward with your change. For shooting paper, I found the Patridge to be more accurate. For quickly acquiring the target, the red fiber optic site is better. I also have a red ramp site on a 4" Model 27 and I personally like it a lot too. When I compared the two guns before I changed the 686 to the fiber optic site, I really didn't see much difference in the two, maybe the 686+ was a little more accurate but sometimes it just seemed to vary day to day. I think the bottom line is that it is just a matter of personal preference so do whatever you think will make you most happy. Since you indicated that yours is a pinned site, it will be more expensive that the site I switched out which was interchangeable.

Regards, Jim

I needed a much higher front sight for my 686 that I shoot plates with, so I whittled one out of a piece of 1/8" angle iron. Now when I remove the red dot, the front patridge lines up with my elevated rear sight.

My 686 (no dash) came originally with a Patridge. Which was fine with me as it is my preference in front sights.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Pinned sights became standard on all M686's with the -5 in 1997. Prior to that most M686's had an stainless blade with a red insert that was integral with the base (it was all one piece). The front sight blade could not be replaced.

A small number of early M686's did have a pinned sight, ussually a Patridge. In my estimate, this comprised less than 5% of total production, so they are far less common. H Richard has one. They are mostly seen on a 6-inch gun, and were standard on the 6-inch PowerPort guns. A 4-inch M686 with a pinned sight from this era is so uncommon you could almost call it "rare".

There are also guns with a Silhouette front sight, and the Interchangeable front sight. On the IFS the front sight is held in place by a spring loaded device inside the base and the blade can be removed by hand. When you buy the gun I believe you get six blades, all different. One in the gun, and an assortment of five replacements.

Certain M686's from the Performance Center were made with a conventional dovetail front sight.

__________________
~ S&W aficionado in training ~

Thank you for providing this information.

I had one of the early ones with the pinned Patridge. I will pass this info on to the fellow who now owns this revolver.

Kevin

__________________
Unshared knowledge is wasted.

I just bought a 686 no dash with Hogue grips and a Patridge front sight. It had no box but looks like somebody's safe queen. I plan to shoot target only so the set-up was ideal for me. From the thread, it looks like this may have been a factory set up for a small % of guns. All the better for me, but I don't plan to sell so the rarity is just a fun fact.

Here are two very early production examples of the 686's being discussed.

This 6" was shipped with a highly uncommon pinned Patridge front blade. This 4" was shipped with a common integral red ramp (no pin).

__________________
Terry

slickracer, if your 686 takes pinned on front sights, may I suggest you getting the gold bead patridge front sight instead of the regular blade patridge sight. I have a 27-5 that came with one and I found it much easier to pick up the front sight with over a red ramp or regular patridge sight. I have also bought 2 others for my 629-3 Classic and the 627 Pro I just bought in April that came with red ramps and they are world's better than the red ramp sights that came with those 2 weapons too. My brother has a 6" barrel 27-2 that came with the regular style patridge sight and while it is nice, the gold bead style is easier to pick up to me. S&W makes one and I bought mine off of Brownell's but they are of the quick change variety that the 627 Pro and 629 Classic take. They do have a pinned type gold dot bead made by SDM Fabricating that should work with your 686 if it takes pinned front sights listed on Brownell's. The SDM is a bit more expensive than what I paid for my S&W sight blades, but it also uses a real gold bead instead of a brass bead like the S&W sights use.

Here's a link to the SDM gold bead sight for you to examine. <<<LINK>>>

I have a 686 no dash with the pinned patridge front sight & a 625-2 1988 model with a black ramp front sight. When I shoot at my indoor range I can't really tell any difference between the two as far as the sight picture is concerned.

Try Dawson Precision. They can make anything you want. Their fiber optic sights are real nice. For pure target shooting the Patridge style is my favorite.
Dave

Exactly the info I was looking for. I also have a 686 with a pinned front sight I wanted to swap with a partridge type sight. The gold bead looks like what I want as well. I'm not sure of the height though... my 686 is strictly a target pistol for me using lighter loads. More .38s than .357.
The other issue is, while my home gunsmithing knowledge is fairly good and have been working on guns for many years, I've never attempted to drill anything... that makes me nervous I guess. I also don't have a punch that small so I'd have to get that from Brownells too. Or bring it to a gunsmith.
anyway, thanks for the info!