List of wheelguns that come with tritium sights

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EvilWayz

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As I continue my search for the elusive 357 Night Guards (327 and 386) I was wondering if anyone could think of, off the top of their heads, which revolvers in .357 come with a factory night sight, or have one available as an option. The Smith site's search engine pulled up a bunch of discontinued pistols when I searched. Thanks in advance.
 
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Why does it matter if the Factory ever shipped them with night sights.

Just buy the revolver you want and have them installed.

Any S&W with a pinned front sight, red ramp or the IFS can be changed in 30 minutes or so.

If it has an integral front sight then it requires machining, but it still can be done
 
colt_saa said:
Why does it matter if the Factory ever shipped them with night sights. Just buy the revolver you want and have them installed. Any S&W with a pinned front sight, red ramp or the IFS can be changed in 30 minutes or so. If it has an integral front sight then it requires machining, but it still can be done
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The OP asks a legitimate question, and dovetail sights like on the PC 627 and PC 686+ can take a lot of machining that generally runs upwards of $300 for the whole job. Even the pinned front sight is not that easy as the "30 minutes or so" has to be a very careful 30 minutes. The pin hole is so small (see picture on a 586 L-Comp below) that you should drill from both sides and meet in the middle, because if you drill all the way through from one side, the bit is so thin for that size whole it has a tendency to wander and not go perfectly straight through.

One of the best L-Frame carry revolvers S&W has possibly ever made comes with some Tritium, the 586 L-Comp. It comes stock with a front Tritium sight is embedded in to the ramp. However, it is a very small dot, and is a bit hard to see and use. I bought an XS Systems regular size Tritium dot, that set up is the 3rd pic.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the original 586 L-Comp Front Tritium Sight.

Pic 1 - Pinned front sight, 586 L-Comp
Pic 2 - 586 L-Comp
Pic 3 - 586 L-Com with XS Systems Night Sights
 

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colt_saa said:
You are paying that to your gunsmith? and he is telling you it is more then 30 minutes to swap a pinned sight?

I need to be doing work in your town. :)
Click to expand...

No. Read it again. The $300 is for machining and parts for the installation on dovetail not pinned, "and dovetail sights like on the PC 627 and PC 686+ can take a lot of machining that generally runs upwards of $300 for the whole job." The point being, some front sights by S&W don't have ready solutions, such as the dovetail, so knowing which ones come from S&W with Tritium can be helpful.

Part of an e-mail from Bo Wallace, XS Sights, "You are correct we don’t have anything for the 627, that front sight dovetail is an odd one specific to S&W." And therefore getting something to work for the DOVETAIL sight can be very labor intensive if you find someone to do it.

Installation of a pinned front sight is comparatively drastically simpler and cheaper with the only potentially tricky part being the extreme small size of the hole and the difficulties associated with a drill bit that thin (such as for the 586 L-Comp pictured above). That potential problem can be relieved by drilling from both sides and meeting in the middle, but it still remains a simple and cheap job.
 
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dwever said:
No. Read it again. The $300 is for machining and parts for the installation on dovetail not pinned, "and dovetail sights like on the PC 627 and PC 686+ can take a lot of machining that generally runs upwards of $300 for the whole job." The point being, some front sights by S&W don't have ready solutions, such as the dovetail, so knowing which ones come from S&W with Tritium can be helpful.

Part of an e-mail from Bo Wallace, XS Sights, "You are correct we don’t have anything for the 627, that front sight dovetail is an odd one specific to S&W." And therefore getting something to work for the DOVETAIL sight can be very labor intensive if you find someone to do it.

Installation of a pinned front sight is comparatively drastically simpler and cheaper with the only potentially tricky part being the extreme small size of the hole and the difficulties associated with a drill bit that thin (such as for the 586 L-Comp pictured above). That potential problem can be relieved by drilling from both sides and meeting in the middle, but it still remains a simple and cheap job.
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I read it many times, but I still can't believe it.

Fitting a dovetail front sight to an non-standard dovetail is still not a $300 gun smithing job. Forget about machining, it can be done with hand files in less than 30 minutes.

You are trying to point out the exceptions, while I am pointing out the rule.

I will rephrase what I stated above.....
There are readily available aftermarket Tritium sights for any S&W revolver that has a pinned front sight, red ramp front sight or the IFS. It makes ZERO difference if the factory shipped these revolvers with or without Tritium sights as original equipment. These sights can be installed in 30 minutes or less

So my original question still stands unanswered "Why does it matter if the Factory ever shipped them with night sights?"
 
Not really my point, but clearly at 400-posts-per-year you have more time to argue than I do - Done.
 
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I feel your pain with the factory night sights! My personal opinion is that any personal defense wheelgun should have at least a front night sight out of the factory. I recently was informed by a forum member that xs now offers a big dot sight for most S&W revolvers and I can say that the info was true. As I type my TRR8 sits on my hip with a big dot mounted on it. I ordered it right away thanks forum!! The interchangeable system makes the install easy, about 30 seconds. The models I am aware of out of the factory are the 640 pro, 586 l-comp, night guards, 60 pro and the 340. If you intend on using one for duty I would recommend the 325 thunder Ranch, 327 TRR8 or the 627. The interchangeable sight system makes the process easy.
 
My 66-4 F-Comp came with a Tritium front sight. Tritium has a half life of 12.36 years - only 1/2 as bright 12 1/3 years after original manufacture and installation. I just sent my 36 year old revolver to Trijicon for "re-lamping". I am now in search of Tritium rear sight blades.
 
Blackbarry said:
My 66-4 F-Comp came with a Tritium front sight. Tritium has a half life of 12.36 years - only 1/2 as bright 12 1/3 years after original manufacture and installation. I just sent my 36 year old revolver to Trijicon for "re-lamping". I am now in search of Tritium rear sight blades.
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The Meprolights are what I have been using on the rears of my Smith and Wessons since 1996

627NS.jpg
 
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