I've checked around. The smith from S&W told me that the SDM fiber optics won't work on the 617, too tall. SDM sent me an email also corroborating that fact.

The smith from S&W stated that the front sight on a 617 measures .162 in height. After checking around I found that Hi-Viz makes a fiber optic sight that measures .165 and is designed to work on the 617. So far so good.

The sight is rather pricey so I was hoping to get some input from you guys who might have one of these Hi Viz sights on your 617 before I buy one. Thanks for your help.

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John

I put one on my 617, along with a W/O rear sight. I have not had a chance to shoot it yet however. It looks good just holding it. I could not see the black/black sights at all in a poorly lit indoor range. The rear sight I had to get was .010 taller than factory, so I hope it will sight in OK. The HI-VIZ front sight for the 617 is exactly the same height as the factory one, and was easy to install myself.

Yes I put the HiViz sight on my 4" 617. It works great.

I've got em on other Smith revolvers. Great help for geezer eyes. Even had one factory installed on a 629-1 that needed milling off the integral base of the front sight to do such. Well worth the cost if you want to use that bump on the front end of the barrel.....

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

I was thinking the same thing for my 617 and I found a HIVIZ one specifically for the 617 at either MidwayUSA or Brownells at a much much cheaper price than from HIVIZ themselves. I don't have the cash right now so I did not order it yet, hense the not remembering where I had seen it. Good luck, they are great guns!

My buddy and his dad have 4" 617's with consecutive s/n's. The son had a HiViz green put on and loved it and his dad had a red put on. It is vastly better than the sights that came standard on the 617. Both are considering having HiViz put on some of their other Smiths.

I put the .250 Hi Vis front sight on my 617 and a taller rear sight. Works great!
A taller front sight makes the gun shoot lower. I prefer a holdover sight picture so this worked just fine for me. I have put taller front sights on several of my 686’s because I could not get the gun to shoot to point of aim with a hold over sight picture.

I've got a red HiViz on my 4" 617 --- it's worth every penny!

I use the SDM .250 front sight in combination with a rear fiber optic sight blade from Cylinder & Slide on my 617. It would not surprise me to discover that the C&S product was supplied by Hi-Viz. It works.

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Jaeger

I ordered my green HiViz front sight, #SW617, from Brownell's, where I get a discount (C&R FFL), for less than directly from HiViz. It did have to be drop-shipped from HiViz as it's not a stock item. It was spot on, elevation wise, and one click off for windage at 12-15yd. Well worth the cost & trouble for these older eyes. I still don't see why S&W won't use spring loaded front sights as they did in my 625JM & 627 Pro.



A lot more fun than the Ruger KMK-678GC & accessories I sold to buy it. In it's first year, I shot it more than I did the MKII in nearly eleven years.

Stainz

I have a HiViz on my 627 Pro. I also changed the rear sight to a V notch fro rapid acquisition. Works a lot better for me than the W/O square rear. I have the same sort of combo on a Ruger GP 100. That rear has the V notch with a white verticle line in the center of the notch. Works even better.

Did you use a new pin or re-use the old one?

Craig

I've got a 6 inch 617, and was thinking of just painting the back side of the front sight blade with a little flat white enamel model paint to highlight it a bit. My 60 year old eyes are generally doing ok, but in some indoor lighting conditions I do think sometimes I'm making an educated guess as to where I'm placing my shot on the background of a black bullseye.

I painted the back of my 617 4" front blade with High Viz Orange model paint and it helped. I tried this first before spending money on fiber optic one and it was good enough for me.

Ultimate HI-VIZ for old eyes......

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I have been using this for Steel Challenge competition.

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