What options would you recommend for a replacement front sight for a Model 69 that still shoots high with the rear sight bottomed out?

Put on a .146 REAR sight.
I did that to mine, shoots good....

Is this normal for the model 69?

you might want to give Dawson Precision a call.

www.dawsonprecision.com SIGHTS FRONT Category

If the gun shoots high with the rear sight all the way down then you replace the rear sight slide (blade) with a lower one. That's why S&W makes several different heights of rear slides.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

How high at What Distance, it does matter. If you're only 1/2 to 1 inch high at 25 yards a shorter rear sight should provide a solution. However if you are 6 inches high at 20 feet you have a problem with your shooting fundamentals and there isn't any sight made that will correct for that. BTW, we have seen many posts asking for a sight to correct for extremes as bad as my example and the person posting always seems to claim that couldn't possibly be flinching.

I shot the following from a rest back in April (gun #2). The rear sight was BOTTOMED OUT. POI for all loads was dead center. Was looking to see POI diffs w/different loads. I always shoot lower from a bagged rest and other folks will shoot differently. My front sight is right at .280" and the rear is .146 (If i measured correctly).



I ordered (and finally received) two .126 rear sight blades from S&W -- S&W parts are way backordered.

Also ordered two front sight blades from Dawson Prec (above link) -- both .10" wide and one .305" Hi and one .320" high.

I also ordered a Bowen Rough Country complete rear sight assembly (also backordered) -- the the Bowen blade is equiv to S&W's .126".

I'll get something to work to my satisfaction eventually.

I did email S&W customer service about the sight regulation problem. All I wanted was a taller front sight or a shorter rear. They insisted I send the gun to them, so I went the above routed in stead.

FWIW,

Paul

Looks like you will have plenty of combo's to choose from.

My model 69 came with a .160 approx. rear sight.
I ordered a .146 and a .126.
The .146 works well with the loads I use.

Paul, I see bullet weights ranging between 240 grain and 310 grains. It is quite normal for the POI to shift higher as bullet weight increases, so what you are observing is in part due to the weight of bullets you are loading with. However, that said the 240 grain bullet is pretty much a "standard" for the 44 Magnum and Special and if you have to bottom out your sights to get near center a shorter rear sight is in order. I would suggest that you to your tuning to get a good center hit with your 310 grain bullets with the sight bottomed, that should leave to a lot of adjustment lattitude for lighter bullets which will tend to shoot lower.