FWIW, my 642UC with a dead night sight made it to S&W on April 29th, they sent me a confirmation that they received it on May 2nd, and I've had no update since then.
Other than that, I was quite satisfied the the revolver and the sights. Having that rear made it easier to shoot at distances greater than 10 yards than my LCR 38 which I installed an XS standard dot front sight on.
Hopefully S&W gets yours back to you quickly enough. I agree though; everything else about the gun is nicely finished, and the sights themselves are a big improvement over standard J-frame fixed sights. Even the action feels pretty nice as far as J-frames usually go.
I am sorry to hear of these issues. i ordered my 432UC and it came in within a week. Mine has no issues. I took it to the range today and shot the retired officer qualifier with it. It's a neat little gun.
Glad to hear that yours was trouble free. I want nothing more than these UC guns to succeed and to have their feature sets (and lack of internal locks) instituted into the rest of the lineup. I'd love a 327, 7-shot K-frame!
Ask them to send you a new one. It should be a one roll pin removal installation - a 2 minute job.
If it were just a roll pin I could probably manage that, but as I understand it the new XS sights require drilling a new roll pin hole into the sight, using the hole in the gun as a guide. I don't have access to a good vice or drill at the moment, nor do I possess any experience with this sort of thing. I'd rather have S&W handle their own QC issue - I can wait.
I would contact Lipseys before S&W. Others have had better/faster results doing that.
Does the sight glow in darkness? Have you fired it yet to see where POI is?
I haven't fired it as of yet - I'm still waiting for the 32H&R and 32 Long ammo I ordered to arrive. The sight does glow alright in the dark, but that discolored portion is noticeably darker than the rest of the circle. It's especially vibrant all the way around when "charged" with a direct flashlight beam for a little bit though. But how off-center the circle is becomes especially noticeable then.
I almost want to wait to fire it to make sure it also isn't suffering from light primer strikes or something, but another trip back on S&W's dime may inspire management to institute more strict inspection procedures prior to guns leaving the factory. Probably not, but I can dream, right?
Not every owner will have the time, skills, tools, to install a new front sight. I've also read of one owner who was sent a new sight, but not a new roll pin. I suppose the original pin might be able to be reused in this situation or that owner had his own spare pin.
OP, let us know how it goes.
That's just about my case here. Once it heads out I'll be sure to keep this thread updated. I've decided I'd rather send the entire gun back to S&W; no need for me to spend any more on having a third party gunsmith install a sight when it should be covered under warranty. The shop I bought it from has been great to deal with and advised they'll facilitate the return and contact S&W when I stop by tomorrow.
