Opinion needed: To GRIND (front site) or not.

Ilike9mm

Ilike9mm

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Top (model 60) is mine, look at the front site! The second pistol (found on another gun site); the front site is lower and lines up for a good “sight picture”.

I would like to grind my front site to make the pistol more accurate, and/or make it so I can see the target. I practice the “hostage shot” with a drilled golf ball on a rope, at 10 yds. With this pistol you can’t see the ball. It’s a “by guess and by golly shot.”

Here's where the bench grinder comes in. One friend says: “you will make it a $50 piece of junk”. But, “it’s mine to do whatever, right?”

Give me an opinion before I go over to the bench grinder and take metal off

BTW: I did post this thread in the pistols forum, tough crowd over there. Some members were offended by the thread (ruckus); it was deleted.

GRIND????
 
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Try different ammo, weight, bullet, and manufacturer. Use a target so you can tell the changes of POI. GRINDING down the sight would be the last resort. Grips and Hold can vary the impact position.
 
If you grind the sight off it may possibly affect re-sale value. If that is not a concern-grind away, it will make it easier to pull out. It is your gun to do with as you please.
 
Get some JB Weld and make the Colt sight taller.

No I would not grind the sight, if you really need to do that have a Smith do it unless you are a machinist or something. It will look like crapola. But, it's your gun.
 
You can't compare the front sights on a Smith to a Colt, they are two entirely different guns and their height is so calculated for a reason. The height of the front sight is what it is for a reason to compensate for muzzle rise during bullet travel down the barrel. If you are trying to adjust vertical POI versus POA, that can be accomplished with different bullet weights.
If you are talking about making the sight thinner to give a better sight picture, you can accomplish the same thing by filing the notch on the rear sight.
It's you gun, do what you will with it, but it will ruin re-sale value.
 
Your gun, your call. Just for clarity, are you talking about reducing the height of the front site or the width of the front site? If you are shooting low at your desired range, reducing the height will bring the point of impact up, but be careful and slow about grinding and testing. If you are just trying to see through the site, you might think about narrowing the blade (I like .10 wide front sites). Either way, you may consider a machine shop rather than a bench grinder......JMHO
 
If you're insistent upon removing metal, use a file. NOT a grinder. With a file you can take off thousands of an inch at a time. With a grinder, it goes quick.

But first, paper your gun. Is it shooting low? If it is, removing some of the front sight will bring the point-of-impact up.

Yes, removing any of the front sight will lower resale value. Doing ANYTHING to the gun will lower resale value. But if you are more concerned with making YOUR gun work better for YOU than you are about possibly selling it sometime in the future, by all means alter it to your taste. After all it is your gun.
 
What ammunition are you shooting now?
Have you tried different brands/velocities/weights?

I'D do the above first.
OTOH - It's your gun. If you don't plan to sell or trade it and don't care what it's worth to whoever winds up with it later - go for it.
 
How far out of center are the bullets hitting at the range you shoot at? If they are very close at 30 feet and less, I don't see the need to alter anything. I am also curious how long have you had the 60, and roughly how many rounds have you fired through it?
 
You need to fire the weapon at a paper target at your specified distance to find out where the point of impact (POI) is with respect to point of aim (POA). Forget the golf ball on a string at this point. If what you think you're practicing is a 10 yard CNS shot with a model 60, you need to rethink your priorities.

As noted by others, you can't compare different brands of weapon to determine sight height. You also should realize that you raise and lower the front sight by the angle of your wrist. You should also be aware that the grips on the weapon and your hands grip on the weapon can alter the vertical point of impact significantly. A healthy yank on the trigger will also lower your POI. Try shooting from a bench. Have several friends who are good shots do so also before working on your sight.

You mention a model 60. I don't know when yours was made, but older versions were made with a slightly high front sight so that the user could adjust it to their needs. If necessary, USE A FILE!!!! It only takes a couple of thousanths of an inch to change your POI an inch at 25 yards on a model 60.

I predict that use of a grinder will result in the need for barrel replacement.
 
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Ilike9mm said:
One friend says: “you will make it a $50 piece of junk”.
Click to expand...


Your friend is wrong, it won't be a $50 piece of junk.

It will be a $10 piece of junk.

Leave it alone. Sell it if you have to, but please don't butcher it.
 
Someone else posted exactly the same question a few months ago, or was it you???

From your post all I get out of it is what you intend to do with the gun, but absolutely nothing to indicate you have ever shot it, or any other handgun! Where does the gun shoot on paper?????????????

While there are differences from gun to gun due to variations as a result of cumulative tolerances, for the most part all fixed sight revolvers shoot fairly close to point-of-aim when the shooter understands proper sight picture and uses ammunition for which the revolver was regulated. In the case of your gun, at least the one you picture, that would be standard pressure 158 gr. .38 Special.

As with the other poster you would seem to be under the impression that a revolver's barrel should point directly at the target when sighted. This is not true! It must be aimed a significant distance below the target so that when the pistol rotates in the hand, causing the barrel to rise, on firing, but before the bullet leaves the barrel, it will be pointed at the target at the moment the bullet leaves the barrel.

I certainly hope you do not propose that S&W, which has been manufacturing revolvers/handguns since 1853, 159 years, has not yet figured out how to make sights correctly for the guns they manufacture????

Thanks to Lee's fine link I see that it was you who made the prior post in August 2011. Didn't you believe what you were told then? Have you still not fired the revolver? Or are you simply a "Troll" who gets his giggles by repeatedly asking stupid (Once maybe, more is stupid) questions on firearms forums to agitate and annoy other members??????????
 
Last edited:
Alk8944 said:
Someone else posted exactly the same question a few months ago, or was it you???

From your post all I get out of it is what you intend to do with the gun, but absolutely nothing to indicate you have ever shot it, or any other handgun! Where does the gun shoot on paper?????????????

While there are differences from gun to gun due to variations as a result of cumulative tolerances, for the most part all fixed sight revolvers shoot fairly close to point-of-aim when the shooter understands proper sight picture and uses ammunition for which the revolver was regulated. In the case of your gun, at least the one you picture, that would be standard pressure 158 gr. .38 Special.

As with the other poster you would seem to be under the impression that a revolver's barrel should point directly at the target when sighted. This is not true! It must be aimed a significant distance below the target so that when the pistol rotates in the hand, causing the barrel to rise, on firing, but before the bullet leaves the barrel, it will be pointed at the target at the moment the bullet leaves the barrel.

I certainly hope you do not propose that S&W, which has been manufacturing revolvers/handguns since 1853, 159 years, has not yet figured out how to make sights correctly for the guns they manufacture????

Thanks to Lee's fine link I see that it was you who made the prior post in August 2011. Didn't you believe what you were told then? Have you still not fired the revolver? Or are you simply a "Troll" who gets his giggles by repeatedly asking stupid (Once maybe, more is stupid) questions on firearms forums to agitate and annoy other members??????????
Click to expand...

I am so sorry you feel this way.

Sir, I have been shooting all my life (65), this is my first snubby. My question seems cogent and logical. I shoot the damn thing all the time, the sighting system is not to my liking. My topic gives you the grounds for attacking my credibility?

Being new to the forum, I must comment that you all don't seem very friendly.
 
Ilike9mm said:
I am so sorry you feel this way.

Sir, I have been shooting all my life (65), this is my first snubby. My question seems cogent and logical. I shoot the damn thing all the time, the sighting system is not to my liking. My topic gives you the grounds for attacking my credibility?

Being new to the forum, I must comment that you all don't seem very friendly.
Click to expand...

The vast majority of folks who frequent this and similar S&W themed sites appreciate S&W revolvers as far more than mere tools. Your suggestion of grinding the front sight on your snub nosed revolver is not met with unreserved applause for the simple reason that it is not a good idea.

Changing the front/rear sight on a Glock or even a Colt, etc., is not really any big deal. If the result does not work well it is a simple matter to fix. If it is unattractive, etc., the current or a subsequent owner can again easily correct it. That is not the case with a integral ramp front sight such as is found on your revolver.

The response you are receiving here is akin to what you would receive if you went to a forum focused on collecting and using classic cars of the 1950's and suggested chopping and channeling an all original very good condition classic car.

Certainly it is your revolver and, you will do with it as you like. You asked in this setting the opinion of others who have a great appreciation for S&W revolvers, who do not typically consider the equivalent of "chopping and channeling" these revolvers to be the act of a responsible person. It is not logical that you should expect a positive response. Sincerely. brucev.
 
Have you shot the firearm on paper? Is it hitting high or low from your point of aim? Are your groups consistent ? Are your groups the size of a golf ball or the size of a soccer ball ? Are your groups low left ? Are you right handed ?
There's a lot of questions I would ask before I would recommend taking a file to a firearm.
And a File would be A Lot better than a grinder.

There is a formula on Dawson Precision web site to figure the amount of change needed.

I prefer adjustable sights or replaceable sight firearms. But, I've had really good luck with fixed sight firearms hitting just where I want them to. Maybe I've been lucky or maybe the factory knows what they are doing..
 
I have a Model 10 that shot low. After advice from forum members, I chose a heavier bullet. Problem corrected. It seems these older guns were manufactured to shoot 58Gr bullets, the most common weight at that time. Going to lighter more recently produced bullets change the POI that the gun was designed for. All is well, but it was the advice I received here that kept my file in the toolbox. Good luck. And by the way, all other posts seemed quite friendly, it's a good forum to be part of.
 
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