It may be a replacement. The front sights are pined but very hard to see ,because back in the day their tooling and polishing was of a lot higher quality. I learned this from one of forum gunsmith’s awhile back.
I vaguely recall seeing a K22 owned by a friend that had a yellow Baughman ramp, but couldn’t swear to it. Back in those days it was possible to return a gun for a sight change at a fairly reasonable cost. It seems to me he was initially told they couldn’t do it. How he was able to prevail and persuade them to do the job I don’t recall. Possibly the ramp sight from a Model 53 was used? That was a long time ago.
I doubt many 17-3s, if any, left the factory with a red ramp unless special ordered, with the attendant lengthy wait. Be interesting to see what others with more knowledge have to say about this.
A K-22 with a factory Red Ramp or Red Post front sight is not common. They were usually standard Patridge front blades but could be special ordered or added on later. Hope that answers your question.
I had to do a lot of searching to find the ones I have.
I am not saying the factory never produced a M17 with a red ramp front sight, but they can't be all that common as I've not seen one from the factory that way. I have seen a few M17's that had them (installed after production) either by a Gunsmith or by S&W if sent back for that custom work. Again, I have learned over the years, never say never - they might have had a run or two over the years, but I'd say not a common feature (new).
Factory M17 front sight is .168 high partridge, so it would leave little room for a red ramp, all I've ever seen is a red or yellow post. Most common red ramp is .278 high.