686 Adjustable Front Sight Modification

[cwbuff]

I had a hard time picking up the front sight on my 686-2 with adjustable front sight. So I bought an extra front sight base, filed off the blade and machined a slot to fit a Glock aftermarket high visibility front sight with day-glow surrounding a Trijicon tritium insert. The bottom of the sight base is just wide enough to fit the tool for the Glock sight screw. Here are some pics. I have detailed drawings I can post of the layout.

 

[cwbuff]

Here are the drawings for the layout of the slot on the front sight base. A #32 drill bit is exact size for the width of the Glock sight base. The ends are rounded so it is a perfect fit. I used a drill press with a cross-vise with 0.1mm increments of movement. The cross-vise was positioned square and checked with a runout gauge to ensure parallel movement. The problem with drilling two end holes with the #32 bit is that the holes overlap. So I used my smallest 1/16" bit to drill two pilot holes to keep the #32 bit in position. Then I used a small gunsmith file to do the final fitting.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Cwbuff:

Welcome to the Forum. You have more skill, talent, and tools than I have, or ever will. I have a Model 686 silhouette edition with the adjustable front and rear sights. Mine wears a Leupold 2x scope and is so accurate, I've never thought of removing the scope and trying the sights. You did a nice job.

Regards,

Dave

 

[TAROMAN]

Great job. Very very clever mod.

 

[cwbuff]

The new front sight is the AmeriGlo GL-212-165-120-Q Glock Tritium Front Sight with T-CAP Lumi Square Outline. I chose this one because it is very close in size to the original post at 0.165" H x 0.123" W. I would have chosen the orange square version, but discovered only the yellow is luminescent. Both have the Trijicon tritium vial, which does not help in the daytime.

 

[Gunhacker]

Clever idea!

I wish Truglo would offer up the option of being able to buy just a front sight in their TFX sights. I would love to do the same thing using a TFX front sight blade, but it's too expensive to buy a set just to use the front sight on an project like this.

The TFX sights are fiber optic with an embedded tritium capsule that illuminates through the fiber rod at night, giving the best of both worlds. I have a set on my CZ75 and love them.

Where did you get the sight base from?

 

[cwbuff]

Clever idea!

I wish Truglo would offer up the option of being able to buy just a front sight in their TFX sights. I would love to do the same thing using a TFX front sight blade, but it's too expensive to buy a set just to use the front sight on an project like this.

The TFX sights are fiber optic with an embedded tritium capsule that illuminates through the fiber rod at night, giving the best of both worlds. I have a set on my CZ75 and love them.

Where did you get the sight base from?

I got it at Optics Planet. Amazon sells them, but they are a bit more money and come with the tool to tighten the screw. I did not need the tool because I have one as part of my Wheeler Eng. gunsmith set.

 

[grip frame]

Great modification/great idea with real utility.

 

[cwbuff]

For those who want to do this, here are my layout drawings. Note that a #32 drill bit is the precise size to use -- it matches the width of the Glock sight bayonet base and the rounded ends. I set up my drill press with a cross-vise that has 0.1mm movement gradations (you will see notes on the drawings for this purpose). The cross-vise was aligned with a runout gauge. Because the two holes from the #32 drill bit overlap, I needed to drill two 1/16" pilot holes. This prevents the larger #32 bit from jumping. Very little cleanup with a jeweler's file is needed. After the slot was cut, I cleaned up the base and reblued it. The underside of the base is just wide enough for the Glock sight screw and tool to fit.

PS: The base is easy to drill - it is not real hard steel.

 

[cwbuff]

Here is a photo of the modified sight picture.

 

[D Brown]

CW,

Nice modification. Thanks for posting this.