jrivera

[jrivera]

I own a 4" 686-2. It was dropped by its' previous owner and the right side of the front sight blade cracked off. Is this a job best left for a gunsmith? Or is this a simple replacement, I should be able to do myself? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[dfariswheel]

Repair depends on whether the front sight is a separate piece that's pinned in the barrel, or if it's forged in one piece with the barrel.
If it's made in one piece, there are options from replacing the barrel, to having the front sight machined off and a slot milled in the rib so a new sight can be pinned into the slot.

If the front sight is one that's pinned, you can buy a new front sight and install it yourself, IF you feel competent about drilling the hole in the sight and getting the sight in place without any problems or scratching the gun.
Any competent gunsmith can also install it for you for a nominal charge.

You can buy new sights direct from S&W.

 

[.357magger]

IIRC, 686's in 4", up thru -4, were not pinned on sights. I believe that started with -5.

If I'm wrong and it is pinned in, you would need to order the sight, knock out the existing pin which would then free the blade. Install the new blade and drill a hole thru the blade itself. If it's pinned, the hole will already be there on the ramp. Smith, to my knowledge, does not ship a predrilled blade.

So...if you have a drill press it's an easy job. But as previously noted, it's not like you have to take out a new mortgage to have your local smith perform this action.

If it's not pinned, that will be a tad more expensive, but perhaps not hugely so. And you would then have the option of selecting a HUGE number of front sight replacements.

Hope this helps.

 

[JT]

May I suggest ....

SDM Fabricating