DWFAN, As you may know, Larry Slaten in AZ. has two of these .38s with the fixed rear target sight and I have a Model 1917, ser. # 94027, shipped to the USA at Springfield Armory. Jinks insists there is no factory record of producing any such guns and that they are all after market gunsmith creations, for unknown reasons. Like you, I tried to rationalize my gun as having been done at the factory , as the gun smithing work is supurb. After thing it over, I decided a better theory for my gun, being a US ordered Model 1917, was that pistol matches at the time allowed shooters to fire service issue handguns in the service pistol matches with "target" type sights, if the rear sights were non-adjustable. Therefore a military member of the Army shooting team had Springfield add the fixed sights to a Model 1917 for the Service Matches. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! That doesn't explain these .38s around however. Ed.