L frame XS night sight height?

[SquarePizza]

I have a 686-8 that I wish to replace just the front sight with the XS bigdot front sight.

Does anyone know if the sight heights are the same? I am worried about replacing the front with one that is too high to work properly with the stock adjustable rear sight.

I know all of the NGs get them, but they have a different rear sight.

 

[nawilson]

I have wondered the same... Without having measured the front sight, do you think it might also be necessary to open up the rear notch to account for a (maybe) wider front sight?

 

[SquarePizza]

I don't know, their website shows them using a v-notch instead of a square U like the stock, which is the biggest reason that I don't want to use their matched sets.

I personally love the square front and rear profile sights, but I wanted a night sight front.

 

[RottyJohn]

Measure sight height with dial caliper and then order from them you may have to drill and pin the new sight. I had to do this on SD guns 610,325, 625and afew others. Works quite nice.
RJ

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Front night sight on 686

What length is the barrel on your 686?

Do you know what size rear blade your 686 has?

The 325NG factory XS Trijicon front dot sight is .185"H x .125"W x .590"L. The factory installed C&S fixed rear sight top is ~.235" above the frame, which relates closely to a .126" blade in an adjustable sight in place of the C&S.

The dot sight is pretty low, possibly too low to work with your existing sight. The dot fills up the notch in a standard adjustable sight's blade; the C&S U-notch is wider. It'll work, but you don't have any space on either side of the sight picture for centering. (I removed the C&S fixed & added an adjustable rear sight on my 325NG first, & then later removed the dot & added a red ramp. Personally I like night sights on front & back, not the front only). Replacing the front sight with a lower one will cause the POI to be higher, everything else being equal.

- My 686-0 (2.5" bbl.) has a .205" tall red insert ramp front sight.
- My 686-6 (5.0" bbl.) has a .260" tall red insert ramp front sight.

You said you have a 686-8? I thought the current version is the -6?

Hope this helps.

 

[SquarePizza]

You are correct, it is a -6, the stamp is really hard to identify a 6 vs 8 unless you spend the time to look real hard.

Anyways, it is a 3" 3-5-7 talos, with the standard red insert front sight.

Thank you for the dimensions and pointing out that it may be too thick for the rear sight.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

XS front sight

The 325NG factory XS Trijicon front dot sight is .185"H x .125"W x .590"L. The factory installed C&S fixed rear sight top is ~.235" above the frame, which relates closely to a .126" blade in an adjustable sight in place of the C&S.

The dot sight is pretty low, possibly too low to work with your existing sight. The dot fills up the notch in a standard adjustable sight's blade; the C&S U-notch is wider. It'll work, but you don't have any space on either side of the sight picture for centering.

I took a picture of the XS front sight with a standard S&W adjustable rear sight. It was kinda hard getting the right angle & view to represent the gun at arms length but I think it's close.


NG with XS Trijicon front sight & adjustable rear sight

 

[nawilson]

It looks to me like the factory rear sights need a deeper and slightly wider notch to use the XS. Otherwise, the top of the front sight is too high, or the bottom half of the dot gets lost if you try to compensate.

 

[SquarePizza]

Thank you BlueDot37 for the photo.

If I want to just do the front, I might change my focus and look into the trijicon sight, I have seen a few of those on smiths.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Measurements

It looks to me like the factory rear sights need a deeper and slightly wider notch to use the XS. Otherwise, the top of the front sight is too high, or the bottom half of the dot gets lost if you try to compensate.

Your are correct, but it's not too bad though.
I decided to break out the caliper & the width is close but the height is off.

notch size_____W___x___H
C&S: ________.136" x .112"
SWAR: _______.130" x .075"