New owner, intro with a question

[SposomiteSam]

Hello,

New Smith owner here from the PNW. I purchased my -6 686+ 5” Performace center Pro series late last year. It was my first brand- factory- new fire arm purchase, I had a cheapo 1911 before but I have always wanted a stainless roller gun. Sold the cheapo and bought this beauty.

I am very impressed with this revolver, I have had no issues what so ever so far. I waxed it with Renaissance wax before shooting it for the first time as well. Really want it to last forever.

I mainly bought this revolver for target, home defense, to take with me on camping trips and for hiking in the PNW where cougar/moutain lions are a possibility, perhaps bear (i really hope not) and what have yous.


It was literally the worst time to buy the gun only for the fact that I could not find .357 on the shelf to save my life. I had 2 hollow points I found in the bottom of a range bag, thats it. The day I picked up the transfer the dealer happend to have .38 special so I bought 3 boxes of that so I could atleast shoot the damn thing.

A friend was finally able to find a box of .357 at a gun show that he picked up for me. a box of 50 180g 1400 fps hard cast powder coated bullets was 40 $
I also finally snagged 2 boxes of Buffalo bore for hiking camping

Now, the only issue I have had this far. My brother gifted me a set of mepolight S&w revolver night sights, advertised for universal fit on the front pinned sight and rear adjustable sights. I brought the revolver and the sights the gunsmith, after waiting too many weeks and multiple calls, I stopped by one day to pick it up since I had not heard a word from them. Their “pistol guy” came out and showed me that the front sight would not fit correctly. I was a bit annoyed that it took that long tell me this but i know they have been very busy so i have got over it.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=496971&stc=1&d=1613103752


I have emailed mepolight to see if the gunsmith was missing something or if this front sight will not work on my revolver, but i thought I would ask you all too since I am the noobie here. I have included the most detailed pics I could

with the night sight lined up with the current sight:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=496970&stc=1&d=1613103752

with the night sight moved to a position where it would be pinned:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=496972&stc=1&d=1613103752

I am thinking this will not work with my revolver. any ideas here? I really dont want drop the revolver off with anyone else if its just not going to work- are there any front night sight I can swap in instead of the mepolight one?


Thanks for all the info I have found on here so far!

 

[3rdgeargrndrr]

Welcome to the forum! Congrats on buying a beautiful gun.

It does not look like that front sight will work for you.
There are other options out there to purchase if you want something other than a black sight. HiViz Dawson and SDM come to mind.
Many of us shoot it the way it is. Not many of us use night sights.
Not saying they arent great, you can always put a dot of nail polish on the sight to give it some contrast.

From what you posted, I would recommend is finding more ammo and getting practice in before modifying anything your gun.
You will get tons more dividends getting better and confident with it more than you would a night sight.
Also, night sights wont replace flashlights at night.
Plan accordingly

 

[mikerjf]

You picked a good 'un! Hard to beat a 357 revolver for general utility.

Sight doesn't look like it will work. One idea - Big Dot may have a front to fit, or they have a glue-on that could be installed on a stock front (so it would still be pin-able).

I don't have any night sights, but thinking about camping and something out there growling in the pitch dark woods... I may get some!

 

[OLDSTER]

Hi from North Dakota

 

[bananaman]

Welcome to the FORUM from Michigan. Your purchase should be a great shooter! I have a 686-6, 5" Pro Series. Super nice out of the box. I tried to change front sight to Hi-Viz, and couldn't. Mine is held in place by a spring. Easy to remove and replace for the factory sight. You cant get the right angle to put the Hi-Viz in. So I have a spare for my 625 JM.
Many of us have been through ammo shortages. When it frees up, stock up. Reloading is another option, but most of the components are out of stock also. Good luck! Bob

 

[Protocall_Design]

You need a Classic clip on front sight with a dovetail on the bottom. Look at the front of the barrel and you will see a 1/8" hole under the sight, above the bore. This tells you it's a clip on (and off), as well as the forward position of the pin. They should have put this system on all the guns.

You can easily change out the front sight to something else, maybe a fiber optic, but I am not aware of anyone making a clip on style night sight. Beautiful gun - you will love shooting it.

 

[Grayfox]

I believe that sight might be made to work. But it would require trimming and reshaping the front edge. It probably wouldn't look very good.
I've never cared for night sights. If its too dark to see your sights, its too dark to get a good sight picture on your target. You'll just end up point shooting anyway.
I think a good 3 dot set up is much better.
Besides, night sights have an expiration date. Usually they only last for about 10 years or so. Do you know how old those sights were when you got them?
I just recently bought a 13 year old pistol with dead night sights. I'm not going to spend the money to replace them. If anything, I may just put a drop of white paint over them.

 

[SposomiteSam]

Welcome to the forum! Congrats on buying a beautiful gun.

It does not look like that front sight will work for you.
There are other options out there to purchase if you want something other than a black sight. HiViz Dawson and SDM come to mind.
Many of us shoot it the way it is. Not many of us use night sights.
Not saying they arent great, you can always put a dot of nail polish on the sight to give it some contrast.

From what you posted, I would recommend is finding more ammo and getting practice in before modifying anything your gun.
You will get tons more dividends getting better and confident with it more than you would a night sight.
Also, night sights wont replace flashlights at night.
Plan accordingly

Thank you for the welcome and the solid advice. I agree 100 percent that I need to find as much ammo as possible to practice with, I can find it online but pretty rediculous prices and then shipping on top of that just sucks. I have pretty much burned through all my .38 and the powder coated stuff already.

I am not 100 percent gung ho for the night sights either I guess, but i do need a little contrast for the front blade. I did like the way the replacement sight was shaped, not as blocky and streamlined conpared to the factory one. I think I will start with a dab of nail polish and work my way up from there if I need more. I do like the idea of a nice red fiber optic dot up front though

Also getting used to this forum so I didnt multi quote

but thanks to all the other advice as well-

grayfox valid points as well, I did a quick once over on the package when I first got it looking for a manufacture date because that was a thought of mine as well.

I did like this version of these sights because the tritium vial was surrounded by a white ring so it really popped out

I may install just the rear for the two dots there and the nail polish up front might be what I need


Protocall design- I was not aware of the clip in the front as well as the pin thank you for pointing that out and letting me know.



Hoping to score some more ammo soon, I have a buy on site request for all of my friends when they are out and about.


I will also add that I also first wanted this Smith because my buddy has a 40d Rhino that we would shoot the **** out of and I thought it was a decent gun, ugly as all sin though and nothing like this 686- I love the action on this, so smooth

 

[SposomiteSam]

You need a Classic clip on front sight with a dovetail on the bottom. Look at the front of the barrel and you will see a 1/8" hole under the sight, above the bore. This tells you it's a clip on (and off), as well as the forward position of the pin. They should have put this system on all the guns.

You can easily change out the front sight to something else, maybe a fiber optic, but I am not aware of anyone making a clip on style night sight. Beautiful gun - you will love shooting it.

I wasnt even aware of the third type of sight, I thought only pinned and the notch style were the only ones. now I understand, the DX is spring loaded but held by a pin. I think i even found one that would work for me

HIVIZ(R) Shooting Systems | Manufacturing high quality firearm fiber optic and tritium sights >> Litewave H3(R) Tritium/Litepipe S&W DX Interchangeable Front Sight

still going to try the nail polish first, no use in spending more money if that will work for me!

 

[Execpro]

I have 2 guns with black front & back sights. I’ve had many more over the years also but they are gone now, however they all got the same treatment. Did this on black & stainless guns.
I painted the front sights with Testor’s high gloss model paint.
The first 2 pics are a Taurus 856 revolver.
The 3rd pic is a S&W 380 Bodyguard.

Totally agree with 3rdgeargrndrr. You need to use a flashlight.
Night sights are pretty much useless in a dark environment when using a flashlight, it wipes out any advantage, but with the yellow sights, the front sight stands out well with the yellow paint. JMO

If you don’t use a flashlight (you should), night sights are only a benefit in low light situations.

Be SAFE and Shoot Often!

 

[Zarr]

Welcome to the forum, from Western Massachusetts.

 

[DonD]

Hello,
A friend was finally able to find a box of .357 at a gun show that he picked up for me. a box of 50 180g 1400 fps hard cast powder coated bullets was 40 $

You might want to consider whether using that ammo is wise as you likely know little about the manufacturer.

Hodgdon powder company's heaviest load for 180gr is 1422 fps but that is out of a 10" non vented pressure barrel. Velocities on a 6" revolver would be way below that. Pressure is 34,000 CUP and there is no correlation between CUP and PSI. Personally, I wouldn't shoot the stuff. Your call. Don

 

[SposomiteSam]

You might want to consider whether using that ammo is wise as you likely know little about the manufacturer.

Hodgdon powder company's heaviest load for 180gr is 1422 fps but that is out of a 10" non vented pressure barrel. Velocities on a 6" revolver would be way below that. Pressure is 34,000 CUP and there is no correlation between CUP and PSI. Personally, I wouldn't shoot the stuff. Your call. Don

I appreciate the advice, I agree with you about not knowing the manufacturer, my first choice would be a brand name. I attached a picture of the label on that one just for reference



I was also able to install the rear sight this afternoon, very simple to do IMO. I had a spanner bit in my auto tool box that I shaved just a tad with the dremmel to make it fit and it worked great.


I have no use for the front sight, as it not the right part, anyone here that wants it is welcome to it, just pm an adress to send it to. A 5$ beer fund donation would be accepted but not required. Pictures of that are attached as well