Red ramps ............now what?

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borderpatrol

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Back in the day this was considered high tech, they just plain won't cut it anymore. I looking for better front sights for my S&W revolvers;

686 - 4"
27 - 4"
57 Classic - 4"
57 No Dash - 4"

I want either a night sight or fiber optic blade. Who's making the best one?
 
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I like the XS Sight Systems Big Dot front sights for SD use, and am very happy with the Hi-Viz FO on my 617. Both are excellent for intended purposes.
 
SDM makes a nice fiber optic, S&W sells this brand as well. Some S&W's have a quick-change sight blade. You need to decide sight height and where you want the fiber optic dot on the target since it is below the top of the sight blade.
 
I happen to still like RR and WO , next best I like blue steel ramp . I have no argument with those seeking an edge with the new stuff . I refuse to be like the old bustards who argued their buck horn sights were superior in every situation to our then new scopes in the 60's and 70s . They were just darn good shots with what they had used for a lifetime . My partner has a vision ailment that is helped with a very bright front sight . He has made his own fiber optic front sights by drilling lengthwise through his front blade and cutting out the center. The piece of optic rod exposed in the center gathers enough light to make the it seem to glow in almost any light condition . Yeah it is tricky , you should have seen the stuff he did before his eyes went south .
 
The res ramp is my favorite as well. No need to change as far as I'm con cerned.
 
Be advised that fiber optic sights are useless in the dark.
 
I agree. While revolvers are not outdated, the problems that red ramps were meant to solve have long had better solutions.
 
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While red ramps may not be the best front sight they do allow some pretty reasonable target acquisition and shooting. I do not see the HiViz as good for anything but perhaps personal defense and then I am not so sure you'd even need sights. I think I prefer black.

Ward
 
Unless (I'm) standing in the sunlight I can't see them clearly. If I am standing in the sunlight there is a black line above the red ramp which changes my point of aim. I would like a little consistency, like all red all the way to the top.

You guys wouldn't last a day around me if you don't like the word "xxxx". That's about as "good" as I get. I'm sorry I scared the women or startled your horses.

Several of my revolvers, probably three of them, don't have visible pins holding the sight blade in place. Only the late 70's M-57 can be drifted out and replaced, the others will need to be machined.

A large round night sight that almost fills the rear notch or a fiber optic that has very little visible metal above the dot would work. I believe .273" is my front sight height.

In perfect light, outdoors in the sun, I much prefer a black blade. I rarely shoot in those conditions.
 
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Meprolight offers a tritium bead that fits into the dovetail for the red ramp. When added to the standard red ramp it changes the sight profile so sort of a mixed Patridge sight, so it could impede drawing from some holsters. They also include a tritium rear blade in the set that fits the standard rear target sight.

I have Meprolights on both of my Sig's and like them a lot. They have a reflective ring that surrounds the tritium vial and are visible in light ranging from only slighty above the point where the tritium is visible to full sunlight. About the only negative is that the shooters side of the steel isn't serrated so they can glare when the lighting angle is just "wrong".
 
I would have to agree with the OP, I have never been fond of the RR and realize that some people like it however I wish they would make all the front sights pinned so the shooter has the ability to change it w/o having to involve a gunsmith to mill the integral sight blade off and cut either a slot or a dovetail.
 
Indoors, red ramps are useful assuming the lighting is just right. Outdoor I find them just about useless. They kind of turn a grayish color and do not offer much over a standard blued front sight. I personally do not care for the "hi viz" stuff at all. I was taught to shoot at an early age and was taught to learn the basics instead of relying in hi tech "improvements".

I own 5 or 6 Smiths with red ramps because that's the way they came. There are a few revolvers that I use strictly for indoor target work and I have painted the front sights a blaze orange (sort of like hunting gear). I like painting the sights better than the factory red inserts because I can always remove the paint, but he notched factory red ramp is there forever. The other problem I have seen on occasion is the plastic insert has fallen out of the notch. Testors blaze orange paint is actually more visible than the red ramp and it lasts for many tears without touching up.

As for carry guns, I do not paint the front sights at all. At the distance I am likely to use the revolver at, I wouldn't think the color of the front sight would matter at all.

chief38
 
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@ Chief 38...

About painting those sights... I had never been one to paint front sights on revolvers either, back when I was about 24 years old. I didn't think it looked "good" - whatever that meant. Just didn't like it.

But about that same time, I started doing some work as part of a local vice unit. For me, in my situation, that meant everything was going down at night, in low light situations. Tritium sights were just barely (and I do mean barely) heard of at that time, and wouldn't have done any good for those of us with J-frame Smiths as our pocket undercover gun, anyway. A good co-worker (and one of the best vice guys I've ever known, may he rest in peace...) said to me one day "I need your gun for about an hour, bring something else to carry." Now this would have been a request I would have normally laughed at... But this was a guy that I had literally trusted with my life, so I said "yeah... okay..." and I picked up a 659 and tucked it into my back waistband. (And for those that are contemplating anything for the "small of the back" rethink it - I still suffer back pain from landing on that wide bodied semi-automatic when I got blindsided by a bad guy.) Anyway, when I got the little model 60 back, my friend had put the cleanest little bead of luminous paint from the base of the front ramp all the way to the top. You had to look at it twice to actually notice it. Now, it wasn't like tritium - you had to "charge it up." But that wasn't a big deal if you knew you were going into a dark spot before hand. I would put it in front of the headlight for a second and it would "hold the glow" long enough to get past the stress time.

That luminous paint is still on that front sight to this day... I have given the same treatment to a couple of other stainless J-frames that I pocket carry. It can make the difference between stopping the fight and not living.

Now regarding the sights on anything else in my S&W line-up - it stays just as it came from the factory. I just don't think it looks good!

Regards,
Mike
 
I don't like red ramps because they're not serrated. So sometimes I serrate them, but it is not easy for me to do right. They are very easily replaced by Mepro night sights, which are pretty nice three-dot sights even in the daytime.
 
Revolver sights

I've got a 460V and would like to know if anyone markets a V-type rear and a front small bead sight for it.Something you can really draw down on with.Any ideas?
 
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