Sight replacement?

[lrrifleman]

I am awaiting receipt of my 686+, and contemplating the purchase of a Model 69, both with the short barrels. While the red ramp sights are nice, I am leaning towards replacing them with the "McGivern"-style sight. However, I have a few questions.

First, is the "McGivern" sight blade still offered by S&W?
Second, are the front sights on the 686+ and 69 easily replaced by the owner, or must the services of a gunsmith be retained?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[muddocktor]

Do either of those revolvers use the quick change style front sights as used by the 629 Classics and the 627 series? If so, then yes S&W offers them. If it's a pinned in style, then SDM sells gold bead style sight blades and SDM uses real gold instead of brass like S&W. I've upgraded my 627 Pro, 629 Classic and my 29 Classic with the quick change bead style sight blades. All 3 use the quick change blades.

 

[Hondo44]

The Models 686+ and 69 do not have the quick change style front sights, however they both do have pinned in front sight blades. Therefore it's relatively easy to exchange front sight blades to aftermarket blades. And S&W changeable blades (with modification of the bottom of the blade).

 

[BLUEDOT37]

...are the front sights on the 686+ and 69 easily replaced by the owner, or must the services of a gunsmith be retained?

That really can only be answered by you; what are you comfortable with doing, what related experience do you have & what do you have for tools?

While not a complex job, by any means, things can still be messed up.

.