Upgrade sights on 617

[beetle5]

I own a Kimber Stainless II 45 auto, SW 617 6" 6 shot and I recently purchased a new 686 6" 6 shot. At the range for the first time, with great delight , I enjoyed the smooth action and remarkable accuracy of my 686 shooting 38 specials 125gr. range ammo. What I particularly liked the ramp front site, red insert, and the white outline on the rear sight (SRWO). It really helped pick up my sight and target in low light conditions in an indoor range.

Since I'm new to the forum, not having any luck finding a thread that addresses this, I'd like to know if such sights can be put on my 617. It has the flat blade w pin front sight and the rear notched sight looks a bit shorter. I'd like a similar sight for the 617 which is just as fun to shoot and cheaper too. I thought I'd ask your thoughts.

How much?
Other options? White dot or dots?
Stay with original S&W parts? Authorized part dealer? Aftermarket?
Replace yourself or gunsmith?

Thanks in advance!

 

[judge]

The red ramp can be obtained from S&W, also the WO rear sight blade. Brownells also carries these parts, along with others - fiber optic front sight blades. If yours is pinned in the front, changing is no problem. New sights are NOT drilled - they have to be fitted, and drilled to fit the existing hole. A litttle tricky if you have not done it before. If you have the proper tools and experience you are good to go.

 

[tomcatt51]

617's are definitely fun and inexpensive (relatively) to shoot. The sights are problematic because they are an odd combination of heights. The front blade is a .168 patridge and the rear is .136 or .126. I don't remember exactly. S&W has a .219 front ramp (you'd have to install an insert) you could use with a .160 rear blade. Hi-Viz makes a .168 FO front but the stock height rear blade doesn't have a deep enough notch to let you see the FO. It obscures part of the FO making for a difficult sight picture. You can't get a tall enough rear blade to use the nice SDM FO fronts which are .250 or .300 tall. I went thru this on my 6" 617 and ended up with a .160 rear and a .228 front patridge cut down to .200. Perfect height combination. However now it normally has a C-More mounted. The best solution.

 

[beetle5]

Upgrade 617 sights and other musings...

Thanks Judge and tomcat51,

I'll look for sights at both sites. Two obvious choices.

The dimensions you provided will be very helpful. I presume if I raise the front sight by 0.00X thousands inch that the same increase would apply to the rear.

The front sight on the 617 is pinned. I wasn't sure if it was a ready swap. I haven't seen if the new 617 sights have a red insert or if they are the same.

Sounds like a smith job. While I feel I'm tool savy, it's really I know enough to be dangerous. I won't risk a scratch if I'm not sure. I'm really more curious as to how the swap is done. Boy, the sight pin sure looks small. I don't think I have a punch that fine. I have small brads I could modify. However, I'm more concerned about drilling a new pin hole. Is it a standard bit size like a 1/32nd? Do smiths use a special bit? I would not want to put my gun on the press to drill the new sight pin hole. I also am leery of shaving such small blades.
Is that how it's normally done?

I have to admit, I have not shot enough to be convinced I have a consistent sight error that would warrant a sight adjustment. The manuals are not very good at describing how to adjust sights. Not that I'm looking to do so.

I'm shooting at a local indoor range. Nice set up. Reasonable. Good guys. They charge $6.5 per 1/2 hr. Splat targets are $1 RM 38 spcl loads are $16/50 rnds; ventilated and cabled target lanes.

I figure it is mostly technique. My groups on the 686 were fantastic for me out of the box. 2.5 inch@ 25'. My 617 groups are 3" at 25'. My 45 auto is 4" at 25'. I think I can do better. I do think new sights on the 617 would help me. These stock 617 sights are flat black and the rear notch seems wide enough so you see a little daylight through the notch on either side of the front blade. In low light, it is distracting.

I have entertained drilling "dots' on the 45 stock Kimber sights. $120 bucks for night sights seem like a rip to me. I'll save that for another thread.

Anyway, thanks again for the in"sight" on sights.

 

[tomcatt51]

Front pin is drilled with a .055", #54 drill bit. Your front sight has either solid pin or a roll pin. If it's a solid pin Brownells has cup tip punches just for them to not trash the end of the pin.

I widen the rear notches, particularly for indoor ranges generally poor lighting. You get better definition instead of the front and rear blurring together.

 

[beetle5]

Called S&W about my interest to match my 686 sights on the 617 for better sighting in low light.

The lowest sights are used on 0.22 due to the low recoil.

S&W said I could purchase 0.126 (Part #19146) W/O rear sight and a 0.149 red ramp front sight (Part #22894) for ~$40.

I would need a 0.055 smith's drill as you indicated to install the front pin in the new sight.

Thanks for your input.