Looking to upgrade my S&W 686 revolver sights

[66L]

Looking at the Dawson website, they have a link for S&W "classic" front sights (quick change) w/ tritium, but it doesn't have any listings. Anyone have experience with this or know if they could make one reasonably? Night time stages are becoming more popular in competition and night sights are becoming more necessary.

[shootist26]

Keep us updated on this -- I'd like to know how they work out for you. I think you will like that setup though.

Still waiting on my Bowen rear sights to come in, but I did get the Dawson tritium front installed. It is .230" tall, which I think may be a bit short? I need to bottom out the elevation on the factory rear sight to get a 6-o-clock hold at 25yd. Otherwise it shoots way high.

Aside from that, the front sight is so much better than the factory one.

[shootist26]

Best fixed rear sight for serious duty use are the Cylinder & Slide Extreme Duty sight: http://www.cylinder-slide.com/index....ef=ExtremeDuty. The only downside is they're generally regulated for heavy bullet weights, like 158 and up. So if you're shooting 125s with a factory height front sight, you'll hit low unless you file the front sight down.

I also purchased this today just to try out. Since my Dawson front sight is a bit shorter at .230" than the factory .250" height, I'm hoping these will match POI/POA better for me than for you.

[shootist26]

UPDATE:

Installed my Cylinder-Slide Extreme Duty fixed sights today and tried it out @ 25yds. It worked fantastic and the sight picture is great. With the .230" Dawson front sight, it is pretty much a "dot hold" sight picture with standard 130gr practice ammo, which is the same sight picture as my Sigs and Berettas. With 158gr it shoots very close to POA/POI. The rear notch is glare free and has a deep notch, which allows you to see the whole front dot. The factory S&W rear sight is so shallow that it will cut off the bottom of the tritium rings.

I would highly recommend this setup for anybody looking for a simple and rugged "serious use" sight setup for their 4" S&W revolver.

[Robinson]

Thanks for posting the updates. I have one of those C&S fixed rear sights and have had it installed on a couple different revolvers -- never sure if I really liked it or not.

Do you still plan to try out the Bowen Rough Country sight? I'm interested to see how you think it compares.

[Clyde from Carolina]

Great thread. I'll have to pass this on to my buddy and mentor who has a "thing" for the 686. He used to carry them at work and shoot them in competition and he has a hard time not buying one when he runs across them. :-)

Love this forum. Opened this thread for the 686, and got a nice side trip to Webley autos.

[AdioSS]

Using advice from this old thread, I upgraded the sights on my 686-6.



Meprolight Tru-Dot Sure Shot front
Cylinder & Slide Extreme Duty U-Notch fixed rear

[03RN]

Using advice from this old thread, I upgraded the sights on my 686-6.



Meprolight Tru-Dot Sure Shot front
Cylinder & Slide Extreme Duty U-Notch fixed rear

Perfect