Night sights for snubs

[cnemeth]

Does anyone make night sigts for snub nosed revolvers? I would think this would be handy feature for fast sight acqusition in these defensive handguns. However I have not been able to find any. Berreta even offers a big glowing dot on one of their .32 acp psitols.

Thanks
Chris Nemeth

 

[Mike Irwin]

I've seen a number of snubby revolvers fitted with front dots.

Colt for awhile even offered their stainless Detective Special (SV something) with a front dot.

Last year I almost bought a Smith snubby with a front dot. The only reason I didn't make the purchase is that the barrel had been ported, and I don't believe in porting on short-barreled defensive handguns -- revolver or semi-auto.

 

[xcop]

night sights

I know that Innovative Weaponry in Texas will install night sights in fixed sighted revolvers...including j frames. The front sight must be the newer wider blade. I sent them a 649 smith along with a beretta for night sight installation, and they returned the smith saying the blade was too narrow. If you have the narrow blade, some places notch the front sight and insert a tritium sight made for another weapon. Innovative has done 3 weapons, and they do a great job. They are on the web as pt night sights........don't know the exact address.

 

[Joe 543]

IMHO, the snubs are point and shoot weapons.

Your mileage may very.

Joe

 

[sw627pc]

Meprolight makes an insert with a Tritium bead that replaces the plastic insert in most S&W revolvers. If you have a solid front sight, a bit of machine work, or very careful filing might make it work. Brownells sells special files for cutting an insert slot in non insert front sight blades. Rear sights are a bit harder if using fixed sight guns. With adjustable sight guns there are many available options.

 

[Jim March]

Ashley for one makes pin-in quick swap front sights for the SP101, in both the "big dot" and "small dot" and with or without Tritium cores.

 

[exgi]

ashley?

do you have an adresss for this company?

 

[Harrison]

Jim,

I have been looking at AO's website and I don't see anything for Ruger revolvers. Do the sights they list for the S&Ws also fit the Rugers?

I have the big dot with tritium on my G19 and I really like it. I would love to have a one on my SP101.

I sent AO an email asking about this a couple of weeks ago and have heard nothing.

H

 

[Jim March]

OK, here's the scoop with Ashley:

There's a downloadable 20-something-page catalog in .PDF form that you need to download, the address is:

http://www.ashleyoutdoors.com/ecom/pdfcatalog.html

They stupidly named the section of the website that contains it, "Paper Catalog" so everybody misses it. It's almost 5megs in size .

Anyways. In there, you'll see that the Big Dot and Small Dot tritiums are regular catalog items for the SP101 and GP100 fixed-sight models.

There's also a NON-cataloged front and rear setup for the GP100 that you have to call them for. That stuff would probably fit on a Super Redhawk as well.

If you can't download or read the catalog, don't sweat it, call 'em up. Contact stuff is at:

http://www.ashleyoutdoors.com/contact.html#contact

The main web page is at: http://www.ashleyoutdoors.com - I mention this because the links I provided above are the "break out of the frames" addresses so from those, you won't be able to see the rest of the site.

What else...from the examination I did of my friend's SP101, and from how extremely low-slung the factory sight is, I personally would go with the small dot versus big dot. The big dot front might "totally overwhelm" the rear gutter channel. Remember that the center Tritium tube is identical between the two, as is glow level at low light.

I think the big dot front needs the real Express rear to work properly...not 100% sure, mind you, but...hmmm. The short barrel will put that Big Dot "right up in your face". That doesn't seem optimal.

 

[Harrison]

Thanks Jim,

Yep, I missed it. I thought that "paper catalog" was where you ordered a copy of their paper catalog.

Anyway, I finally got that big sucker downloaded and I see the listing for the Rugers.

Thanks for the thoughts on big dot vs small dot. You are probably right about the big dot overwhelming the rear gutter.

Since I live only about an hour away from AO I guess I need to drop by their shop the next time I'm in Fort Worth.

Thanks again,
H

 

[Will Beararms]

Any benefit gained from a night sight will be negated by the massive flame thrown muzzle blast. Curb your urge by buying a really nice holster or getting more ammo.

 

[Jim March]

Will, we're going to have to agree to disagree.

The first shot is THE most critical. Tritium by night will help, a LOT. By day, Ashley's habit of surrounding the Tritium with white enamel (Big or Small) helps more than Trijicon's black background.

With a snubbie, wherever possible (and especially at night) you should be taking one shot, moving, taking another. That way, even if you're dumb enough to shoot a full-house .357 that you haven't night-shot to make sure it doesn't double as a flamethrower, your eyes have a shot at recovery plus the problem child you're dealing with doesn't hit you when he shoots at the booming noise.

See also the concept of "zoning out of the kill zone", esp. sideways zoning.

 

[LIProgun]

IWI did an outstanding job of installing an tritium insert in the front ramp on a J-frame (and in the fixed sights on a pistol as well) for me, and I intend to send additional guns there.

As for whether this is a worthwhile mod, I'm with Jim March 100%. That first shot is the most important, and I want to be able to put that front sight in the center of mass whether it is light or dark.

And the issue of flash can be minimized by proper ammo selection.

 

[Joe 543]

Again, point & shoot out to 5-10 yrds. max.

If further, you shouldn't be engaging or sticking around for that matter.

The 2inch is for back-up or code white carry.

IMHO

Joe

 

[Will Beararms]

The night site is far overated imho. With a snub for me, it's point and shoot. Taking the time to focus may mean death or a miss. I am a shotgunner and wing shooter first and foremost and I shoot on instinct always unless using a high powered rifle with scope.

Maybye on the gun range or at a competition, the night site may be a wonderful tool. As for me and strictly for me---------and no one else, I don't care for night sites much less on a snub. It's just one more theing to break.

If anyone else likes em', more power to ya.

 

[VictorLouis]

IWI is www.ptnightsights.com

A very knowledgeable and helpful young lady assisted me over the telephone.