I decided I wanted to try making my own Fiber Optic Sight. I've ordered a couple for my guns and I have yet to see one that looks terribly complicated. As the new sights normally come with extra fiber optic pieces for replacement, the cost of this project was effectively zero. Time involved was a little over an hour. I've learned a lot on this forum, and decided this may be a chance for me to give back, at least a little.
Before I start, a caveat: I'm not an engineer, or a gunsmith. What I am is a college student who had some extra time on his hands and wanted to simply see if I could do it. I apologize in advance for my mediocre camera phone pictures, but they should be plenty to get the idea of what I did.
I recently replaced the stock front sight of my M&P Shield, leaving me with this. I had originally tried to paint the white dot a bright orange to make it have sort of the same sight picture of the rest of my handguns, to obvious failure. It was ever-so-slightly more visible than all black.
The start:
My first step was to drill out a channel to insert the Fiber Optic rod into. I used a 1/16 inch drill bit and a hand drill initially. After about three minutes I realized the hand drill was nowhere near stable enough and moved to the same drill bit on a drill press. The sight was held in a vise throughout.
Results from the front (with bit used in the background):
The rear:
Next up was to create the cutouts that allow light to be gathered by the rod. I used a simple cutting wheel on a Dremel. I cut down until I nearly bottomed out on the channel I drilled through. Probably could/should have gone a bit lower. Note the marks on the top where my hands conveniently shook enough to place the wheel precisely where I didn't want it to go. Oh well.
Before I start, a caveat: I'm not an engineer, or a gunsmith. What I am is a college student who had some extra time on his hands and wanted to simply see if I could do it. I apologize in advance for my mediocre camera phone pictures, but they should be plenty to get the idea of what I did.
I recently replaced the stock front sight of my M&P Shield, leaving me with this. I had originally tried to paint the white dot a bright orange to make it have sort of the same sight picture of the rest of my handguns, to obvious failure. It was ever-so-slightly more visible than all black.
The start:
My first step was to drill out a channel to insert the Fiber Optic rod into. I used a 1/16 inch drill bit and a hand drill initially. After about three minutes I realized the hand drill was nowhere near stable enough and moved to the same drill bit on a drill press. The sight was held in a vise throughout.
Results from the front (with bit used in the background):
The rear:
Next up was to create the cutouts that allow light to be gathered by the rod. I used a simple cutting wheel on a Dremel. I cut down until I nearly bottomed out on the channel I drilled through. Probably could/should have gone a bit lower. Note the marks on the top where my hands conveniently shook enough to place the wheel precisely where I didn't want it to go. Oh well.
