fixed sights

[dyl]

1) Do the milled sight channels and fixed rear sight of revolvers like the Model 10 or 65 ever leave you wanting?

2) Is it worth the price increase to go with a Model 66 with adjustable rear sights?

3) When was the last time you adjusted the windage of your revolver anyways?

 

[Jim Watson]

1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. When I settled on a load for it.

It is not necessarily the adjustment, it is the visibility.
I can't see the hog wallow + shallow ramp well enough for accuracy.
I have seen high visibility fixed sights but they are an expensive custom project on a Smith.

 

[Cheapshooter]

1. Depends
2. Depends
3. 10-15 years ago.
What is your purpose for tge revolver?
Target, recreational, hunting? Adjustable sights on a revolver might be of some advantage
SD, not so much.

 

[TruthTellers]

If this is a general question about fixed sights vs adjustable sights I'll answer it this way: Do you have an issue with potentially aiming off of your target to hit your target?

For me and the two revolvers I have that don't hit to the aiming point, I would rather have adjustable sights. I like being able to change the sights and replace them with differnet sights that work better for a given task, like tritium sights for low light conditions.

The excuses that folks give with adjustable sights is they're "fragile" and to that I ask: when have you broken an adjustable rear on a revolver?

 

[shurshot]

I have always preferred fixed sights on a self defense / plinker / trail handgun. Finding a proper load that hits to point of aim is half the fun. In the field or for CCW, I appreciate a sidearm that cannot be knocked out of alignment.
If I find I need a fine adjustable sight for precise work at long range (targets, squirrels, woodchucks or deer), most of my rifles have scopes and do the job 10X better.

 

[Bob Wright]

As Jim Watson so well put it, it is not the adjustments but rather the visibility. The square, flat topped blade just offers a better sight picture.

Here, my Uberti Flat Top demnstrates what a fixed sight can be:



Bob Wright

 

[SIGSHR]

Biggest problem with fixed sights is usually windage, Skeeter Skelton wrote that all fixed sight hand guns generally shot to the left for him, Charlie Askins said he made a tool to adjust the front sights of the Colt New Service revolvers issued to the Border Patrol in the 1930s-he gave no description of it though.

 

[dyl]

Thanks, folks. For context, I'm considering my first K frame after hearing so much about how well they handle. So far I've only had adjustable sights on duty sized revolvers. Model 10's and Model 65's are cheaper but have fixed sights. This would not be a home defense gun, as that role is already filled by a Model 27 with adjustable sights. This one would be purely academic and for the range. Well, at least at first.

Bob, nice setup, nice picture! I've noticed that in the semi-auto world, people also appreciate taller sights with deeper and wider notches, at least for competition.

It's funny, in the semi-auto world, fixed sights usually still mean drift adjustable unless we're talking vintage. In revolvers, fixed means *really* fixed.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I shoot fixed sight revolvers all the time. I have no problem with them. Here is the rear sight of a standard S&W Model 10. Actually the sharp eyed among you will know by the marking on the back of the hammer that it is actually a 38 Military and Police, the predecessor of the Model 10.

Anyway, the square groove of that sight is pretty much the same size as the square groove in the rear sight of this Model 17-3. My eyeball gravitates to the square groove in either. (Yes bob, I do understand what you are saying about the nice flat top of an adjustable sight.)

The standard Model 10 rear sight is much easier to see than the older style fixed sights that S&W used to make a real long time ago.

The square rear sight of a 2nd Gen Colt, on the left, is certainly easier to use than the rear sight on most modern SAA replicas, such as the Uberti Cattleman on the right. Most replicas are providing the same narrow 'V' rear sight that was typical of the 1st Gen Colts.

Here is a 1st Gen Bisley Colt rear sight. Try using that sometime.

Yup Bob, the 'adjustable' rear sight on a Ruger Three Screw sure gives a nice flat line on top. You and I know of course that to adjust it for windage you need a hammer and a punch. And it is not adjustable for elevation.

So here is a question for those of you who think adjustable rear sights are the cat's meow. How many of you actually adjust the sight for different cartridges and/or distances? Or are you like me and adjust it once for the round I most often shoot, and then never adjust it again?

And while we're on the subject, go back to that photo of my Model 17-3 sight. Notice that the sight blade is pushed over to the right a bit? That is because as a right handed shooter I tend to push my bullet impacts to the left. So I compensate by adjusting the rear sight to the right a bit. I think every used adjustable sight revolver I have ever bought has had the rear sight pushed over to the right like that, to make up for poor trigger technique.

Are adjustable rear sights fragile? You bet they are, particularly S&W adjustable rear sights. The blade is a hardened piece of steel and strike it real good and it will break. Trust me on this. That's why Ruger has 'ears' built up from the frame to protect the rear sight.



Nope, for me, and I am not trying to poke the eye out of a turkey at 100 paces, fixed sights are fine for me. Minute of Soup Can at 25 yards is all I am looking for.

 

[LAH]

I love the looks of a fixed sight 6 gun. Just remember they are fixed. As Barbara says: It is what it is. I've had a couple model 10s which shot to point of aim for me with 150-160 standard pressure loads. Perhaps the one you purchase will also.

 

[dyl]

Driftwood Johnsons, great pictures! Whoever designed those tiny sight grooves must be where "aim small miss small" came from. I think a healthy dose of optimism was a part of logic back then.

 

[SIGSHR]

IMHO you can do good shooting with fixed sights-if you know how to shoot. The problem is the groups aren't where you want them. I have gotten good groups out of my Colt Dragoon, M1860 Army and M1861 Navy with their crude sights-the rear notch is cut in the hammer.

 

[Pathfinder45]

Adjustable sights are good but overrated. It's easy to get an exact adjustment with them and they can be readily readjusted for differences in ammo. But there is a compromise in handling qualities, especially with single action revolvers like the Colt SAA or Vaquero.
Fixed sights are difficult, but not impossible, to adjust. Once they are regulated to the chosen ammo, just stay with that ammo or something that also shoots to point of aim. The fixed sight revolver should be dedicated to particular ammo. Quit trying to shoot 160 grain and 325 grain bullets from the same gun, for Pete's sake!
Sure, some fixed sights leave something to be desired, so get some jewelers files and go at it, but carefully.
If that's not for you, and it isn't for everyone, just get an adjustable sighted gun. I like both, but prefer fixed sights.

 

[rock185]

Yes, Yes and recently. When I started in the police academy, in pre semi-auto duty pistol days, I was issued a S&W Model 10 Revolver. I did fine with the fixed sights, but did better with the Model 66 I started carrying soon after graduation. I liked the S&W adjustables enough to have them installed on a couple Browning Hi Powers. To this day, I do better with the more precisely defined sight picture possible with most adjustable sights. And best with the BoMar type adjustables. A possible exception is the Heinie fixed sights I've used on some semi-autos which provide a sight picture very similar to the BoMar types. I don't always use the same ammo in the same gun, at the same distance, etc. For me, the adjustable sights are worth any added expense.......ymmv

 

[223 shooter]

Is it worth the price increase to go with a Model 66 with adjustable rear sights?

I've shot everything from very mild 38 Special 148 WC target loads to 125 and 158 grain magnums in all of my 357 revolvers and having adjustable sights makes it possible to shoot any of the loads to the point of aim.

Shooting at 25 or 50 yards or more and I'll take the adjustable sight revolver.

 

[44 AMP]

But there is a compromise in handling qualities, especially with single action revolvers like the Colt SAA or Vaquero.

Yes, if you're practicing the Road Agent Spin or other fancy showoff techniques adjustable sights can cut you painfully...but if you aren't I don't see any penalty to adjustable sights, just the obvious advantage.

I traded off my Ruger Vaquero .44 Mag to get a Super Blackhawk because it had adjustable sights.

Fixed sights are difficult, but not impossible, to adjust. Once....

I agree, ONCE. After that they're even more difficult if you need to adjust them ever again.

There are different schools of thought, neither is wrong, just not for everyone. I don't want to have to restrict my pistols to a certain load. I want them to have the ability to be easily adjusted for different loads and then adjusted BACK if/when desired.

I'll be honest, I rarely adjust my adjustable sights. If I'm only shooting a small quantity of something that doesn't hit point of aim, I'll usually just "hold off" but if I'm going to shoot more than just a few, then I want the ability to change, and then change back with a screwdriver.

Duty class/service class gun, usually do fine with fixed sights. Minute of man at combat ranges (or hopefully better) and always shooting the same (issued) ammo. Some of my guns are like that, and I'm not changing them.

Others are guns from which I want pinpoint accuracy, and the ability to do that with a variety of ammo. I won't deliberately buy a fixed sight .22. (specific models for collecting, aside) for general sporting use. There is no "adjusting the load" with .22 RF, other than buying a different brand of ammo. What happens if you can't get that exact ammo that shoots to point of aim? get out the files if its fixed sight, with adjustable sights, just the screwdriver.

Are adjustable sights more fragile? Yes. On the other hand, that's never been an issue for me, as I don't beat on things with my pistols, and in well over half a century the number of times I've dropped a gun can be counted on part of one hand. But, that's just me, and I know some people's pistol live a much rougher life than mine do.

If you're going to war and need a combat gun, fixed sights are probably the best (and do note that they don't put fixed sights on RIFLES) but for sporting use, I think adjustable sights are the best way to go.

 

[Pathfinder45]

Well, 44AMP, it looks like we pretty much agree on this.
"Do you like Chocolate or Vanilla?"
"Yes."
"But what'll you have?"
"Both, please."

 

[darkgael]

Fixed

do note that they don't put fixed sights on RIFLES

For the most part, that is true. I do, however, own a hunting rifle that has fixed sights. It is an O/U double rifle chambered for the .30-06....a Rizzini 90L Express.
The pic is two shots at 50 yards, upper barrel/bottom barrel with Winchester factory 180s

 

[Jim Watson]

Well, they are close together, which shows good regulation, but are they at the point of aim?

 

[John D]

My model 10 is a bedside pistol; those sights are more than adequate for that job. And, it's fun to shoot at targets....I'm not looking for perfection, just proficiency