Installed by XS sights!
By Joe W Gorman
In the 1976 Dirty Harry movie The Enforcer, Clint Eastwood (as Dirty Harry) sarcastically says to Hal Holbrook (as Lt. Briggs) “You’re a good man Lieutenant. A good man always knows his limitations.” For much of my adult life, by this measure, I have not been a good man.
I have lost track of how many of my firearms currently sport XS sights, either as factory fitted sights or added by me to help me acquire my sights quickly. As luck would have it, XS Sights makes a Big Dot (in Orange and Green) with a tritium center dot made for a pinned J-frame front sight. I dutifully ordered a XS Sights Big Dot Tritium front sight (pinned) for J-frame Smith and Wesson revolvers. I drove the pin from the trusty five shot Smith .357, that has been with me since ’95, back when I wrote for Gun World magazine.
As I attempted to remove the factory black blade, I soon discovered that the factory sight blade did not wish to leave. I attempted a bit of persuasion with an acrylic mallet, and I grabbed ahold of the sight with pliers and attempted to wiggle them out. I had no luck.
The author has two Smith J frames that he routinely carries in an ankle rig; his 30 year old 640 (top) and the new 442 Ultimate Carry Smith. The Ultimate Carry comes from the factory with green ring, tritium XS sights. The 640 felt jealous! Ok really the author is getting old and seeing the flat black blade in low light was impossible.
At this point I began to consider how I might escalate this situation and somehow use greater-leverage tools to brute-force the sight out. I even prepared plastic vice jaw inserts to use to lock the barrel in place while I attacked the trouble-making front sight. Then, a flood of memories hit me: me cutting myself trying to force steel to do stuff, me slipping with a tool and permanently marking a firearm… It then occurred to me that I have reached a point in my life where, I should send a job off if I’m not comfortable doing it.
Sigh.
XS Sights’ Big Orange Dot sure looks orange in bright light, but turn the lights down and you see the green tritium light up! Pretty cool.
I went to the XS website and noted that the XS company installs their sights! The price seemed reasonable for me to avoid those demons that had visited me in the past and the process was very straightforward.
XS Sights’ Big Dot Orange tritium front sight sitting on top of the 640, as installed by XS Sights. If you have a sight blade that is being ornry, send it to XS Sights! Their steel, CNC machined sight has a 12 year warranty on the tritium insert.
To make a long story short, when I got my revolver back, I was completely happy with the installation and the sight itself. The Big Dot is BIG and overflows the modest rear frame channel on the 640 that is used as a rear sight. I can still make precision shots with it (head shots on a B27 target at 12 yards) and man, you will never lose that dot as you draw and come up to the target if you keep both eyes open.
Even the author can spot that HUGE glowing orange dot! (.188” dot to be precise) Given the role of this weapon, the author feels he can use the front sight like a red dot and just worry about covering the target with the dot.
That Big Dot draws my eyes like a magnet. If your goal for a 2.18” barreled DAO revolver is putting shots in the 8-ring on a B27 from 8 yards out as quickly as possible, this is your sight configuration.
5-shots from 8 yards at the bull and 5 shots from 10 yards at the head of a B27.
If you consistently frame the Big Orange Dot XS Sights front sight with the rear sight on the 640-1, you CAN shoot tight groups from 10 yards with full power magnum rounds no matter what the internet claims. To be honest, this type of shooting is not what this weapon is designed to do. However, if precision is required, it can be had with the XS Sights Big Orange Dot.
Thank you XS Sights for your great products and stellar in-house installation! For more information, contact xssights.com
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