BDB Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 I have a 9mm Pro that is experiencing the POA / POI issues. I have switched out the FO with the stock front from my M&P 9mm 4.25" gun. Was better but not where I want it. Groups well but still low. Would like to hear which adjustable rear people like and why. Also what height front did you install with it. I have mixed info as to which front height to match with the rear. On Speed Shooters it says to use a .305 on a pro with the Dawson Precision but it does not indicate which to use with the Novak adjustable rear. If you go to Dawson's website it says to use a .285 tall front sight. Also I am having a problem with the front sight drifting in the dovetail on its own. The problem is with the factory FO and the shorter factory sight as well. It appears the sight cut is a bit loose but I don't have time to send it back to S&W as I am shooting the Brownells Pro Am in two weeks. Will loctite cure this issue and if so what type. Thanks Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Vigilante Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 Daniel from Dawson Precision advises using the .305 with their adjustable sight. That is what I am using and have had no problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horseman Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 I went with the .305 with a Dawson adjustable rear. I was bottomed out with the .265 and still about 2 inches high at 10 yards. Probably would have worked but just aggravated me. Struggled with .285 or .305. The .285 would have worked fine. Took a hand grenade to knock out the front sight and was disappointed that the Dawson .305 about pushed in with my thumb from either side. Big surprise it walked out during sighting in. Red lock tite seems to have stopped that problem. Due to the previous sight being so tight I think the .305 was undersized and not a slot problem. I was not impressed with the Dawson rear. The clicks are kind of coarse but it works OK. Taking it down works best if you hold the sight down with your thumb while turning the adjustment screw. Doesn't seem to be a problem going up. If it is durable it will work for me. I can hardly believe that a better engineered rear would not need the empire state building on the front to zero. I do like the sight picture. Plenty of room on each side of the narrow front. I am shooting a 5 inch Pro and assume that is what you are asking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDB Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 I went with the .305 with a Dawson adjustable rear. I was bottomed out with the .265 and still about 2 inches high at 10 yards. Probably would have worked but just aggravated me. Struggled with .285 or .305. The .285 would have worked fine. Took a hand grenade to knock out the front sight and was disappointed that the Dawson .305 about pushed in with my thumb from either side. Big surprise it walked out during sighting in. Red lock tite seems to have stopped that problem. Due to the previous sight being so tight I think the .305 was undersized and not a slot problem. I was not impressed with the Dawson rear. The clicks are kind of coarse but it works OK. Taking it down works best if you hold the sight down with your thumb while turning the adjustment screw. Doesn't seem to be a problem going up. If it is durable it will work for me. I can hardly believe that a better engineered rear would not need the empire state building on the front to zero. I do like the sight picture. Plenty of room on each side of the narrow front. I am shooting a 5 inch Pro and assume that is what you are asking about. Horseman - A couple questions for you. With the knowledge you have now, if you had to do this again would you have chosen the .285 over the .305 and why. Also with the .305 sight, where about is the rear adjusted. Is it buried at either end of travel up or down or somewhere comfortably in the middle. Last thing, did you choose the fiber optic front or the the plain metal one. Thanks for the input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saab Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 My 9/pro was shooting 1.5/2" low at 25 yds. I got a Dawson .160 front sight and it shoots dead on. The .305 is huge! I would not get their adjustable. Save $ and go with the front only. Yes, the front is hard to get out. The Dawson may require a small amount of filing. (note) file on the bottom of the sight only! A olittle at a time until it goes about 1/2 way in then, knock it the rest of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg in VA Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Any one sell a shorter non fiber optic sight for these things? Greg in Va Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Miles Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 I put on a .285 also. I didn't want to worry about cross winds pushing the gun around. The .305 is a sail. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twodelta Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 I have a Dawson .265 front with the adjustable rear on a 9 Pro and two 40 Pro's. I'm right in the middle of the adjustment for the rear sight's elevation on all three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sumtoc Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 I was also advised to use a .305 front with Dawson adj rear on my 9 Pro. Front was freakishly tall and the rear was run up so high you could see a lot of daylight underneath. Replaced it with a .265 and now it shoots groups right on top of the front sight at 25 yards, rear is back down where it should be...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98006 Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Novak makes an adjustable site that look like the stock one. avaible at Brownells Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cproflow Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 To the OP: I had my front FO move around so much that I could pop it out with my finger...with little effort. Was a non-starter and quite frustrating. I wanted S&W to replace it, but they said their FO's were on backorder. I smelled a ridiculous wait--in fact I'm still waiting--so I got a Dawson .305 + adjustable rear. That moved around too, because my front dovetail was cut too large (come on S&W!), so I sent my slide to Dawson and had them install it. It came back looking good, and after ~200 rounds no movement yet. I agree the .305 is large. It is kinda growing on me, and it is really easy to pick up when drawing. I struggled with the .265 or .305 for awhile, even posting on here asking for people's experiences. It was a mixed bag, so in the end I just went with what Dawson recommended. So far it works out great. My POA/POI issue is solved, and the weak link is now me...where it should be! I'm really liking the system so far, and have just started to work up some loads for it, after essentially 3 months of waiting for S&W to not come through for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDB Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Here is what I did. I purchased the Dawson adjustable rear and the dawson .285 front. I now have POA and POI as I wanted. Plenty of adjustment and life is good. even though the stock front was sloppy in the sight cut, I had to file the dawson front and rear to install them. I am happy with my purchase. If anyone is interested, I purchased them through Speed Shooters Specialties. Items were in stock and I had them within 4 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPrimo Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Here is what I did. I purchased the Dawson adjustable rear and the dawson .285 front. I now have POA and POI as I wanted. Plenty of adjustment and life is good. even though the stock front was sloppy in the sight cut, I had to file the dawson front and rear to install them. I am happy with my purchase. If anyone is interested, I purchased them through Speed Shooters Specialties. Items were in stock and I had them within 4 days. Plus 1 to this reply. I have the same set up and could not be happier. I am running the .285 x .100 FO front with the Dawson adjustable rear and was able to correct the low POI I experienced with the factory setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow patrol Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Plus 2. I talked with a VERY nice lady at Dawson's yesterday. Told her I had a M&P40L and the kind of sights I wanted, and she recommended the .285 front (with the black adjustable rear). Should be here tomorrow, as well as my Apex trigger! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrwhite1 Posted September 1, 2011 Share Posted September 1, 2011 Plus 2. I talked with a VERY nice lady at Dawson's yesterday. Told her I had a M&P40L and the kind of sights I wanted, and she recommended the .285 front (with the black adjustable rear). Should be here tomorrow, as well as my Apex trigger! Same here! I actually wanted a .285 with .125 wide (Like a very small gap in sights) but she said it was 4 week wait, so I went with the .285 / .100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow patrol Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Plus 2. I talked with a VERY nice lady at Dawson's yesterday. Told her I had a M&P40L and the kind of sights I wanted, and she recommended the .285 front (with the black adjustable rear). Should be here tomorrow, as well as my Apex trigger! Same here! I actually wanted a .285 with .125 wide (Like a very small gap in sights) but she said it was 4 week wait, so I went with the .285 / .100 Well, my sights showed up, but the Apex goodies didn't (thank you US Mail...). I installed the FO front .285/.100, which required a minor amount of fitting, then removed the factory striker block and temporarily installed the adjustable rear. It went in nice and snug using my MGW sight pusher. No fitting needed. Oh, FWIW, I discovered the MGW won't push the front sights on the long slide M&P (9/40 pro, 9/40L) models. The longer recoil spring "hood" on the slide gets in the way. Had to use a drift on the front sight. The stock Trijicon popped out pretty easy. So far, I really like the sight picture and the red FO on the front. I really like that Dawson includes an aluminum drift with the sights. Now, Mr. Mailman, WHERE ARE MY APEX GOODIES??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrwhite1 Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 (edited) The .285x.100 was just too narrow for my taste in sight pictures.. although I could sight it in, the rear sight was also about 1/10th of an inch off the slide. I ordered the .265x.125 and love it! Wider front sight and my rear sight sets lower and looks much better. I still even have room for adjustment. On side note, I'm selling my original .285x.100 F/O if anyone is interested Edited September 9, 2011 by mrwhite1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spd522 Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Skip the adjustable and go with the Dawson fixed and a .180 front. Some guns need a .190 front to zero @ 25 but .180 works for most and is the recommended height from Dawson. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam P. Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I put the Novak adjustable sights on my M&P 40 and it corrected my pistol's POA/POI issue. Novak front sight is .285 tall IIRC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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