Bill Schwab Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Has anyone used the Weigand rear sight blade before: http://www.weigandcombat.com/smith_wesson_rear_blade.html If so, have your experiences been good? I love the sight picture it provides, but I can do away with the S&W rear sight and throw on a brand new, probably more durable, Millet rear sight for about $5 less! Does anyone have both the Weigand blade and a Millett to provide a comparison of the sight pictures? Any advice or comments are appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcount Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Bill, Thanks for this posting. Looking for a replacement rear sight was on my list of things to do. I like the looks of the Weigand. It very much resembles the Bomar. The specs (deep notch, not a great deal of height) sound about right for me. Thanks for the tip. I've had Millett sights in the past on autos and didn't like them (the notch was too shallow, for one. didn't seem to be a "fast acquisition" sight). By the photos on their web site the revolver sights appear to be pretty similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twix Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 That Weigand looks nice, in the description they mention a .140 "speed" width but it is not offered in the pricing. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phara Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 I just ordered the Weigand sight. Thanks for the post. I've been looking for a sight with a deeper notch. The factory notch is a little claustrophobic for me, especially when shooting plates. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Schwab Posted January 22, 2003 Author Share Posted January 22, 2003 Quote: from phara on 3:54 pm on Jan. 22, 2003 I just ordered the Weigand sight. Thanks for the post. I've been looking for a sight with a deeper notch. The factory notch is a little claustrophobic for me, especially when shooting plates. Paul Please let us know what you think of it once you have a chance to check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phara Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 Bill, I have installed the sight. Sort of. Here's the story. Ran into a small problem. I can't seem to stake the windage nut to the windage screw. It always wants to unscrew the nut while making adjustments. I tried a center punch and a nail (God forbid!). Do I need to buy a staking punch? Or is there a technique that I need to know? Also, for you first timers. Be real careful putting that plunger and spring in the windage screw. I lost one as it went flying across the room. I would have lost a second one also but putting a towel over the spring and plunger saved the day! Man are they tiny. Here are the prelims. The sight is the same width as the one that came with my 625-.125, but the notch is .025 deeper. This is significant as my sight picture now looks vertically rectangular as opposed to square or slightly horizontally rectangular on the factory sights. I will be able to see more of the target, which is helpful on small falling targets or long distance shots. The sights are tight side to side but a little loose front to back (slightly pivoting around the windage screw). I'll check this out when I shoot with it. I'll try shooting with it tomorrow, keeping a watchful eye on that loose windage nut! Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phara Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 Went to the range today to try out the new Weigand sight on my 625. Ran out of vertical adjustment, so I was shooting high. I was shooting at a three inch Shoot and See at 10 yards. I was shooting about 6 inches high, above the black. And yes, I had the adjustment screw turned so that the sight is in it's most downward position. Darn why can't anything be easy!!! As you can see from the Weigand web site, the sight hangs over the back of the windage adjusting screw tube. This means it could be bent down slightly. I'll try gently tapping it with a wooden block. I think this should work? Please, somebody stop me if this is a stupid idea! Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phara Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 Weigand rear sight continuing saga: I bent the rear sight downward. It was easy to do this. and the sight bent evenly. Now it sights in perfectly at 25 yards. but I don't have any downward adjustment left. And the windage screw nut is now fixed in place. I removed the sight from the gun and wacked the nut pretty firmly to stake it in place. The staking job definately has the "done by an amateur" look. This whole operation is not recommended for the faint of heart clumsy with small parts person eg. me. But in this case least it cost me less to do it myself, and I didn't have to part with my trusty 625. And Bill Nesbitt. I saw in the latest IDPA magazine that you are the national Master champion of IDPA revolvers! Big congratulations!!! Paul (Edited by phara at 12:05 am on Jan. 28, 2003) (Edited by phara at 12:06 am on Jan. 28, 2003) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 phara, Thanks. I was actually second in Revolver. Alex Zimmerman was Champion and I was first Master. I am still pretty happy with that. Bill Nesbitt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Nesbitt Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 phara, How is the Weigand sight working out for you now? I am thinking about switching from my model 10 to an old S&W 25-2. A gunsmith in Kentucky put gold beads on a couple of autos for me and I thought about a Weigand or Millet rear with a gold bead front for the 25-2. Bill Nesbitt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reneet Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 The sights are tight side to side but a little loose front to back (slightly pivoting around the windage screw). I'll check this out when I shoot with it. We discovered the same problem and tried the blade on several different factory sights. Looser on some than others. I really liked the sight picture but the loose blade is of great concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phara Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 How is the Weigand sight working out for you now? Well sorry to muddy the waters but now I have a millett sight on my 625 (with white outline). The Weigand does have a deeper notch but I found that to shoot major (just barely) with a 230 grain moly coated bullet I had to put on the tallest Patrige front sight that S and W makes. Otherwise the gun shoots too high (too high even for IPSC standards!) at 25 yards. If I shoot minor with a 200 grain bullet or lighter then I have some elevation adjustment with the higher front sight but with the slow moving 230's I am still maxed out but perfect at 25 yards. I said before that I had pushed the weigand blade down in it's mount to help with the "shooting high" problem. That did solve the elevation problem and I was able to use the original front sight that came with the 625 but I have to admit that it did reduce the useable notch depth as I was starting to see the sight's rear mounting screw at the bottom of the notch. So that totally cancelled out the benefit of the deeper notch. I then bought a second Weigand sight and put on the taller front sight as I just described (because I couldn't bend it back!). I wrote Jack Weigand about the slight forward to backward looseness of the blade. He said that was normal and did not cause accuracy problems. After using it a whole heck of a lot I have to agree with him. At the last IRC I won a Millett sight with the white outline so I figured "what the heck" and mounted it on the 625. First of all it goes on real easy because you replace the whole rear sight. So you unscrew whole S and W rear sight assembly. Then you just drop the Millet sight in. Very easy ( but make sure you order the correct drop in sight, they make one for older and newer revolvers!) The notch is the same depth as the factory sight so you don't get any advantage there, but the site picture looks "Bomar" like as does the weigand but with a white outline. I have grown to like the white outline a lot although they do make one without it. One more thing that I did was to shave the front sight to give me more space from side to side and this helps my "claustophobic" feeling. But I haven't used it in competition yet as I have switched over to Open Revolver class with my 8 shot. I really feel that it will be fine for competition because it's been fine in action pistol practice. Later, Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Schwab Posted October 20, 2003 Author Share Posted October 20, 2003 I had EGW install the Weigand unit on a S&W 66 that I hope to use for IDPA someday. The Weigand part is sweet, very crisp serrations on the back and the sight picture is primo. I haven't had any elevation issues as phara did, but to be honest I test fired my gun with 38 Special loads and haven't tried any magnums through it. One of my concerns was the strength & rigidity of the part as installed, but all concerns are now gone: the part is rock solid in the S&W housing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phara Posted October 20, 2003 Share Posted October 20, 2003 As I understand it, the reason the 625 was shooting high is that the big 230 grain bullet moves at a fairly slow velocity so that by the time the bullet leaves the barrel the recoil has allowd the bullet to shoot upwards a little more than the wiegand sight can compensate for with a standard front blade. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted November 20, 2003 Share Posted November 20, 2003 Bill, I just happened to read about the Model 25. NO, No, please don't turn to the dark side, and swith to a clipper. Your the King of Revolvers in my book, you should have been champ shootin that Model 10 ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Nesbitt Posted November 21, 2003 Share Posted November 21, 2003 Wayne, Rest easy. The Model 10 will still see some use. I recently bought another tool head for my Dillon 1050 so I can easily switch from 9mm to 38 special. I had been loading 38's on a 550. The N-frame just doesn't feel as good in my hand as a K-frame round butt. Bill Nesbitt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMC Posted November 21, 2003 Share Posted November 21, 2003 I have the Weigand rear on my 627 and love it. It looks like the Bomar on the Limited auto so it gives a very fimilar sight picture. I use it with a modified PC627 front that has a fiber optic so once again I get a sight picture I'm used to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Posted November 22, 2003 Share Posted November 22, 2003 Thank goodness Bill, all is well in the Universe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now