Front Sight Help!

[SN13]

I'm a revolver newbie. And my choice of revolver is.... cheap to say the least.

I have a ROHM .38 Special 3" revolver.

I need help finding a new Front Sight.

The iron is 14mm tall (.551"). The gun currently shoots low, so a shorter front sight would be fine.

The biggest problem is that the front sight inserts via dovetail along the length of the barrel. (In other words the dovetail inserts near the muzzle and gets pushed back towards the cylinder on top of the barrel.)

The Dovetail is: 12.25mm (.482") Long x 4.80mm (.189") Wide x 1.25mm (.049") Deep

Anyone have an iron sight that will fit with minimal effort? Anyone know of a place to start? I need to find a revolver with a similar front sight....

I don't know much about revolvers so anything will help!

Thanks!

 

[SN13]

I don't need a replacement sight for the gun, i need someone with calipers who has a front sight that inserts in the same general way.

No one?

 

[Steve C]

You don't say how low it is shooting but using standard velocity .38 spl ammo with bullet weight of 148gr or heavier at 25 yards/meters it should hit close to the center of the target. With the couple guns that I own that consistently shoot a bit low I simply raise the sight in the notch a bit to get them center target. Since I know how the gun shoots it's a simple adjustment when using it.

A few inches low shooting isn't an issue for self defense or shooting reactive steel targets as long as it sends the bullets to the horizontal center of aim and groups them close.

If you decide you need a new front sight you might as well take a file to it and at the range take the front sight down a bit in small increments testing until you are shooting where you want since the front sight will be discarded anyway. Just black the sight afterwards.

 

[rcmodel]

You don't need a new sight.
You need to maybe change ammo.
Heavier bullet weight will make the gun shoot higher.
Lighter bullets weight will shoot lower.

You gun was likely intended for use with standard velocity 158 grain lead bullets.
It will shoot low with anything lighter.

You need to pick a bullet weight you will use most, and then file down the front sight to sight it in with that load.

rc

 

[Pict]

Yep, what RC said! That's one of the beautiful things about the .38 Special: there's a really wide variety of bullet weights and styles to choose from. I'm currently working on a load for a S&W 438 that wants to shoot high (can't fix that with a file).

A bluing touch-up pen will spiff up the sight after you take the file to it. Some bright red or orange fingernail polish on the aimy side will help, while you're at it.

 

[SN13]

You guys were right. I had 130gr 38spl. I will try some 158 before I file her down.