Front sight replacement on S&W

[mbkmkk]

How do I change the front sight on a pined S&W 629. I took the original sight out and have the new sight ready. It appears that a small hole needs to be made in the sight so the pin can go through the sight when placing the sight into place. How do I do this, with a small drill bit?

Thanks

 

[rcmodel]

Yep!

You will need the correct size Number drill bit, and a drill press.

Clamp the sight down in the ramp with a soft jaw wood clamp so it cannot move while you drill it.

I highly suggest you use a drill press, so no wobble can occur and enlarge the hole in the barrel ramp.

Trying it with a hand drill is an invitation to disaster!

An alternate method would be to make a center-punch that fits the hole in the ramp out of a drill bit shank or music-wire spring stock, and mark the sight, then take it out and drill it.
Again use a drill press to prevent error.

rcmodel

 

[gb6491]

As rcmodel points out you do need to be very careful about not hogging out the holes in the ramp.

I recently put an XS Big Dot sight on my Model 60.
To install it you drill the new sight half way through from both sides.
The XS sight tenon has a hole in the bottom of it to facilitate the drilling (less material to drill through when going through the ramp holes). If your sight blade doesn't have one you might want to drill one into it.

Here's a page I put together about how I did it:
http://gbrannon.bizhat.com/xs.html

Regards,
Greg