Animal Mother
Member
My first handgun was a S&W 422 fixed sight model. I still have it after all these years and have decided to fix it up a bit, so I picked up an LPA TPU adjustable sight. I’ve never converted a fixed sight model so I asked for a few tips here: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=588568 and thought I’d document my progress, as I had not seen anyone give a detailed review of this process with the LPA TPU sights, which are made in Italy and are supposed to be a no gunsmithing option where the sight replaces the original factory fixed rear sight.
First, the gun in original configuration, as you can see it’s a basic fixed sight 422 model. We’ll call this the before picture.
Here’s a picture of the LPA sight and the slide removed from the 422, I had soaked the fixed sight in some CLP so that it might penetrate and make it easier to remove.
I set the slide up in the vice with a piece of cardboard covered by strips of an old cotton t-shirt to keep from marring or the slide. I did have some brass punches on hand, but I decided to use a little nylon hammer that I keep around to act as the punch used a standard carpenter’s hammer to act as the real force on the punch.
I was really surprised when the rear sight came right out with just a minimal amount of effort.
Unfortunately, I did have some trouble in getting the new LPA sight in, I would tap it in part of the way, and it would just get stuck, so I’d have to tap it back out, and sand down the dovetail section of the sight, then try again, make little more progress and get stuck again, then repeat the process. It took me several times to get even to this point below, which is why the position of the slide changed. Also, I really had to wrench that slide in the vice TIGHT, if not it would start to move up and out of the vice when I was really putting some force into hitting the punch with the hammer.
Here’s a picture of the LPA sights after one of my early sanding sessions, I used a 230 grit paper to take a larger amount of material, and then would follow up with some 600 grit finishing paper. I mostly sanded the front because that seemed to be where it visually seemed to get stuck, but I also sanded the bottom and back of the dovetail on the sight.
Finally, I did them installed without any marring or dinging of the slide, but the whole process took about an hour.
Here’s a shot of the sight picture with the new adjustable rear sight. After doing some actual shooting, I think I’m going to paint over the white outline, because I prefer the solid black rear because it’s what I use on my other guns, but I liked having the option of a white outline rear. It’s just a personal preference. LPA offers a 2 dot rear, solid black, and white outline on their line of TPU sights.
Here’s a picture of the gun reassembled with adjustable sights installed. I had also managed to snag and install a pair of NOS Pachmayr Signature grips. They are nice and grippy, and fill the hands a bit more nicely than the standard grips. We’ll call this the after picture.
It took a little while to get the gun sighted in. But the click adjustments on the sights were easy to do and each click was distinct and seemed very solid. The gun had always shot a little high at ranges greater than around 10 yards, but now I was able to correct it. At 20 yards with Winchester bulk ammo My 5 shot groups for the 422 settled down at 2 inches, which wasn’t as good as my Ruger Mark III which was shooting 1.5 inch groups yesterday. I’ll try some other varieties of ammo as the Smith just may not like Winchester as much as my Ruger does.
All in all, I’m really satisfied with the LPA sight. They make this model sight for lots of other guns as well, including the tapered barrel Rugers.
First, the gun in original configuration, as you can see it’s a basic fixed sight 422 model. We’ll call this the before picture.
Here’s a picture of the LPA sight and the slide removed from the 422, I had soaked the fixed sight in some CLP so that it might penetrate and make it easier to remove.
I set the slide up in the vice with a piece of cardboard covered by strips of an old cotton t-shirt to keep from marring or the slide. I did have some brass punches on hand, but I decided to use a little nylon hammer that I keep around to act as the punch used a standard carpenter’s hammer to act as the real force on the punch.
I was really surprised when the rear sight came right out with just a minimal amount of effort.
Unfortunately, I did have some trouble in getting the new LPA sight in, I would tap it in part of the way, and it would just get stuck, so I’d have to tap it back out, and sand down the dovetail section of the sight, then try again, make little more progress and get stuck again, then repeat the process. It took me several times to get even to this point below, which is why the position of the slide changed. Also, I really had to wrench that slide in the vice TIGHT, if not it would start to move up and out of the vice when I was really putting some force into hitting the punch with the hammer.
Here’s a picture of the LPA sights after one of my early sanding sessions, I used a 230 grit paper to take a larger amount of material, and then would follow up with some 600 grit finishing paper. I mostly sanded the front because that seemed to be where it visually seemed to get stuck, but I also sanded the bottom and back of the dovetail on the sight.
Finally, I did them installed without any marring or dinging of the slide, but the whole process took about an hour.
Here’s a shot of the sight picture with the new adjustable rear sight. After doing some actual shooting, I think I’m going to paint over the white outline, because I prefer the solid black rear because it’s what I use on my other guns, but I liked having the option of a white outline rear. It’s just a personal preference. LPA offers a 2 dot rear, solid black, and white outline on their line of TPU sights.
Here’s a picture of the gun reassembled with adjustable sights installed. I had also managed to snag and install a pair of NOS Pachmayr Signature grips. They are nice and grippy, and fill the hands a bit more nicely than the standard grips. We’ll call this the after picture.
It took a little while to get the gun sighted in. But the click adjustments on the sights were easy to do and each click was distinct and seemed very solid. The gun had always shot a little high at ranges greater than around 10 yards, but now I was able to correct it. At 20 yards with Winchester bulk ammo My 5 shot groups for the 422 settled down at 2 inches, which wasn’t as good as my Ruger Mark III which was shooting 1.5 inch groups yesterday. I’ll try some other varieties of ammo as the Smith just may not like Winchester as much as my Ruger does.
All in all, I’m really satisfied with the LPA sight. They make this model sight for lots of other guns as well, including the tapered barrel Rugers.
