Replacement sights for S&W 317?

[Peakbagger46]

Can anyone recommend a good set of aftermarket sights for a 3" airweight J-frame? I can't shoot very well with the factory "V" rear sight and fiber-optic front. The gun is used for rabbits and plinking.

 

[ClemY]

They don't have to be aftermarket. I replaced the sights on my 317 with a S&W serrated ramp and normal S&W square rear notch. I got the parts from Brownell's. I have had to do that on a couple of guns.

 

[Peakbagger46]

Clem,

Did you have to get the whole sight assembly, or just the rear and front blades? Easy to do yourself?

 

[jarhead]

You can just easily order a new rear sight blade (it’s best to use a micrometer to measure the height of the existing blade to keep your existing adjustment range). You’ll need to order the blade (you can get them white outline or plain black).

The front sight on my 317 was one of the fiber optic rounded top… they work “ok” with a square notch rear, but I just went ahead and ordered a gold bead square target front and it gives me a great sight picture. I’ve looked many times over the years to see if anyone is making a good aftermarket set of J-frame adjustable sights and haven’t ever found any… but I’m very happy now with the white outline square notch rear and gold bear target front.

 

[ClemY]

The rear sight blade comes as a kit. You have to break the windage adjustment screw to change the blade. The kit comes with a new screw and nut as well as the sight blade. You may want to invest in the little forked screwdriver insert to tighten the new windage screw nut.

If you like basic black, just measure the front sight height and get a serrated ramp of the same or slightly higher height.

Fitting the front sight is colorful. I messed up a gun drilling for the cross pin. Now I just clamp the old blade and new blade together and drill with both blades off the gun, then use loctite and the cross pin to secure the new front sight.

 

[Onmilothesameone]

Mine came with a serrated ramp front and I replaced it with a Patridge front for better sight clarity.
Clamping the old and new sight blades together for drilling is a grand suggestion..
Use a set of parallels to bring the sight blades to the top of your drill vise, old blade on top, add some cutting oil and run the correct number drill bit through the hole at slow speed until the bit contacts the new blade, increase the speed and bear down on the quill handle until you punch through.
I can look up the correct number drill bit if you need it.

 

[JFrame]

Replacing the sights on the 317 seems to be a popular topic...

I replaced the rear V-notch sight on my 317 with the standard square notch. I love the tritium front sight on my S&W Pro-60, and am considering getting that for the 317.

 

[jarhead]

If you are going to replace the front sight with a tritium sight like the 24/7 Big Dot that is available for S&W J-frames… I’ve found that all of the newer shrouded barrels (and the 317 lined barrel) takes a slightly longer front sight to completely cover the dovetail where you pin the front in place.

I ordered a 24/7 S&W J-frame front and it is perfect for any non-alloy pinned front sight replacements, but it leaves a gap from being shorter than the factory sight (not talking height of the front sight here, this is the front to back length that covered the milled out area the sight sits in).

 

[JFrame]

jarhead said:
If you are going to replace the front sight with a tritium sight like the 24/7 Big Dot that is available for S&W J-frames… I’ve found that all of the newer shrouded barrels (and the 317 lined barrel) takes a slightly longer front sight to completely cover the dovetail where you pin the front in place.

I ordered a 24/7 S&W J-frame front and it is perfect for any non-alloy pinned front sight replacements, but it leaves a gap from being shorter than the factory sight (not talking height of the front sight here, this is the front to back length that covered the milled out area the sight sits in).

Hey jarhead -- thanks for the tip!

 

[F1]

I have the 317 2" barrel version with the fixed sights. The gun is terribly inaccurate. Shoots very high. Is there anything that can be done to fix it? Perhaps S&W will correct it as a warranty issue.

Called them. They said they'll send me a free shipping label and I should send it back. I read someone else having the same problem with it online someplace, so maybe they're all like that and they'll just send it back to me saying the gun is made to be accurate up to five feet or something. The 3" barrel version with the adjustable sights is much more accurate.

 

[F1]

I sent it back to S&W and in less than a week I have it back again. they said they replaced the barrel. Haven't tried it yet. Super service, though!

 

[Mr. Happy]

Great thread. I will bring it back and stay on track:

I've been thinking about replacing the sights on my 3.5" barrel 317. Because I can't get the standard sights dialed in. The Safety and Instruction Manual (I bought the gun new) merely shows which way the elevation and windage screws turn.

I can't adjust the rear sight to get it aligned at 7 yds at the range, or with a laser boresighter at home. the bullets/laser dot are low and to the right, but no adjusting moves them.

Then I read above about "breaking the windage adjustment screw" and wondered if I may have done that inadvertently.

Any guidance? Thanks in advance.

 

[ClemY]

You probably didn’t break the screw-nut combination. That takes a little work and becomes pretty obvious with the nut falling out after the screw breaks.

Rather than get yourself involved with all the little parts of a S&W J frame rear sight, you can just buy the entire rear sight from Brownell’s. I think that is what I did. I have changed out a few sight blades and more recently just bought the entire sight assembly. If you don’t mind the slightly rounded profile of the HiViz front you can leave it alone and use it with the square notch rear sight (after rear sight replacement). I am not that big on HiViz front sights, although I have left the front sight alone on the new Model 63, but I had to change the rear V sight on the 317 and 360 Kit Gun. I can’t hit anything with that.

I was going to upload a photo of my 360 and 317 with new front sights, but I was blocked by the system here at work. Perhaps tonight at home.

Got it uploaded. 360 and 317 with serrated ramp front sights.