One of the things that pleased me about my third-hand Model 69 was that in the redesign S&W was farsighted enough to take the possibility of aftermarket sights into consideration. I found an adapter plate from a site called EGW Gun Parts, which may be well known to everybody else but was totally new to me. To keep things simple I also got the sight from them, so I was pretty sure they’d be compatible.
I’m glad I made sure the sight worked before taking the pistol apart. The Vortex Venom, it turns out, has a real problem with the battery housing. I put the battery in and then couldn’t screw the cover down no matter how I tried! Thank the Lords of Shooting for the Internet, because this is a common problem. The Vortex solution (Poke a screwdriver into the printed circuit housing [!] and press down the contacts) did not work for me and it also did not work for many other users who took the time to scream about it on Reddit. But prying the gasket off the inside of the cover worked great, and doesn’t seem to interfere with sight function.
Taking off the stock rear sight is simple enough…
…and may I say I patted myself on the back once again for having scored a set of gunsmith screwdrivers. Not a big deal with semiautos but essential with revolvers.
I decided to make sure I had the installation figured out before I broke out the Loctite because between the plate and the sight I was faced with a bewildering variety of screws to choose from. And I got it wrong the first time…
Even though the threads were right, I was pretty sure those were the wrong screws for mounting the plate to the pistol. I was proved right – about being wrong – when I tried to mate the sight to the plate. Took it apart and did it again right…
And then mounting the sight to the plate was just another two screws.
I went out to the driveway target and popped off enough rounds to confirm that I’ve got a real zero problem … and then it started to rain! Hadn’t even noticed the big storm cell that had rolled in while I was preoccupied. That was a problem since the ebike was still strapped to the back of the Jeep. So Tobie and I took a quick trip to Ian’s place.
Now I’m going to take it all apart again and apply Loctite, and then weather permitting I’ll go to the range with some paper and a shooting rest. Once I have it zeroed, I can turn my attention to the next problem…
I think you mounted it backwards. try turning it 180 degrees and I bet the zero is closer to what you are looking for.
Reasonably sure it’s not backward, but thanks for playing.
Very nice Joel. One thing, you may want to add a small lens cloth to your EDC. These sights get dirty quickly when exposed to the elements. 🙂