MEPRO Tru-Dot Adjustable Night tritium Sights Compatible with S&W K L N REV Green tritium dots Glow on Sight self Illuminated Meprolight Fixed Metal Sights

I'm writing this as a review and as a guide to installing these sights on a gun. Thru a little trial and error I was able to successfully install these sights on my S&W 629. If you are planning on buying these sights you must be good with your hands and have the right tools in order to install them. Otherwise, you may want to have a gunsmith install them for you.The tools I used for this project was a drill, a 1/16 and a 5/64 size drill bit, a dremel tool with a grinding wheel and a cutting wheel, a small flat head screw driver, a cheap 6 in 1 screw driver set, loctite blue, a hammer, a centering punch, and a 1/16 size punch.When installing the sights I ran into a few problems. First, S&W uses a #54 size pin to hold on the front sights. This means you need a #54 size punch and a #54 size drill bit to bore thru the front sight. I have neither and Home Depot doesn't usually carry them. I solved this by smoothly filing down my 1/16 punch with my dremel tool. Once I whittled down the punch to size, I was easily able to punch the pin out and remove the sights. Then I took the 1/16 drill bit and bore out the original holes. Then I lined up the new sight and drilled a hole thru the new sight blade. After I didn't have a 1/16 size pin so what I did what flip the drill bit around and cut a section of it off with my dremel. Then I just applied a little loctite blue and hammered it into place and it fits perfectly. If you have the right size punch and drill bit I suggest you use those but this is another alternative you can do if you don't have the right tools.The second problem I had was with the rear sights is that the screw holding the sights in place requires a small spanner wrench in order to take the old screw out and put the new one in. Supposedly, you can just back the sight all the way to the left and the windage screw will break free of the nut holding it in place but for me it just spun in place. Either way you need a spanner wrench to tighten the nut onto the windage screw at the end. Again I didn't have the specialized tool, so what I did was go down to my local dollar store and purchase a cheap 6 in 1 screw set. Then using my handy dremel tool I took one of the flat head bits and filed it into a fork shape that fit into the slot. I then broke the windage screw free, and depressed the plunger holding the screw in place and extracted the original sights.Now on to the last problem, which is the main reason I give this product a 3 out of 5. The little plunger and spring which comes out of the original windage screw does not fit inside the new windage. The hole is too small and when I stuck the plunger and spring it got lodged in the screw and would not budge. And it's important for that pin to float freely in there to hold the windage screw in place after you sight it in. Getting the plunger out of the screw was a project in itself. It took me 2 hours of trying to pry it out with everything I had. Nothing would work because the end of the plunger was tapered and it only got pushed further in each time I tried to grab it. I finally gave up and cut the damn screw in half.I called Meprolight and they sent me two extra screw within a couple days with no charge. But again both of them had a hole that was too small of the plunger. So I took a 5/16 size drill bit and bore out the screw. The plunger then fit in good, although maybe very slightly loose but good enough to hold the screw in place.I then threaded the screw back onto the windage screw, depressed the plunger and slid it into the housing. Then I applied some loctite onto the windage nut and torqued it onto the screw. Finally, the last step was to use a centering punch and spread the tip of the windage screw to expand into the windage nut and prevent the two from backing out while adjusting the sights. Really of you don't have that either a nail or a small screw driver might also do the trick.Now I did expect there to be some work required when installing these sights. They aren't meant to just dropping in no assembly required. But what sucked about the sights was that Meprolight had made, and continues to make, a windage screw that does not work with the plunger that came with the original sights. It's not just me either several people have made the same complain. It's a real easy fix too; either supply a new spring and plunger, or drill the right size hole for the plunger.Overall, I like the sights once they were finally on. I think the rear sight are a little loose but I don't think that will effect the accuracy much as its only wiggling back to front and not side to side. I have not fired it yet but hopefully the sights are strong enough to withstand the recoil of a 44 magnum. I think it should also hold center. If not I will update my review to 1 out of 5 stars. I will also try to send some pictures when I get home.I hope this helps someone who might might be deciding to get these sights. I would still get them again but only because now I know what to expect and can make sure to get all the right tools. You don't have to take as many shortcuts as I did but my way will work if you. And of you aren't very good with your hands or you don't have all the required tools, don't feel bad about taking your gun to a local gunsmith and giving him a little business. It's better than ruining your favorite gun and having to bring it to a smith anyways. Either way now you can ahead and make an informed decision about buying these sights and come up with a game plan if you do buy them. Good luck and I hope my review help you out.

I bought this for my 1999 vintage 686+. Installation is fairly straight forward, but requires some commitment and a little ability with tools.You will need to remove the original rear sight adjusting screw and blade. Given that the crew is originally hollowed on the end and then spayed out to prevent rotation of the lock nut, you'll need to remove the old locking nut with a suitable spanner, or carefully drill the screw out in the center of the lock nut. If you try to unscrew the two, you'll most likely break the screw, and if it snaps at the head, you'll still need to drill out the screw in the lock nut. Go slow and take care not to mar the sight base.Once the locking nut is removed you can remove the sight blade from the base and install the new base and adjusting screw. A helpful hint here is to remove the blade assembly with the revolver inside a 1 or 2 gallon zip lock bag, so that the detent and spring won't go missing if they fly out of the head of the adjusting screw. If your sight did not come with a spring and detent pin, you'll need to re-use the old one.My rear sight did not come with a detent pin or spring, and this appears to be a common compliant. The hole in the Meprolite adjusting screw was too small to accept the S&W detent, and this is where you may discover you are now seriously committed to finishing the project, given that the original adjusting screw is probably in two pieces and your detent doesn't fit the Mepriolite hole.In my case, having lost the bet that the S&W detent would fit the Meprolite hole and not wanting to wait however long it would take for Meprolite to send me one, I pulled out the numbered drill bits and found a number 50 (.070") bit fit the S&W hole just fine. I carefully upsized the hole in the Meprolite screw, ensuring it was just deep enough to allow the detent to fully retract and I was back in business.Taking care not to allow the detent and spring to escape, insert the spring and detent in the head of the adjusting screw and then insert the assembly in the rear sight base.Secure the locking screw on the end of the adjusting screw and ensure it is snug, not tight as that will make the sight hard to adjust, but avoid any looseness as that will result in play in the rear sight. Double checking to ensure the locking nut is snug use a tapered punch and with the rear sight base supported, tap the screw hard enough to spread the end of the screw lightly to lock it in place on the locking nut.The sight width was a little wider than the original rear sight blade, .167" versus .145", which makes it makes slightly too wide for an optimum sight picture with the original S&W .125" wide front sight, but it gives a great sight picture with the .137" wide Meprolite pinned front sight.In combination with the pinned Meprolite front sight, it provides a very good low light sight picture with 3 equidistant dots, and the dots are the same apparent size. In daylight it also provides a 3 dot sight effect.If you prefer a black on black sight picture for more precise shooting, you can cover the dots with ink from a black Sharpie pen. This will give a black on black appearance in daylight, yet will still allow the glow of the tritium through in low light and in the dark. The best of both worlds.I gave it just 4 stars due to the missing detent and Meprolite's decision to use one that was smaller than the S&W original. It adds an unnecessary level of complexity to the installation, and potentially a delay if you haven't got a set of numbered drill bits to upsize the hole.