Model 97 Impression and Sight Question?

[Bob96]

  I just picked up my 97 and it is beautiful and well made. Ordered the 3lb. trigger job and it is nice. Wish that I could have got it even lighter like maybe 2 1/2lbs. but web site said 3.0 min. Sight questions? I got the std. Premier rear adjustable rear. If I wanted to try the Express rear do I only need to change the rear blade and not the whole sight? It looks to me that the rear blade just slides out after loosening one screw. Is this correct?  Also, I order an extra front blade with fiber optic. The light rod is yellow. Anyone seen these with a red or green light rod. Would like to experiment with several colors for best visability for my eyes.

[Ken ONeill]

The sight comes out as one piece. That screw is intended to lock the windage  in place. FA sells the entire rear sight as an aftermarket part. My FA fiber optic front blades have a red pipe. Haven't seen a yellow one. Check their web site, but I think green is available also.

[Bob96]

  Ken!  To get the proper sight picture with the fiber optic front sight must you switch to the Express rear sight?  The fiber is slightly smaller than the Gold bead front and F.A. says to use this one with the Express rear. Have you tried using the standard square notch rear?  Thanks!

[paul105]

I'm not Ken, but I'll chime in.  Yes, you can use the Fibre Optic front with the square notch rear.  I use it that way all the time.  It won't be as precise as one of Ken's front sights, but it sure shows up better in poor light/dark background conditions.




I shot this 5 shot group at 50 yards (from a rest) with a FA97 4 1/4" .45 Colt with the fibre optic front shown above.





Paul

[Ken ONeill]

Bob,
Yes, as Paul does, I also have used both the brass bead and the fiber optic front sights with the square notch rear blade. I dislike the "express" V rear blade as it is very imprecise for my eyes. To each his own....

[Bob96]

  Impressive shooting especially with a short barrel. The F.A. Brass Bead front sight looks to be about .062 in dia. The Fiber Optic is smaller maybe .040. These might be good for long range shots as they cover very little of the target. A black post sight this narrow would be harder to see and align I would think?  Is the express type rear blade designed for quick shots?  I did check back with F.A. and they only offer the Fiber Optic in yellow. They tried other colors and decided yellow was best. I know that you can purchase optic material in various sizes but swapping to a F.A. sight blade might be tricky?

[revo]

Hi Bob. Yes, you can just order and swap out just the rear blade if you'd like. Will save you a few bucks and screwdriver-time instead of replacing the whole rear sight assembly. I tried the express sights on a M97, was neat, but went back to the notch. Very subjective though.

[kennisondan]

so you can switch out the blade of the rear sights, that would be cool to try to do to choose between the two types of rears.. express and square notch..
dk