SMITH & WESSON Old-Style Rear sights
please read as this is very important information.

Bowen Classic Arms offers the Rough Country line of rear sights to replace the now discontinued Old-Style S&W rear sights. The old-style sights are easily identified by the square-end tang of the sight body. Unlike the newer Drill & Tap frame S&W revolvers, the hold-down screw location on the old-style sights are not standardized. To accomodate the variation in hold-down screw locations BCA produces a BLANK S&W rear sight. The aforementioned RCSWSBL sights are available in a number of different configurations, but for proper function the correct blade height must be determined from measurement or the S&W reference chart.

Please consult our
Smith & Wesson Blade Height Chart
to find the proper blade height for your gun.

The old-style frames (top) are fairly easy to differentiate from the new-style (bottom) drill & tap frames even if the rear sight is missing.

These sights must also be drilled for the attachment screw by you or your gunsmith. This service is available from Bowen Classic Arms for an additional $45.00, but we must have your original sight or measurements of the screw hole layout. Please call (865) 981-8869 for assistance. These measurements vary from model to model and often gun to gun. Please note, once the hole has been drilled in the sight the product is non-returnable.

The critical measurement which customers must be able to determine is from the centerline of the tang screw hole to the edge of the body section. This measurement represents the distance to the edge of the step in the receiver which is ctitical for proper sight alignment in installation.

Please note: These parts must be modified and installed by a qualified gun smith. The hole must be properly measured and drilled and on some models the nose of the tang must be shortened to accommodate the length of the rear sight pocket.

A glaring exception to the Old-/New-style standards are some of the DX-Classic and Inter-generational models, which have a hybridized setup employing Old-style sight parts on New-style receivers. These sights must be made on a custom one-off basis. This issue is known to occur on models 29, 629, and 625.

All three generations of S&W factory post-war adjustable rear sights. Old-style (left), Inter-generational (Center), and New-style (Right)