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View Full Version : dial up beware! S&W M&P w/ Burwell front and 10-8 Rear Sight



RAM Engineer
03-05-07, 20:23
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t46/beren412/Picture007.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t46/beren412/Picture008.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t46/beren412/Picture001.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t46/beren412/Picture004.jpg

The "Sight Picture" photo does not do the setup justice.

The rear sight is the standard 10-8 M&P sight and the front sight was fabricated by Mr. Burwell, who installed both for me. Great service and the front sight looks fantastic. I just got this back from Dan but have not shot it yet. However I'm looking forward to it!

Just trying it out around the house, the front sight catches even the faintest light. In total darkness (transition from lit room to dark room with doors and windows shut), of course, it is no more useful than any non-tritium sight, but I plan on CTC for that occasion.

Actually an old concept, since McGivern advocated it back in the 30s or 40s. I have grown to dislike white dots in recent years, but still wanted something that would draw my eye to the front sight. I've never shot a gold sight on a pistol before (only gold shotgun beads). But, since this isn't my primary carry gun (yet. Not enough rounds through it) I figured "what the hell..."

Summary:

Gold Bead
Pros: As good as fiberoptics in bright to low-light. Better than tritium/standard sights in bright to low-light. Bling Factor (ha!)
Cons: Not as good as Tritium in low-low-light.
Unknown: Durability vs Fiberoptics/Tritium.

Thanks to Hilton Yam and Dan Burwell.

M4arc
03-05-07, 20:46
Very cool and interesting. I haven't heard about those front sights before now :confused:

I sure do like the 10-8 rear sight. Thanks for the pictures.

RAM Engineer
03-05-07, 21:30
Very cool and interesting. I haven't heard about those front sights before now :confused:

I sure do like the 10-8 rear sight. Thanks for the pictures.

I emailed Dan and asked him if he could make or knew who could make me a M&P gold bead front sight. He said that he had just made up some for a customer and had one left, so I jumped on it.

My picture of the 10-8 rear doesn't do it justice either. In my pics it looks slightly asymmetric, however that is due to a piece of lint that stuck to the sight.

My local Dealer's S&W days are this weekend. I may have to take this down and show it to the field rep. Or maybe Roy Jinks ;)

Jason

Sam
03-06-07, 05:55
A competent gunsmith can install gold bead on any blank/black front sight.

Good looking combo.

John_Wayne777
03-06-07, 08:31
Gold bead fronts are an old trick, but they still work quite well.

Personally I just paint my front sight face canary yellow and that seems to work better for me than any dot arrangement I have found.

bullitt5172
03-13-07, 08:25
Looks good, I am planning to pick up a 9mm and that rear sight and a front NS are looking like the setup to go with.

RAM Engineer
04-06-07, 18:24
Well, I FINALLY got out to the range with the M&P again. I took the full size 9 with the 10-8/Burwell gold bead and my compact 9 with factory white dots.

Indoor range with your standard dim lighting.

200 rounds (WWB) with one failure to extract at about the halfway point.

The gold bead was extremely easy to track, even in the reduced light. This is one of the first sights I've ever been able to track through the entire slide cycle. The flat black rear sight had no distracting dots to trick my eyes into focusing on.

All in all, MUCH better than the three white dots in this light.

Now, about that failure to extract. Halfway through a magazine I went to pull the trigger and got nothing. Noticed the slide was back even though I was nowhere near slide lock. Stopped, looked and saw the following:

The fired shell casing was half-way out of the chamber. The slide/extractor had apparently let loose of it at that point, then continued it's cycle rearward and begun to return. It then started to strip a fresh round from the magazine, wedging it under the fired brass.

The proper remedy for this would have been: 1. pull slide to the rear and lock it. 2. Dump out fired brass. 3. release slide.

HOWEVER, being the doofus that I am, I first tried to remove the magazine which was very difficult because the top round was already on it's way up the feed ramp. So I pulled down on the magazine and the feedramp cammed the round back into the magazine. Magazine came out, slide dropped forward by itself, taking the fired case back into the chamber. THEN I racked the slide, ejecting the fired case.

Don't be dumb like me...

SuicideHz
04-14-07, 12:25
Where do I find Mr. Burwell? I need a gold bead installed on my factory SA front sight. I'm hoping he can drill out the tritium lamp and install it. The factory sight is blended so well that I don't want to have to have that redone...

John_Wayne777
04-14-07, 13:43
Where do I find Mr. Burwell? I need a gold bead installed on my factory SA front sight. I'm hoping he can drill out the tritium lamp and install it. The factory sight is blended so well that I don't want to have to have that redone...

You can find him here:

http://www.burwellgunsmithing.com/

I am going to contact him to find out if he has time to work on my M&P 9mm. I want to see how good his trigger jobs are.

Dave G
04-20-07, 04:24
You can find him here:

http://www.burwellgunsmithing.com/

I am going to contact him to find out if he has time to work on my M&P 9mm. I want to see how good his trigger jobs are.

For the love of god that site hurts my eyes.