Hi all,
Last fall I picked up an old Glock 19 just to fool around with and I ran across a HiViz fiber optic sight on ebay that was really cheap so I decided to try it out. The first time at the range I couldn't believe I had ignored these sights for all these years. Well, like all the other Glocks I've ever had, I sold it after a while and went back to my favorite, my all steel Witness. I immediately started trying to find a way to put a fiber optic front sight on the Witness. I read Rod Slinger's post on this forum and like everyone else was impressed with his handiwork. I do not have access to a milling machine so doing the work myself was out. I called a very reputable Gunsmith in my area and told him what I wanted to do but he no longer had a milling machine either and couldn't do the dovetail for me. He suggested EGW (Evolution Gun Works). So I looked through their websight and they do offer the service on EAA guns...but for $140 plus shipping each way! Well, I'm pretty stingy and I only paid $300 for the gun so I didn't want to spend almost that much again just to get a fiber front sight. That started me looking for some other way to do it. I had already wondered if I could make the original front sight into a fiber optic sight and I started giving that some more thought. It took me a month to work up the courage to fire up the Dremel on the 'ol Witness but I finally did. I think it turned out pretty well so I decided to share it with you guys. I did all of it freehand with a Dremel cutoff wheel and a small file. I drilled the hole for the optic rod using a 1/16" cobalt drill bit in a Harbor Freight $39 drill press. The fiber optic rod came from Dawson Precision. It is 0.060" replacement rod and fits the 1/16" hole perfectly. 3" of the rod cost $7.70 with shipping and that was my total investment in this project.
As you can see from the pictures it isn't perfect but it's as straight as I could get it without some sort of jig. The biggest drawback to doing it this way is the shortness of the rod. Because it is so short it doesn't gather as much light and therefore isn't as bright as an aftermarket factory produced sight like the one Rod Slinger used. I am still pondering ways to use a longer rod. For one thing, I plan to thin the front support so that more of the rod will be exposed.
I hope this is helpful to other Witness lovers. Here are the pictures.
Burboy
