Dovetail dimensions?

For the dimensions of the dovetail, did you use a size already in use so that sights already on the market can be used on the XR9? If so, what gun or guns' dovetail was duplicated? eg sights made for "Pistol X" will also work on the XR9.

also Feb 7th makes 2 years of waiting for the Shorty for me! Can't believe its finally here. Great job!

Mike

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Arne Boberg on February 9, 2010 at 4:53pm

I had originally spec'd the same dovetail as Kahr. No one else makes a sight this narrow, so it is of no use to match the dovetails of Springfield or Sig or Glock, etc. However, Kahr had gone to an oddball angle, so they have an old version and a new version. If a person were to order Kahr sights for a Boberg, there would be probably multiple mixups in getting sights that fit. If I were to state that "Boberg sights use Kahr's latest dovetail", then Kahr would see this and could go and change their spec again, just so people aren't buying their sights for Boberg guns. We ended up using a standard 60-degree angle, for which there is a large variety of high-productivity cutters available. We are not compatible with Kahr, but then there will be no confusion in the future.

At one point I had called Kahr to see if they would supply sights to us wholesale. The guy in customer service said they they would not.

Thanks for hanging in there!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Neo Mara on February 9, 2010 at 11:13pm

I see, makes sense. Are you in contact with any sights mfgs to get the ball rolling on after market sights for the XR9 series? I'm interested in XS' Big Dot personally, excellent carry sight.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Arne Boberg on February 10, 2010 at 9:13am

There are a lot of novel sights out there, including Diamond Sights and the Big Dots. However, most of these guys are in business to sell after-market sights, not sell wholesale to us. As a result, we would have to pay $40 - $120 per pair of sights, even in 500+ quantities. So far, I have not found a sight maker that will quote a reasonable wholesale cost. Even if they stocked our sights, they would require us to pay for their inventory.

Aside from the cool proprietary designs, gun sights are not that hard to make, that is why many gun manufacturers make their own and save big money - they are not dependent on site-making "boutiques". At some point, when Boberg Arms is big enough, one of these site makers will approach us with a deal that will be hard to refuse.