Gun Sights for the XR9 Pistols

There was a recent discussion with some questions on the Boberg Arms Forum about gun sights and interchangeability with other sight manufacturers. I didn't have any clear answers at the time since the direction we are going with sights was decided a couple of years ago. I just reviewed the plan and I will summarize it here.

First of all, I thought that there had to be a standard out there, so I looked. What I found was Sig, Springfield, Glock and others. None of the commercially available aftermarket (or Brownell's) sights in these formats were narrow enough to use on pocket pistols. So I ended up using Kahr sights on my prototype guns (when they were around 6 or 7 bucks - now they're triple or quadruple that); but Kahr did not offer a standard configuration for their dovetails (they had three different types at the time). Besides, if someone wanted an XR9, but wanted a different sight, I certainly would not want to send them to a competitor's website to buy anything.

The original idea on sights was that Boberg Arms would go out and buy sights from a sight manufacturer. As it turned out, none of the 6 companies I sent drawings to were set up to sell sights to a gun manufacturer (read: pricing). We would have to pay close to full retail pricing for for say 500 or 1000 sets of sights. Now I realized why gun manufacturers make their own sights - it is due to cost.

So, without a standard dovetail configuration for pocket pistols, we decided to make the front and rear sight the same size and angle using a standard 60-degree dovetail cutter. This not only makes it easier for us to manufacture, it will also simplify any field work done by gunsmiths. Since we are now making our own sights, we actually have control over the cost and what goes into those sights.

We haven't ruled out working with 3rd party sight makers with proprietary designs. This would involve us either stocking their sight, configured for the XR9, or us providing links to their website to buy sights. Since these would not be standard-issue sights, rather, offered as accessories, we can keep the cost down on the standard XR9 offered with white-dot sights.

Our current sight design allows for sights that contain light fiber tubes, tritium tubes and other possible configurations (such as high-profile steep edge sights for table-edge cocking). We are planning on offering these as accessories, assuming that there are no issues with intellectual property. If there are, we will have to work through that with the owner of that particular technology.

Both sights currently mount with one set screw each - there is no press fit or "staking" such as is used on Glock front sights. The front sight sits in one spot (non-adjustable) and the rear sight is windage adjustable. Ransom rest tests have shown these sights to be exactly at POA for elevation at 7 yards.