Front Sights?

[rwt]

I have read a number of posts complaining about being unable to shoot good groups at 100 yards due to difficulty seeing the sights with old eyes.

I'm in the same camp. I can't see the front sight clearly for very long, if at all.

The XO front sight with a white vertical stripe is praised by some.

Has anyone found a solution without going to a fiber optic or nite sight setup?

[Tycer]

I use a blued post front with Merit aperture best with a round bull.

[AJMD429]

For serious visibility and lots of options, a Lyman Globe sight up front is helpful.

Or just replace both sights with a Burris Fastfire-II...

[Blaine]

One of my favorite set ups is a HiViz front, and a ghost ring back. "Almost" like a "dot" sight if you use the ghost ring properly.

[Merle]

For guns without a readily changeable front sight, I paint it flat neon green, the color highway workers wear. For best results, apply a base coat of white. For most eyes, neon (or fluorescent) green gives the best all around visibility. Plus, it's easy to remove/change if you don't like it.

[stew71]

For guns without a readily changeable front sight, I paint it flat neon green, the color highway workers wear. For best results, apply a base coat of white. For most eyes, neon (or fluorescent) green gives the best all around visibility. Plus, it's easy to remove/change if you don't like it.

Sigh. I may do this to my M1 and M1A. Took 'em to the range recently and couldn't see sight blades clearly as I used to. The easiest sights to use for me are the St. Marie diopters I installed on my Swiss K31. Easy peasy out to 500m on the steel range.

[Merle]

For guns without a readily changeable front sight, I paint it flat neon green, the color highway workers wear. For best results, apply a base coat of white. For most eyes, neon (or fluorescent) green gives the best all around visibility. Plus, it's easy to remove/change if you don't like it.

Sigh. I may do this to my M1 and M1A. Took 'em to the range recently and couldn't see sight blades clearly as I used to. The easiest sights to use for me are the St. Marie diopters I installed on my Swiss K31. Easy peasy out to 500m on the steel range.

For me the Springfield & Krag razor thin sights are all but invisible - they are so narrow that even paint doesn't help.

[stew71]

For guns without a readily changeable front sight, I paint it flat neon green, the color highway workers wear. For best results, apply a base coat of white. For most eyes, neon (or fluorescent) green gives the best all around visibility. Plus, it's easy to remove/change if you don't like it.

Sigh. I may do this to my M1 and M1A. Took 'em to the range recently and couldn't see sight blades clearly as I used to. The easiest sights to use for me are the St. Marie diopters I installed on my Swiss K31. Easy peasy out to 500m on the steel range.

For me the Springfield & Krag razor thin sights are all but invisible - they are so narrow that even paint doesn't help.

Arg...I've forgotten about my 1903.....its a mix-master shooter so I may swap that out as well....

[Pete44ru]

I have read a number of posts complaining about being unable to shoot good groups at 100 yards due to difficulty seeing the sights with old eyes.


Has anyone found a solution without going to a fiber optic or nite sight setup ?

A fiber optic front sight works, so I would respectfully suggest you stop fighting so hard against success.

(I'm 75, and can still shoot/hunt with an FO frontsight and a receiver peepsight (with the aperture removed after initial zeroing).


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[Pisgah]

My favorite is a silver blade front sight. I buy the blanks from Dixie Gun Works, file them to whatever shape I want and height I need.

https://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_i ... qdsqtgn410

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

I have read a number of posts complaining about being unable to shoot good groups at 100 yards due to difficulty seeing the sights with old eyes.


Has anyone found a solution without going to a fiber optic or nite sight setup ?

A fiber optic front sight works, so I would respectfully suggest you stop fighting so hard against success.

(I'm 75, and can still shoot/hunt with an FO frontsight and a receiver peepsight (with the aperture removed after initial zeroing).


.

Yep, If you want to see the front the Peeps are the answer.

I saved this article about peep sights written back in the late 40’s by the famous Col. Townsend Whelen. Notice the aperture rear/aperture front.

Why choose a peep sight for Rifles?
Col.Townsend Whelen

All military battle rifles and many "Dangerous Game Guns" have been fitted with peep sights for at least the last 70 years. There is a good reason for this. They are the fastest and most accurate iron sight you can put on your rifle.








(This 375 H+H has been used on Cape Buffalo, Lions, Elephants and other dangerous game in Zimbabwe for over 50 years. Note the aperture rear sight. It never fogs, breaks, loosens, or goes out of adjustment.)

Here is some information on sighting errors as put forth by no less than, Col.Townsend Whelen, in his book on reloading, "Why Not Load Your Own," published in 1949 when the use of telescopic sights was a rarity. With normal eyesight, either naturally or corrected by glasses, he found that the following list applied at a distance of 100 yards:

Open Rear Sight: Accuracy is unpredictable due to lighting conditions (shoots away from side lighting, and high for overhead mid-day conditions).
Aperture Rear, Gold or Ivory front: 1.5 -2"
Aperture Rear, Black Post front: 1"
Aperture Rear, Aperture front: 1/2 to 3/4"
2-1/2x Scope: 1/4-1/2"
6x Scope: 1/8" to 1/4"
10x Scope: 1/16" to 1/8"
20x Scope: Practically None.
As you can see from the information above, the ability to sight using a aperture sight exceeds the accuracy of most rifles.

His statement,"Open Rear Sight: Accuracy is unpredictable due to lighting conditions (shoots away from side lighting, and high for overhead mid-day conditions)." is true of open fronts as well. Fiber op and painted fronts are good for up close and fast. But, for serious accuracy not so much.

[Griff]

Some forms of competition don't allow the use of painted front sights... or even painted rear sights. Aperture rear and front help, but if I have to change back for competition, they're of no use.

[rwt]

Thanks. I am very used to aperture sights. Began using them in 1960 when I started shooting NRA postal matches with a Remington target rifle.

How rugged are the fiber optic sights??? Are the hi viz sights equally good as FO?

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Thanks. I am very used to aperture sights. Began using them in 1960 when I started shooting NRA postal matches with a Remington target rifle.

How rugged are the fiber optic sights??? Are the hi viz sights equally good as FO?

They are the same thing and neither one will hold up even as well as a brass bead. The element is plastic.

[AJMD429]

Thanks. I am very used to aperture sights. Began using them in 1960 when I started shooting NRA postal matches with a Remington target rifle.

How rugged are the fiber optic sights??? Are the hi viz sights equally good as FO?

Pretty tough. You can change to a new filament (and new color of desired) in less than a minute and spare fibers are cheap.

[marlinman93]

My eyes aren't what they used to be either. But I find a good globe front, with a thin post aperture, combined with a peep rear sight, makes a good picture for my shooting.

[Rusty]

There is a company called TESTORS that makes paint for model airplanes and such. I have used their traffic yellow since 1975 on all my front sights.

[Sixgun]

I had my optician put a half power bifocal on the top of the lense of my shooting glasses on my dominate eye. The front sight is as clear as it was when I was a youngster. The target is a bit fuzzy but that's ok. Works for me.---6

[AJMD429]

I had my optician put a half power bifocal on the top of the lense of my shooting glasses on my dominate eye. The front sight is as clear as it was when I was a youngster. The target is a bit fuzzy but that's ok. Works for me.---6

That's a cool idea.....do you have a picture of the glasses.....? Do they just use 'super-glue' or something like that to glue a chunk of extra lens to your regular specs...??? (...If so, I'm thinking of a do-it-yourself project using a pair of my old glasses and some dime-store reading glasses...)

[flatnose]

I have upgraded to tang sights, with globe front and aperture disc fitted. Next thing I will try are clip on sunglasses with a pinhole drilled through the lense, simulating a diopter.

[FWiedner]

I like the XO white-line front sight and a ghost-ring rear inside 100yds.

But past 75 yards I admit to needing glass.

[Tycer]

I have upgraded to tang sights, with globe front and aperture disc fitted. Next thing I will try are clip on sunglasses with a pinhole drilled through the lens, simulating a diopter.

Have you looked at the Merit #4 apertures? They are adjustable.

http://www.meritcorporation.com/products.html

[Sixgun]

I had my optician put a half power bifocal on the top of the lense of my shooting glasses on my dominate eye. The front sight is as clear as it was when I was a youngster. The target is a bit fuzzy but that's ok. Works for me.---6

That's a cool idea.....do you have a picture of the glasses.....? Do they just use 'super-glue' or something like that to glue a chunk of extra lens to your regular specs...??? (...If so, I'm thinking of a do-it-yourself project using a pair of my old glasses and some dime-store reading glasses...)

Doc,
It's a pretty much simple thing. The eye doctor ground in a new lenses a bifocal on the top that is half the power of the bifocal that I use for reading that's on the bottom of the lense. I used an old pair of glasses and you will see the bifocal on the top of the LEFT lense which is my dominate eye.

My regular glasses for everyday use have progressive lenses and you can't see the line on those.

I made an appointment and before I went I got a piece of wood about the length of a rifle that was about 1x1" and installed a tang sight on the close end and a front sight on the far end. Then he put these lenses in front of my face until the front sight came into focus. The power we decided on was half of my regular bifocal that's on the bottom.

They ground the lense with the top bifocal and the bottom bifocal with normal distance vision in the middle. It takes a while getting used to looking through it but it really helps a whole lot. The target is somewhat fuzzy which is fine. I only use these glasses for sighting in groups and competition where fine accuracy is needed.

They charged me $160....money well spent -------6

[Pete44ru]

How rugged are the fiber optic sights??? Are the hi viz sights equally good as FO?

Pretty tough. You can change to a new filament (and new color of desired) in less than a minute and spare fibers are cheap.

Williams Gun Sight Co, for one, sells a front sight hood that has an open "ceiling" that allows light to enter a fiber optic rod from the side, as they were designed.

"FO" is simply an abbreviation of "Fiber Optic", with FO front sights of various heights & colors are made/sold by several different entities - Williams (FireSight), Tru-Glo, H-Viz, New England Custom Gun (NECG), T/C, and others.

FO front sights are available in the same multiple heights that Lyman/Marbles/etc sights are; are available in several different colors, to allow for different folk's color perception (red, orange, green, lime, yellow, with, etc, etc); and are also available with either of the two bead diameters that Ivory, Gold & Brass bead front sights made by Lyman/Marbles/etc ( 1/16"- "fine", and 3/32" - coarse).


FWIW, there's quite a few shooters than have long been using receiver peep sight - the wrong way...........................

The correct use is to look "through" the peep aperture (Ghost ring or smaller) "AT" the front sight, placing the front sight on a target that somewhat out of focus.

IMHO, if a shooter cannot see the front sight blade with proper peepsight usage, optical correction is indicated (eyeglass Rx, Merit adjustable aperture, etc).



.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Front sight you say......I wondered what that bump on the end of the barrel is for. So , I am supposed to be able to see it and the target at the same time. I am going to have to try that. What a novel idea!