I'm in need of a new sight design for a target rifle

[Musclenut]

I have a custom build rifle in the design of a leman/ plains rifle. It has a front sight that is about an 1/8th of an inch tall and a semi buckhorn rear. It's mounted on a .40 cal douglas 15/16 barrel. The rifle is a tack driver. I love the sight picture it has. The problem is I'm wanting this rifle to be a target rifle. After I fire a five shot string the heat mirage is so bad I can't shoot any more.

My only concern is accuracy not period correctness. What would be the best sight design and height to replace these low sights with for target shooting 25-100yards?

[gunmaker]

You could look thru tracks catalog they give sites height. Get close to  same only 1/2" hi maybe.   Or go with a tang peep and shaded globe frnt site...Tom

[Musclenut]

I do like peeps but i'm looking for something a little more traditional for a flintlock and non adjustable for this rifle.

[rhbrink]

My offhand rifle has a front sight about .250 inch tall and I would not want one any shorter. It's a .45 cal X one inch barrel and I normally shoot 70 grains of 3F in it. I do shoot it off a bench once in a while and don't really notice much heat waves coming off the barrel.

About all that you can do is order a set of sights maybe the front .375 tall and the width desired install a new rear sight and file away. the big problem is if you get too high then you may end up straining yourself to get up to the sights not something that you want shooting competition all day.

Good luck!

RB

[WadePatton]

...My only concern is accuracy not period correctness...

I do like peeps but i'm looking for something a little more traditional for a flintlock and non adjustable for this rifle.

You just contradicted yourself fully.  

So just get taller versions of what is on the gun.  You can make 'em or buy 'em.  It's not real hard, but everything has to be fitted.  Very low sights are lovely to look at and shoot-once.  They weren't made for multiple-shot contests-as you've discovered.

And there's nothing "new" under the sun-especially in sights for rifles.  

Why not contact the builder for his options?

[Kermit]

I didn't get a contradiction. I read that while you LIKE aperture sights, it's NOT what you want on this rifle. You might want to pose the question here,  http://targetx.boardhost.com/index.php where target folks have recently started hanging out. If you explain that you need more traditional sights that will help you to see the sights in competition type shooting where mirage is causing you heartburn, you may get ideas from these paper punchers. Best of luck.

[Musclenut]

I should have been a little clearer. I know all I need for the front is a taller sight. But what kind of rear sight due you put on a rifle when you build one for a target shooter. There are a hundred different kind of rear sights. Is one better for target shooting than the another? I like the buckhorn it has but I'm not an experienced target shooter. There may be something better.

[Kermit]

There's an interesting chunk gun rear sight discussed here, with a pic a ways down the thread. I'm meaning to play with this approach with a flinter I'm thinking to use table shooting.

http://targetx.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=106

[rhbrink]

For me the buckhorn is useless for target shooting I like a flat top rear with a deep square notch wide enough to get good light along the sides of the front sight. For the front sight looking at the rear a square post wide enough to see in poor light for me that is about the width of the 8 ring six bull target at 50 yards. As I get older the rear sight notch keeps getting wider and wider. Your mileage may vary!

RB

[Dave B]

I have an original rifle that has a sight similar to the posted link. It is made from pewter. It would give a similar sight picture. The rifle is from the last half of the 1800's.
 
Thats assuming it was made with this sight. It may well have been put on later in its carrier

[Daryl]

To get away from barrel heat mirage, you need height - 1/2" or more.

 To target shoot when there are not restrictions, you need a tang or barrel mounted peep.

No open sight can usually give as good accuracy for the average eye - especially an old eye than an aperture sight of some sort.

There are U sights nowadays used in open sighted CHUNK shoots, where-in the front if is a bead sight that sits in the bottom of that U and is used as an aperture rear and bead front sight. Practice with it, will teach you to ignore that this "peep" sight does not have a closed top. For a good shot, it will not take long to master.

[HEad Redneck]

If you can find Andy Fatheree California sight it will solve your problem open high buckhorn design .

[Musclenut]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas! I think I'm going to buy a traditional brass front sight and file the top into a sort of bead. What ever I do on the rear will probably be some kind of U sight to accommodate the front bead.

[okieboy]

 Dave B., what type of front sight does the rifle that you pictured have?

[Dave B]

The front sight is your standard low silver blade in a brass base IIRC. I will have to go dig it out. to get a picture of it. The rifle came out of Alabama beyond that I do not have any additional information about it.

[okieboy]

 The reason I ask is that I think it would be difficult to use that sight in the fashion that the pyramid sights are used without the front sight being a pinhead. I am using a pinhead front sight for chunk shooting, with a U-notch in the back, but don't think I have learned to use the U optimally. Maybe I will make a pyramid to try this summer.
 As pyramids are used by extending the sides to a point, I wonder about the difference between filing a V-notch and just filing a small flat at the top of the pyramid.

[smokinbuck]

Okie,
Filing a flat on top of a pyramid sight would eliminate the reference location for placing your front sight on subsequent shots. Your elevation might be okay but your windage will suffer badly.
Mark

[shortbarrel]

mount a good quality scope on the rifle, that sure would't be period correct, but would sure tell if it was a tack driver. mirage and open sights are a thing you have to deal with unless you shoot in 20 or 30 degree weather/even then you would have to let the barrel cool for at least 10 minutes. a tube sight, which is more period correct would probably the way to go.

[Dphariss]

I do like peeps but i'm looking for something a little more traditional for a flintlock and non adjustable for this rifle.

Its pretty easy to remove if the rules do not allow.

Dan

[Old Ford2]

Hi Dan,
Nice sight!
Could I please trouble you for a few more pictures of that fine sight.
I would like to replicate it.
Did you make it? Quality looking work!
Best regards!
Fred

[Acer Saccharum]

Dan does nice work.

I've heard of a peep on the tang being used to clear up the sight picture. You still center the blade in the buckhorn, but the peep clarifies the sights and target.

On your gun, you DEFINITELY need to get the sights taller to reduce the mirage.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

My trouble, and I suspect a lot of you grey beards out there, is that a flat topped rear sight becomes indistinct for my vision.  I cannot tell when the front sight is level with the rear, as the rear has an indistinct top.  So I get vertical stringing.  A sight such as that great diopter sight of Dan's will clarify the top of the rear sight and give a perfectly distinct sight picture.

For a traditional longrifle, such a sight will not likely be allowed in most competitions.  So I have come to rely on the English "B" sight and a bead front.  The "B" sight in my case, has angular rather than curved lobes, that end in a very shallow "V" in the centre, so that all I have to do is roll the bead of the front sight down into the bottom of the "V", and cover the bull.  The bead front sight is placed directly over the bullseye, and the ball goes through the centre of the target.  In other words, cover the target's centre with the bead, in the bottom of the rear sight's big fat "V", and touch her off.  This sight also is aguably the best and fastest hunting sight, especially in failing light .

[Dphariss]

deleted might be too modern.

[Acer Saccharum]

deleted might be too modern.

Dan, you are so wise. Of course it would have been deleted!