Bone or ivory front sights

[Eric Krewson]

I was at a friends house the other day, he was talking about shooting with Bill Millican (sp) and how he always shot with a bone or ivory front sight, Bill is a spectacular flintlock shot.

My friend, Joe Bogle of the Bogle family of gun builders, had changed his first Bogle rifle bench copy  over to an antler front sight. Now, I have a lot of trouble seeing most front sights but when I  shouldered his rifle it was like I was looking at a neon sign when I lined up the sights.

I am thinking about adding an antler front sight to my recently completed squirrel rifle.

Anybody have any pictures of the way you shaped and fitted antler or ivory to your front sight as a blade?

[Eric Krewson]

I did find this;

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=7471.msg70581#msg70581

[Hemo]

I once put a bone sight on a .36 southern mountain flint squirrel rifle. Advantage over a silver sight, of course, is less reflection and sun glare, but still very visible. It seemed to work fine. Then it broke off (cheap epoxy) and I never saw it again. Eventually replaced it with silver. Bone is hard to solder.

Gregg

[Goo]

I used a piece of fossil mastodon/mammoth ivory for a front sight on my .36 " the gator getter" technically the material was available in the southeast and Florida for the last umpteen thousand years.
http://s410.photobucket.com/user/gustavohoefs/media/IMG_0410_zpsqnsjaggk.jpg.html?o=21

I made a brass bottom half by carving a wax model then investment cast it.   The ivory is carved to fit inside the brass holder this way when I break the ivory I can slide the sight out of the slot then carve a new piece and put the assembly back in place.

[FDR]

Wart hog ivory was a favorite sight material for English express rifles.

Fred

[Daryl]

The English "Night Sights" or "Moon Sights" was a flip-up steel post, with a large white bone insert. That sight was usually kept buried in the front sight base & was only raised when needed - for late in-the-day or early morning shots when there was little visible light.  I've used bone for a front sight as noted in posts above - bear leg bone to be exact - when I went to take a shot at a live bear, the sight was not there - gone, broken off during the hunt.  They are not very strong, unless perhaps very low as in a barrel hugging barely-corn front sight.

[bob in the woods]

I made one  a couple of years ago. [ sorry, I don't have a photo ]  using a purchased "wide" blade front sight.
The bone was inserted into a slot cut in the blade. Basically, the bone has protective iron sides. I know the fellow who has the rifle, and I'm sure I would have heard if it broke.