Sight notch for rear sight

[Don Steele]

Hopefully our friend Hungry Horse won’t read this. I do not wish to be responsible for dragging anyone through a bottomless mud hole.
When all the sawing and filing results in a bigger notch than you want🙄,
Fill the whole notch in with JB weld and start over 😀. You can easily dam it up with masking tape then put a little bit on the sight to fill the notch. In my case, the notch was too big as it came from the manufacturer for precision shooting so I filled it in, filed off the excess to square everything up and cut a small “V” that works really well with a post and dot in a Lyman Globe front .

[Leatherbark]

Hopefully our friend Hungry Horse won’t read this. I do not wish to be responsible for dragging anyone through a bottomless mud hole.
When all the sawing and filing results in a bigger notch than you want🙄,
Fill the whole notch in with JB weld and start over 😀. You can easily dam it up with masking tape then put a little bit on the sight to fill the notch. In my case, the notch was too big as it came from the manufacturer for precision shooting so I filled it in, filed off the excess to square everything up and cut a small “V” that works really well with a post and dot in a Lyman Globe front .

Hopefully our friend Hungry Horse won’t read this. I do not wish to be responsible for dragging anyone through a bottomless mud hole.
When all the sawing and filing results in a bigger notch than you want🙄,
Fill the whole notch in with JB weld and start over 😀. You can easily dam it up with masking tape then put a little bit on the sight to fill the notch. In my case, the notch was too big as it came from the manufacturer for precision shooting so I filled it in, filed off the excess to square everything up and cut a small “V” that works really well with a post and dot in a Lyman Globe front .
[/quote]

That would be a cool fix that I could have used over the years for sure.   I'll bet the sun wont glare off of the JB weld at all once it is sanded either.

Bob

[OldMtnMan]

I know in an earlier post I said I went to a rear peep. I installed a Lyman peep. There's little doubt that it works better than the primitive fixed sight I took off. However, I can't stand to look at it. It ruins the looks of the gun and screams at me. MODERN SIGHT!

I just took it off and the primitive sight is back on. Much better. 

[Daryl]

I tried one of those square rare-earth magnets with a hole in the middle, for 3 shots using my .36 Squirrel rifle.
They all went into the original group's hole which was expected, as the range was a mere 25yards. The little
magnet was perfectly aligned for my rear and front sights. Sight alignment of course, was easier with the peep
 sight than without it as the peep used with a rear notch & front blade, automatically & perfectly aligns the other
two sights.

[Jerry]

So many good suggestions. Could we agree that it comes down to personal preferences and hunting
conditions? For years I could not understand why sights on original flint locks were so small. The more I shot the more I could get used to them. Today I prefer a v or u rear sight notch. Keeping them as small as possible. Jerry

[Daryl]

I need to deepen and widen the notch in my rear sight to make it easier to see my front sight. Is there any preference for a V, U or square notch? I ‘m not sure which would be best. Anyone have a preference and suggestions about how to do the job. Thanks

THIS is the reason for this 'endless discussion'. A member asks for preference or suggestions as to sight shapes.

Personal preferences are many. We were asked what ours were. THAT is the reason for this endless discussion.

We all have our preferences. Someone posts a sight shape, someone else doesn't like that one, and THIS one works better for him.

The end result is a broad span of suggestions and preferences - exactly the reason for this thread.

[Darkhorse]

I know in an earlier post I said I went to a rear peep. I installed a Lyman peep. There's little doubt that it works better than the primitive fixed sight I took off. However, I can't stand to look at it. It ruins the looks of the gun and screams at me. MODERN SIGHT!

I just took it off and the primitive sight is back on. Much better. 

I understand completely how Pete feels. I have done a lot of experimentation looking for something to keep me in the game when age blurred my eyesight. I've even made mounts to fit a red dot sight on a flintlock. Some of them worked real good, but I couldn't stand the way any of them looked so off they came. Not only should the rear sight actually help us to shoot well but it should be unobtrusive and please the eye.
So when age finally blurred the rear sight it was either quit or find something that would help. This is what I came up with for me. I have one on my .54 and .40 and the .54 has taken deer in the dark woodlands, while the .40 has taken Turkey Gobbler in the same woods. And my group size has shrunken dramatically.

Oh yeah. Don't count on JB Weld to not reflect light and glare in the sunlight. I countersunk the peep hole from the muzzle side and painted the entire peep sight flat black. These measures took care of the glare and now I get a clean, sharp hole.

[OldMtnMan]

That looks perfect. If I was still hunting i'd make up something like that. There's little doubt that a peep works better.

You must have to do all your adjustments with the front sight? What's holding that peep on?

[Darkhorse]

There's a 10-32 threaded hole drilled at an angle through the tang, the angle puts the flat back of the peep and the front sight on the same plane. The peep itself has a 10-32 shaft running down the center, when sighted in a lockwasher and 10-32 locknut secures the peep in place. One full turn moves it up or down 1/32".
Windage is adjusted at the front sight. Though with the rear threaded hole drilled dead center very little front sight adjustment is needed.

[OldMtnMan]

Clever.

[Shane A Gress]

Over 20 some years ago I bought a 62 smooth bore that had no rear sight. I thought back then it was a disadvantage.  But I learned how to shoot it correctly.  Now that I am almost 50 with bifocals the missing rear sight is an advantage.  The problem solved itself.

[shifty]

  Daryl. On my last rifle i am using a sight similar to the top one in your pics and it is working real good for me. I am using it as pictured and holding dead on not 6 o'clock ,i like it.

[Daryl]

Couple other guys here have tried them and like them, Shifty. I will be taking mine to Hefley this year.
Leaving on Wed. coming, I think, Thursday at the latest.
Last time I tried my squirrel rifle, I was dissatisfied with the groups I was getting - it's getting harder and
 harder to see the notch and front sight blade. The notch blurs up and makes the front sight difficult to see
at all, let alone centre.
That rifle also needs a wide V and bead.

[Big River]

Sights as evidenced by these many posts are really a matter of opinion based on experience. First thing I do is remove the sights from any new rifle, in fact I have a box of old sights. Then install a replacement from another box of replacement sights I've collected over the years. My own preference is a fine front sight that I usually file down to thin and short. The rear sight I file so its flat on top and has thin sides and flat bottom. I have a special old screw driver that's been filed down to hammer in the sight notch to resize it. The end result is very similar to the sights on my old 03 Springfield's. Like many who report here my eyes aren't what they used to be, so I use Eye Pal stickers on my shooting glasses to sharpen up the sight picture.