Front sight geometry?

[Hungry Horse]

 I seem to remember Theodore Roosevelt recommending an ivory front sight. Polished metal of any kind tends to dazzle in direct sunlight. I would suspect that he was referring to an ivory or bone sight insert. My grandfather made a bone front sight for his old ‘94 lever that served him well, but was fragile and had to be replaced periodically.

Hungry Horse

[Jakob]

Made this for testing. It's way too tall, but should still tell the tale when I get to the range this week.
Also, soldering that top bit on took many swear words.

[Daryl]

Good looking "in the rough" site Jakob.
A 45° on the face of the bead, will light up in the dark bush or on a critters side.
Because of the flat face of the bead, the point of impact with light changes does not happen.
I carry a dry erase felt pen in my pocket to dull the sight if shooting out in the bright sunshine and the sight needs to be blackened.
I found that the permanent felt pen markers, while blackening the sight somewhat, still left a shiny sight. The dry erase markers leave a flat black surface that does not reflect light at all.
A swipe of a thumb or finger instantly removes it.

[reddogge]

I once put a steel blade on my longrifle. First time in the woods at barely first light I heard deer coming down the mountain and threw the gun up and no front sight. I thought it fell out but felt it with my hand and it was there. Problem was the browned steel didn't show up in dingy light conditions. I've gone to German silver and brass blades ever since.

[Jakob]

So, I had one session on the rifle range, which was covered and the sight didn't really 'light up', (But was still better than previous).
Then yesterday, we shot the trailwalk and that sight lit up like a christmas tree. Super happy.
I can still improve on the cutout on the rear sight, but this will be ideal for hunting in the bush.

[whetrock]

I'm not disagreeing with any of you guys regarding what works well for target shooting, aging eyes, etc., but I did want to say something about the structure of very low original front sights and "V" notch rear sights. I own several antiques and that is the common pattern on them. If one was to read this thread and not give it further thought (as a new arrival to the forum might), a person could conclude that the old gunsmiths didn't know how to make a good sight, and that perhaps the old shooters didn't really know how to shoot, either. I'd suggest that the difference is simply in the kind of shooting they were doing. A very low silver "barley corn" sight does well with a V notch for quick confident shooting. On sights like that, when you pull the rifle up and you see the front sight in the notch at all, then you are ready to go. Nothing more to be done. No vertical movement to deal with. No horizontal movement to deal with. (If you haven't looked down the sights of an antique with that configuration, then I hope you will try to find an antique with that configuration at the next gun show you attend and see what I'm describing.)

I agree that the V notch doesn't work well with a tall silver blade, but I'd suggest that the problem there is that that blade structure provides too much of a vertical image in relation to the structure of the V notch rear sight.

That said, I'm not suggesting that anyone on here need to build old style traditional sights, and I certainly agree with the suggestion that it's wise to install sights to match the type of shooting a person intends to do.

[Daryl]

I replaced the front sight on my wife's little .38 cal. carbine with a Marbles or maybe Lyman front sight. The front sight fit a standard 3/8" dovetail and had an ivory bead.
he rear face of the bead was flat, thus did not "throw" light, but was bright when it needed to be.
It worked on a couple moose in the bush for me and was able to make a number of 3-shot 1 1/2" groups at 100 meters with it from a rest.

[longcruise]

I have previously read the recommendations by Daryl and Taylor.  The bead up-front and the express shape in the rear was a huge improvement for me.   

[Daryl]

This is the shape of the rear sight being referred to here. I've ben using this "shape" since 1986 and love it. The front bead sits in the bottom of the V and doesn't move. This has been a VERY accurate sight for me since I started using it. I did file a vertical "face" on mine to reduce the glare that would happen with an angled rear "face" as depicted in the picture.

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[flatsguide]

Made this for my English Sporting Rifle. The bead is faux ivory.