Gold on rear surface of front sight

[frogwalking]

My eyes are going the way of all flesh, causing me extreme difficulty in seeing my front sight.  I have found a source of .01 inch thick 14k gold ribbon, .11 in. wide that could be soldered to the rear surface of my front longrifle sight.  I think this may make it easier for me to see the sight. Has anyone tried this?  What do you think.  I already make my front sights 0.10 wide, but still can't see them unless the light is just right.  (In my youth, I had a .22 pistol with a flattened piece of my sisters gold earring post soldered to the bead.  I used to kill squirrels with this gun fairly successfully.)

[RAT]

Try a brass front sight.

[Ky-Flinter]

Or a silver blade front sight.  It won't tarnish as quick as the brass.

-Ron

[Hungry Horse]

  The problem might be the shape and size of the sights on your gun. Bigger is not better when your eyesight starts to go south. The square big barn door front sight, combined with the big, tall, square Grand Canyon rear sight notch allows too much area for fuzziness. There is a reason you never see such sights on old rifles.

  Hungry Horse

[smylee grouch]

nother option that I have used is to cut a shallow grove into the sight and fill it with silver solder,dress off the excess and darken the sight blade with cold blue. The silver solder shows up, for me anyway, better than german silver. You of course have to flux the area to be soldered.

[kaintuck]

I open the rear notch some.....
dremel cutout blade wide~

marc n tomtom

[Telgan]

I have tried it and like it. Dave Price did one for me a few years back. Entire rear edge of the front sight has thin gold soldered on. Top eight inch or so of the back edge of the front sight is cut forward at about a 55 degree angle to collect more light. I have to say though that I prefer a brass  barley corn style front sight better than the gold one. I think the shape collects more light from different directions. Just one man's opinion - and old eyes.

[Daryl]

Silver solder or silver brazing will do a good job as well. Just a drop - rubbed with a thumb brightens it if you want it shinier.  With a blade, we have a short 1/8th " or so 45 degree angle cut on the front sight. This angle catches the light as a beacon in the bush.  Then there's a wide V with a bead brass front sight. If dull, the bead rubbed with a thumb brightens it.

Flash picture simulating bright sunlight.



No flash - simulating dark bush.

[davec2]

To answer the question directly, yes use the gold. I use a lot of gold for all sorts of things. It never tarnishes.

[Scota4570]

It can not hurt to try. 

Of the open sights I personally find that a partridge type set up works best for me.  The front blade about 0.080"wide.  The rear sight goes ahead of the balance point of the rifle.  The width of the slot int he rear sight lets a sliver of light by. 

For me, making the front sight white or lighted makes matters worse.  Adding a hood or undercutting the back surface help.

If peep sights are an option that is best of all.  A globe aperture front sight with a rear peep can not be beat, well, except with a scope.   

It not be traditional but if it makes the difference between shooting and not, a modern red dot scope might work out well.  Hey, it beat staying home.  : )

[Hungry Horse]

The Patridge sight is the barn door in the Grand Canyon sight I mentioned. Daryl's sights are the sights Teddy Roosevelt developed  to compensate for his poor eye sight. They really work. That's why you see so many similar sights on early rifles.

  Hungry Horse

[kutter]

The color on the face of the sight is just a personal preference,,gold or silver,,white,,red,,ect.

14k gold will tarnish quite easily especially when exposed to BP fouling.
(14k is 14/24 pure)
It's about the color of a lot of brass alloys anyway. Brass wire has been used many times and passed off as 14k gold wire in engraving work because of it's look.

 Either the 14k or a brass faced small edge can be brightened up with a quick rub w/a piece of leather.

24k is pure gold (24/24) and won't tarnish.  A tiny, thin flake soldered to the face of the sight isn't a WellsFargo supply run.
But finding some in that small quantity is difficult

Silver,,, coin, sterling and even fine silver are subject to tarnish but again the simple rub will bring back a glow to them.

The new 'stay-brite' lead free soft solders are just that,,they don't tarnish and are nice for the pin point dot on front sites.
I use it to replace the silver dot on a lot of front sites from 22's missing them after they've gone thru hot bluing. Easy to work with,low melt point, ect.
Scrape the face of the site clean, flux it,,tin the soldering iron and just touch the tinned tip to the site for an instant to transfer a dot and you're done. A nice round standing bead of 'silver' for a site.

Don't forget ivory as a sight bead either,,though the new Fed regs are imposing and scary when you get into them.