Front sights are a real problem, for most of us I think--at least those of us one the downhill side of 50. I have always been puzzled by the tiny front sights I have seen on originals I too have a hard time with them.
Has anyone ever done a study of Long-rifle sights? So much of our study seems focussed on the "art" elements
The only way I can make the shiny silver or brass blades work is to blacken them and cut the notch wide and deep enough to see some daylight on each side. however black sights don't work real well in some light conditions and on some targets. Maybe the heavily forested eastern woodland environment of the 18th and early 19th century made a more reflective front sight more desirable
Then there is the mirage issue. For a hunter with a cold barrel it is not a major problem. For the target shooter who is firing shot after shot its a different story and I have no idea how to ameliorate it. maybe some of the active target shooters could tell us more.
As a matter of historical accuracy for the period of the rifle I can only speculate that THEY as a rule had better eyes than we do. I have long wondered if OUR lifetimes of reading, watching TV, and living under artificial light a large part of the day is part of OUR problem. Then too maybe those of THEM who had bad vision stuck to shotguns rather than rifles or just didn't shoot (at least for long enough to contribute much to the gene pool
) Most of the celebrated shooters of the past were noted as having exceptional vision.
Late (Not sure when) in the ML era the brits developed the front sight that became know in the US as the Beach or Beech it had a pivoting two blade setup with the blades at 90 degrees to each other. one a fairly hooded ivory bead. if you flipped it down it brought up a fairly square black post. I believe it was first developed for African and Asian dangerous game rifles. In the US marbles and later Lyman made versions of it. I have used them on early style Black powder cartridge era single-shot rifles and if I were to create a hunting only longrifle I'd probably use that type on it.
