Low sights

[Dan Fruth]

I've been scratchin my head on this for some time, and thought I'd ask you fellas your opinions. On the original rifles I have seen, I have always been curious as to whether the rifle would not always shoot high with both front and rear sights low.  On a swamped barrel, the distance from center of bore to top of sight at the rear sight would require a tall front blabe, in order to be near the same "center of bore to top of sight" distance as the rear sight, and most of the old swamped barrels I've handled were big breached and small muzzled. Do you think they bent the barrels to keep from making tall front sight blades? I know barrels were bent to correct left/right errors, but curious if up and down issues were addressed with bending?

   I'm looking forward to hearing your responses.....Jellowaydan

[Smoketown]

JD,

I'm sure that if a barrel was really 'off' some judicious bending may be in order.
I just don't believe it was the norm.

Now, were the rear sights really on the fattest part of the barrel?

How deep were the notches?

The ones at the Landis Valley display had a number of rear sights that appeared to be on 'the down-hill' slope.
(The older you get, the farther away the rear sight needs to be ...)

Also remember, the ball "should" cross the line of sight 2 times on the way to the target.

Check out this discussion - http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=26752.0

Cheers,
Smoketown

[Acer Saccharum]

The trajectory of the rifle ball is such that one has to point the gun up in the air some to hit a target at 100 yds.

This is where a swamped barrel and a low front sight give the rifle the needed elevation to lob the ball into the bull's eye.

If the sights were parallel with the bore, the ball would hit miserably low on the target.

I hope that makes sense.

Tom

[Mark Elliott]

I thought that I would note that that old problem of having to move sights farther from the breech with age is corrected with cataract surgery.    I had that surgery five years ago and went from near sighted to far sighted, they do that on purpose.   I also was able to move my sights as close to the breech as I liked using my single vision distance classes or progressive bifocals.   I have 20/25 eyesight with the implants so there is very little correction in the glasses.   I do need reading glasses, but I see the sights well enough.    The real problem is enough light on the target.  

As to the low sights,  difference in heights from the center line of the barrel is not that significant at short distances and my observation is that the front sights on originals is lower than the rear.   On most of the originals I have seen,  the front sight is little more than a bead.   The real problem with low sights is that you need more drop or more cast off to get behind the sights shooting offhand.    Of course,  my observation is that many original rifles had a considerable amount of drop,  more than we would use today with out "high" sights.    If you are shooting from a bench or prone,  your head is more on top of the comb so less drop or cast off is required.   One advantage of low sights is that you are less likely to snag them on something.

[Dan Fruth]

Most swamped barrels today have been well thought out as to barrel dimentions at the muzzle to be close to the same size as the dim. at about 12" from the breech, and the sights are easier to dial in, as well as to see...But I still am questioning some things...I have a copy of the barrel used on an early Va rifle that I personally took off the dimentions, and the muzzle is considerably smaller than the rear sight area , from my knowledge of sights, it should shoot high. When I sight a rifle in, I use 25 yards as a point of reference. Most deer here in Ohio are shot at about 35-75 yards, and I think back in the day, most shots were in that same neighborhood...Out west is a different story.  I have always felt a bit "in the dark" when it came to understanding sights, but I have always made sights with the front sight "high" and filled it down when sighting in.  I try for a rear sight between .150-.180, and the front as needed, and never end up with a front blade very low....Just my observation.

[Keb]

I quit shooting guns with rear sights because of my poor vision. Now the height of the front sight isn't as critical as where I put my face against the butt stock. Elevation is adjusted by the amount of top barrel flat I'm looking at and windage is adjusted by the front sight and tang screw alignment.
Now my biggest obstacle is not having enough light. Put a target back in the woods and I can't slap my rear end with both hands. It doesn't matter how low or how tall that sight is when you cant see what you're shooting at.