rear sight for transitional rifle.

[walks with gun]

    V-notch or square for sights on early longrifles, and which is usually better for ageing eyes.  I'm guessing a v would be best, I can always enlarge as needed.

[Dennis Glazener]

I guess you will have to check by trial and error but for me the square notch is far better for my old eyes than a vee notch. I always assumed it has to do with the amount of light on each side of the front sight. I make sure the rear notch is wide enough to allow plenty of light on each side of the front sight.
Dennis

[bob in the woods]

I used to prefer a wide , wide square notch, but have now gone to a very shallow "V"
It's easy to use, very fast, and accurate. 

[Hungry Horse]

 The V notch is the best for aging eyes. The old square notch system so popular in the seventies, and eighties requires your eye to gauge the amount of light on either side of the notch, while keeping the top of the front sight level with the top of the back sight. Heck there are young eyes that can't do all that.

  Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

My eyes are really bad now. I have great difficulty seeing normal V's or U's or square notches with beads or blades - however, this works for me.
These are sighted dead on at 25 yards - ball hits right in the middle of the bead, which makes them dead on at 50 yards and about 5 1/2" low at 100 yards.  If the bead is help level with the wings, that is a dead-on 100yard hold.
This particular sight has 2 flip-up leaves that are filed in for 100 and 150 yards with the light 'plinking load' and 100, 150 and 200 yards with the heavy hunting load. This is my 14 bore rifle.

[hudson]

I also like the square notch/blade sights with lots of light on both sides of the blade. Once tried open v notch on a pistol be used for squirrel hunting, sights were good in the woods, out not so good. Squirrel hunting with a pistol? for me dream on. I would like to try some wide open V type Express sight, on the project list..

[elkhorne]

Daryl,
What is the blade of your front sight made of? Looks very good and the shape plus back bevel also probably help with the light gathering capability of it. Is that correct. Good discussion.
elkhorne

[Mike Brooks]

If you want an actual historically correct sights they should be very low and impossible to see......

[Acer Saccharum]

If you want an actual historically correct sights they should be very low and impossible to see......

Traditional sights: the front sight should be just about .025 above the barrel surface...I don't know how anyone could have shot accurately with sights so low. First shot, OK, you have little mirage. As the barrel heats up, the front sight would become invisible, or dance around. Traditional height and shaped sights, you're going to be throwing away a lot of the barrel's accuracy potential. But I like how they look.

For practical target shooting, one needs front sights well above the barrel flats to get away from the mirage. Square notch works best for me. Square front sight.

[Daryl]

Daryl,
What is the blade of your front sight made of? Looks very good and the shape plus back bevel also probably help with the light gathering capability of it. Is that correct. Good discussion.
elkhorne

The blade is steel, same as the base. The bead is brass rod - tapered and soldered to the steel base. This sight is pretty much the same as Purdey, Boss, H&H and most other gun makers put on their Indian and African rifles in the 19th century.

The back slant on the bead reflects any available light beautifully thus it is the best sight for hunting.