Most visible front sight.

[Maven]

"Can't find this type of stud anywhere but I can hit stuff on the trail."

I've shot with George and he certainly can "hit stuff on the trail."

[Daryl]

Mastadon Ivory would work just fine - or a piece of an old piano key.

[Buffaload]

I used to do a lot of squirrel hunting with a 36 cal SMR.  I had a regular squirrel jihad going on for a while back in Caintuck.  Silver, German Silver, Iron, Brass all didn’t get it for me so I finally made an iron blade and used a slitting saw and slit the face of the sight, then inserted a sliver of ivory.  That was the ticket.  The black or brown of the iron stood out in lighted conditions and the ivory took care of the dark conditions.  It worked so well I modified a big single shot this same way.  Another method to do the same thing is to drill a hole in then sight and slip in a rod of ivory but this seemed like a mess to me!  I made the sliver fit the slot tight, its never moved on either gun.
Ed

[redheart]

I used to do a lot of squirrel hunting with a 36 cal SMR.  I had a regular squirrel jihad going on for a while back in Caintuck.  Silver, German Silver, Iron, Brass all didn’t get it for me so I finally made an iron blade and used a slitting saw and slit the face of the sight, then inserted a sliver of ivory.  That was the ticket.  The black or brown of the iron stood out in lighted conditions and the ivory took care of the dark conditions.  It worked so well I modified a big single shot this same way.  Another method to do the same thing is to drill a hole in then sight and slip in a rod of ivory but this seemed like a mess to me!  I made the sliver fit the slot tight, its never moved on either gun.
Ed

Ed,
I love it!
It sounds like the best way to go.
I have only one question.
Where do you get a slitting saw?

[Buffaload]

MSC or McMaster Carr.
I’ll do you one better.  PM me and I’ll fix you up.
Ed

[Dphariss]

I want to get some new sights for my Southern Poor Boy rifle. But I was wondering what people's opinions are on which front sights are more visible. Silver, steal, or brass.

In bright light white targets, black. A dark animal like a Buffalo? Silver or brass same for most hunting

Dan

[Dphariss]

Pukka B hit it on the head.  Pure silver blade of a thickness that is easy to see...thicker for very long barrels and thinner for short ones.  I undercut the back of the blade so it is in shadow, ie:  black against target, and file a 45 deg. forward bevel on the tip to catch light.  The bevel is the same length as the blade is thick so the bevel is square --  appears round to the eye in the otch of the rear sight.
Rear sight:  make the notch big enough so you can see your front sight clearly in it.

While iron sights are a very personal thing, I think Sam Hawken was quoted as saying no matter what he put on the rifles people would change it.
However, I have no disagreement with Taylor here.
Dan

[Mike Brooks]

well maybe it was horn, but I doubt it.

It's ivory.

[Jerry]

I have had trouble finding a copper front sight for my fowler. It is octagon to round barrel. One could be made, but time consuming. I use a cast brass front sight with thin blade and a heart shaped base. The cold bluing I use turns brass brown to black. I can control the color of the brass.

[Flint62Smoothie]

Makes no matter much any more. Some days, I can't see the front sight no matter what it is made of, I just try to remember where it is.

Dave - Did you ever read the Muzzleloader article a few years ago by Mike Nesbitt? He told of an older Shooter who put a piece of 1” wide or so white tape (I believe or if IIRC) around the end of muzzle where the sight was. Whence in the shooting position, he could see the ‘white band’ and he used that as his aiming device.

It was enough for him to KEEP SHOOTING and keep all his shots on paper and mostly in the black. I’m sure with some practice and fine tuning, plus muscle memory, that one could turn those shots into 9s & 10s!

[Daryl]

For my old eyes, I like a wide shallow V with a small brass bead, slanted 45 degrees.
This should show why. As Taylor, a dry-erase felt pen quickly dulls the shiny bead and wipes off instantly.
permanent markers are shiny - the dry erase is very dull.

[Daryl]

Further- to answer the post's question, what is the most visible front sight - I would say one of the fiber-optic sights - likely the chartreuse colour.

 I would have to be bloody desperate to put one on those on one of my rifles & likely not even then.  I would rather switch over to using nothing buy a smoothie and

computer .50 to .75 diopter glasses to see something of the front sight. the other option is to learn to shoot it instinctively, like "we" do with modern handguns.

[B.Habermehl]

So far my go to has been brass for traditional sights. Much more visible in the dark woods at daybreak and sunset. And for my eyes the work well on the range with paper target too. BJH

[Daryl]

The sight above is brass. Smooth, shiny steel is also bright, as-is silver. 
Silver soldered surface film on brass or steel comes alive with a shoe-shined
approach when it dulls, as-do the others. I like using a strip of denim for this.

[Craig Wilcox]

Mastodon ivory?  Have you priced it lately?  I was looking for some knife scales earlier today, for a small set of scales from mastodon ivory, they wanted $350.00!!!

A piece for a longrifle sight could easily cost $4-5 !LOL.

My front sight is Sterling, but I am sure going to think about a slice of ivory on the next one.

I think the eye-teeth of elk is ivory, is that correct?

[Daryl]

Elk eye-teeth, yes. At least here they are called "Elk Ivory's"