sight picture

[jim m]

having trouble seeing the front sight on one of my rifles. it has a 42" barrel and the front sight is coin silver. often the sight is blurred or distorted and very skinny although it is made out of a silver 50 cent piece and is fairly wide. on another rifle have the same sight and have never had a problem seeing it. the one I can see is a shorter barrel and is browned. the one I'm having trouble with the barrel is french greyed. could it be glare off the barrel ? any suggestions. I know my eyesight is not the best but I can definitely tell a difference between the two rifles. 

[Collector]

And, the rear sight is exactly what distance from the breech, on each rifle?  With open sights, everything matters.

[Pete G.]

I file a slight notch in the upper/rear of the sight. Leaves a dark spot that I can see against a target wheras the silver seems to sort of fade out.

[Jerry V Lape]

Could it be the front sight, being further away on your longer barrel, needs to be a little larger than the one you can see on the shorter barrel?  I know it makes a difference for me.  I made up a sight bar to test various sights before making what I want for my rifle.  It is just an inch square stick long enough to hold against my cheek.  I can then mount a rear sight at the proper distance from my eye and a front sight at the appropriate length and see how they function for me.  The test sights are just made of a piece of bent brass stock so I have a foot for a screw to attach to the sight bar.  the front sight is footed to the side so I can make the blades as thick or thin as needed.  On a 42 inch barrel I seem to see a round brass bead type sight with the face filed flat but angled away well.  I tried the sizes Daryl has spoken of before but find I need even larger diameters for clear vision.  It only takes minutes to make and test the various set ups before making a set of sights for a rifle this way. 

[Daryl]

I agree- size does matter!  A larger bead definitely is easier to see, but I prefer to be able to plant it into the middle of even the small targets. Depending on the light, the smaller bead either looks like a dark post, or round bright bead - again, depending on the light source.  For a hunting sight, an 1/8" bead works well and catches light most of the time.

Blades, for me, become very much thinner in appearance as well and wander around inside the wide V of the rear sight's notch - yet a change of light and they are full width.  I find this is something I have to live with and manage to shoot reasonably well with them, but the bead and wide V are my favourites.  I have the notch and blade on 2 rifles, 2 with wide V's and beads.  I do prefer the bead as hazy or fuzzy doesn't matter as the centre of the haze or fuzz is the point of impact. With a blade, if hazy or fuzzy, it 's hard to tell where the top of it is, which is the point of impact, while the bead doesn't give this problem. different barrel lengths give different sight pictures, that's for sure.

If someone wanted to get the perfect sight picture, he'd make a device as Jerry described, then pick a rifle style that fitted those sight distance measurements.  One might find he needed a longrfile's length when he actually wanted to build a short 1/2 stocked rifle.

[BrownBear]

Have you tried blacking the front site temporarily, just to study what's going on?  If it suddenly becomes clear once it's black, that's a fair clue.  I find silver sights problematic in bright light, behaving much as you describe.  They're dandy early and late in low light, but I black mine through the brighter hours.

[hanshi]

A while back I started painting my front blades with a flat, white primer paint.  This shows up well in the woods where I hunt and doesn't shine in most lighting.  Black worked well in light but tended to disappear in the woods.

[Daryl]

Yes - by all means, silver sights need blacking in the light. If stuck on using silver, make certain the angle facing you is flat - not rounded on the sides. Even a flat silver blade will change point of impact with different light angles. They are dang hard to see on light targets, but show up well in the bush.  White paint eh, Flintr - good idea for a sight, especially for hunting, but might be the ticket - a bit of felt pen for target shooting on light targets- hard to see a shiny sight against a white soda straw or on a white onion in the veggie shoot.  As to felt pens, the best are the 'dry-erase' type.  A wipe of a finger and it's bright again.  Trouble with permanent markers, although they stay on the sight longer, they are usually shiny and will reflect light - the dry erase are usually flat black.  They are easier to carry than an erasol can of sight-black.

Still prefer a bead. - HA!

[erdillonjr]

Try and blacken the front site then add some orange or white paint. Ed

[hanshi]

Yes - by all means, silver sights need blacking in the light. If stuck on using silver, make certain the angle facing you is flat - not rounded on the sides. Even a flat silver blade will change point of impact with different light angles. They are dang hard to see on light targets, but show up well in the bush.  White paint eh, Flintr - good idea for a sight, especially for hunting, but might be the ticket - a bit of felt pen for target shooting on light targets- hard to see a shiny sight against a white soda straw or on a white onion in the veggie shoot.  As to felt pens, the best are the 'dry-erase' type.  A wipe of a finger and it's bright again.  Trouble with permanent markers, although they stay on the sight longer, they are usually shiny and will reflect light - the dry erase are usually flat black.  They are easier to carry than an erasol can of sight-black.

Still prefer a bead. - HA!

The dry-erase pen might be just the ticket.  Put it on then easy to take off.  Or like erdillonjr suggested blacken it & add a light color line.  Something to think about.

[jim m]

thanks for the replies. some great ideas, the black marker is a definate must try.