Pros and cons of steel vs silver front sight

[HighUintas]

That is very cool. I may attempt to do something like that someday.

I wonder if elk teeth would work similarly to ivory...

[Daryl]

Maybe the bull's canines aren't called the Elk's Ivory's for nothing?

[LynnC]

Stretching a front sight base 5 thousandths is no problem at all. Put the sight blade down in the vise jaws protected by some slip of paper or card stock then a light strike on a cold chisel parallel with the front and rear of the base will easily move the sight base metal .005”.

Easier done than typed.

[Chocktaw Brave]

That is pretty slick!

[Birddog6]

I use Irons sights most of the time for target.  For deer hunting Iron & put a little white dot on the to rear of it so I can see it easily at dusk. Either a dot of White-Out or one of the tiny stick-on white dots they make for pistol sights.

[Freedom]

 Copper seems to be the easiest to see... lots of sites blades been made from Indian Head pennies.

[Not English]

My preferred sight is a German silver blade. I file the top back of the site at a 45 degree angle and polish it. Below that, I file a hollow below the portion that is polished with a chain saw file. It creates a nice hollow below the polished section that does nor reflect light. I coat the hollow with a marking pen or anything that will blacken it leaving just the polished portion visible.

[HighUintas]

My preferred sight is a German silver blade. I file the top back of the site at a 45 degree angle and polish it. Below that, I file a hollow below the portion that is polished with a chain saw file. It creates a nice hollow below the polished section that does nor reflect light. I coat the hollow with a marking pen or anything that will blacken it leaving just the polished portion visible.

Very good idea. I elected to go with the silver blade/copper base sight. I may try out filing a hollow in the back

[HighUintas]

Is it possible to have the images on page 1 restored?

**I checked and it appears the images have been removed from the photo host's server. Maybe the owners of the photos could upload them again. Dennis**

After shooting a bit, I've decided I need to fix up my front sight. As noted in one of.my last posts on this thread, I went with the silver front post. It is the typical elliptical shape that comes from TOTW or MBS.

I will cut the rear portion of the blade to be perpendicular to the barrel top flat. Then I'll file from the top point down to the front to flatten it and give it more of a triangular shape when viewed from the side. I'll also file the 45* angle on the rear that Daryl spoke of.

The last thing I want to do is to make the front post a bit finer or narrower. It is a 0.050 thick post. This is a 36" barrel and to me, it still seems a bit too thick to see what I want to see on the target when aiming. I am considering either filing the sides of the blade to narrow it to maybe half of that or 0.030ish, and I'm also considering attempting to cut a slit in the blade and insert some ivory. However, it seems that it I narrow the blade to 0.030 it would be mighty hard to get a 0.010 or so piece of ivory in there.

[rich pierce]

I tried but can’t restore Daryl’s missing pictures.

[Taylorz1]

I actually like a copper blade made out of an old solid copper penny for hunting. Good compromise between visibility and glare. In also like steel slotted for a little sliver of elk tooth. Makes a white line thats easy to see with no glare issues

[Daryl]

I tried but can’t restore Daryl’s missing pictures.

Site is still having trouble with pictures.
These are the missing ones.
My .69's front sight and Taylor's 16 bore rifle's front sight that is 133years older.

[HighUintas]

I actually like a copper blade made out of an old solid copper penny for hunting. Good compromise between visibility and glare. In also like steel slotted for a little sliver of elk tooth. Makes a white line thats easy to see with no glare issues

How thick of a sliver of elk tooth were you able to use? I'm wanting to try this but want it to be very thin. I'm wondering about how thin I can get it.

[Daryl]

How thin you can make it, might be up to your expertise in thinning it & cutting a thin slot to glue it into.

[smylee grouch]

I procured some 1/8th inch " T " iron ( .125" ) thick. With this my hand made front sight blade is a FULL  .125 thick and I can taper it from bottom to top. Its solid steel so I can, once the sight is filed to the right height put a silver solder insert in it. Cut the notch, flux, and tin it with silver solder. Dress off the excess and the silver insert will never come out.

[Taylorz1]

Here is a elk tooth front sight. This one is for a sharps and I didnt make this one an old montana gunsmith named Walter Cooper did but I could take a pic of this one without opening up a safe and it give you the idea. I use a jewelers saw to start the slot then little needle files. Doesnt hVe to be an elk tooth could be bone or micarta or whatever. All the cool kids use elk teeth though.

[HighUintas]

That's pretty slick looking! I happen to have some elk teeth... The only source of ivory, bone, etc I have on hand. I may give it a shot. I finished up my front sight remodel to be similar to what others do, which is the silver post with a vertical backside and a 45 angle filed at the top. It does seem to absolutely glow white hot with the right angle of light, but most angles it doesn't seem to glow. It may just be due to the lighting in my house. I'll take a look tomorrow afternoon if I get home before dark.

[Taylorz1]

The ivory is really easy to break when it gets thin. I break less using sanding boards to get it thin vs trying to saw it out really thin. A little super glue and some sanding dust will be invisible too ha

[Leatherbark]

A cool front sight i saw one time was a steel front blade, the kind that is slanted in front. The guy drills a hole near the end of the blade straight down into the blade and inserts a snug piece of brass rod.
Then he files the face of the sight until the brass appears as a stripe in the face of the steel sight then reshapes the top. In the end it looks like one of those modern rifle sights that have a white stripe only now it's brass.

Bob

[Dphariss]

The reason for brass/silver front sights. If you are hunting a dark animal, Moose, Bison, Black Bear, Gbear the front sight may actually disappear or be hard to resolve against the animal. Yes I have BTDT. So a lighter colored sight is a plus.

[smylee grouch]

  I fashioned this one out of a piece of an 1&1/4 inch brass shaft about 30 + or - years ago so its held up well. When the light dims I would buff the top of it with my thumb ( buckskin gloves ) and that would put a little shine to it so it was easier to see at twilight.

[HighUintas]

That's beautiful, Smylee. I really like it.

I tested out looking at my modified sight yesterday in the evening twilight and it seemed to glow only in certain orientations to the western horizon. I would also sometimes get shine from the vertical part of the post while the angled part was dark...  The experimentation continues!

[Daryl]

  I fashioned this one out of a piece of an 1&1/4 inch brass shaft about 30 + or - years ago so its held up well. When the light dims I would buff the top of it with my thumb ( buckskin gloves ) and that would put a little shine to it so it was easier to see at twilight.

I do the same SmyleeG. I cut narrow lines in the blades of my rear sight's leaves, and put hard silver solder in them. A rub with my thumb, on those as well as my brass bead front, brightens them up for shooting in the bush or in poor light.
The last day Taylor and I shot the postal match, my front sight was a bright bead, on the dull, raining day & helped considerably.

[reddogge]

I'll throw my .02 in. I prefer brass for a front sight. I had a rifle I put an iron front sight and it disappeared in the dark woods when aiming at a deer. I like the brass for dark woods and also bright light. Never tried copper but may have to do that.

[Dphariss]

For what purpose? A brass or silver sight is preferable in a hunting rifle. Unless hunting Mtn Goats.
A black front sight might be best for paper targets. Especially with a 6 o’clock hold in the white.

A bright gleam in the sun can cause issues.
Open sights are a personal thing. Its what works for person who owns the rifle and his use of it. But seeing a black sight or a hooded one on a Moose or Bison or another dark animal will show that this is a bad idea.

Now if shooting at a paper target you might need to put shaders on open sights to keep off the glare and to get the front sight dark enough to show well on paper if holding in the white or at a white aiming point.