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Front sight/how to?

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1Longbow

32 Cal.
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Nov 1, 2009
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Anyone have a idea to make your front sight more visible. Old eyes. I put a peep sight on the rear,but need the front sight to stick out little better. Thank you
 
You can use different colors of nail polish, but what I've found helps most is reading glasses in 1.0 power. I also use a Merit on them when shooting post and notch.
 
I suggest reshaping the sight such as to have a nearly straight, Patrige style, rear vertical plane rather than a rounded one. I have found this gives a sharper definition.
upload_2019-7-24_20-18-48.jpeg
 
The gun is a TC New Englander,and I'm not near it right now ,do you know if the front dovetail is 3/8 the of and inch? Thank you for all your help and suggestions
 
I'd go with the finger nail polish. I sure wouldn't use any of my wives stuff though. Not only is it not really bright red but she would pound knots on my head for "touching her stuff".

No, I would go to the local drug store and check out what they are selling. I'd look for a really bright orange/red color. Something that would stand out in dim light and my wife would never use in a million years. (That way she wouldn't accuse me of "borrowing her stuff".)

A better approach to the problem if there is a Hobby Shop near is to go there and look for some bright fluorescent red, yellow, orange or green paint. It comes in little bottles that only cost a few bucks.

With one of these in hand I would paint the upper area of the front sight. If I went a little overboard and got some on the side of the sight I would scrape it off with a razor blade after it had hardened.
 
Based on recommendations from my buddy "yellow house Jake" I bought eye pals. You can google them. A simple stick on disk for your glasses with a hole on it that forces your eye to sharpen its sight. It is a great tool. Used mine yesterday shooting my double rifle. Makes the front and rear sight sharp and crisp. I dont need glasses for distance, just up close.

I highly recommend them.

Fleener
 
What has worked best for me (and my "old eyes") on both rifles and handguns is the patridge blade sight.

white face patridge.jpg

Some are made stock with a "white face," while I've painted some myself with nail polish. White works pretty well. Mostly I've found a light shade of green has been helpful to me for easy sight acquisition. BTW, easy to remove nail polish from the sight and try another color.
 
The sight isn’t the problem your eyes are. Go to your optometrist and get shooting glasses. I did and with the glasses set so you can clearly see the front sight you will shoot any iron sighted gun better. Mine are a light amber color and made a huge difference.
 
If you want to retain a traditional sight then Tom A Hawk hit the nail on the head. The rear of the sight should be filed so its perfectly perpendicular to the barrel and flat. Rounded edges catch the light at different angles and throw off your point of aim. Blacken both sights with carbon black from a lit match or traditional Bic lighter works great. Finally and I can't explain it as it's the way I was taught to shoot...use both eyes. Somehow the sights are clearer but it takes practice.
 
The gun is a TC New Englander,and I'm not near it right now ,do you know if the front dovetail is 3/8 the of and inch? Thank you for all your help and suggestions

Yes, TC uses a 3/8ths dovetail. But it’s a damn tight 3/8ths so you’ll likely need to hit the base of the sight a bit with a file.
 
Never before heard such a definitive statement as your first sentence. I believe I will seriously check this approach with my optometrist. Now when I tilt my trifocals back and land on the middle (computer) lens, I see the front sight very well. To not have to do such Houdini gyrations with head and neck would be a great relief.

The sight isn’t the problem your eyes are. Go to your optometrist and get shooting glasses. I did and with the glasses set so you can clearly see the front sight you will shoot any iron sighted gun better. Mine are a light amber color and made a huge difference.
 
My old eyes are having the same issue. I use the disk on my glasses, the Bic on my front sight, use a front sight hood and shoot with both eyes open. I have a real issue seeing the target at 100yds. So I think my next course of action is shooting glasses.
 
I can't explain either how shooting with both eyes open works, but it does. Takes some work to get it together. Agreed -- it is basically the same 'ole needed practice.

Another way to shoot that has worked okay when I've tried it is to ignore both firearm sights and focus on the target. Basically, all is blurry on the gun; everything else -- e.g. target and peripheral viewing -- stays pretty clear. You tend to lose top-notch point shooting here, and this isn't so good if your goal is to get those small, accurate groups. Generally, I've been acceptably accurate shooting this way although it is easy to fall back into focusing on the front sight. In some of my reading, one of the expressions used to describe it is that the person "is looking through the sights." A little hard to explain as is shooting with both eyes.

... Finally and I can't explain it as it's the way I was taught to shoot...use both eyes. Somehow the sights are clearer but it takes practice.
 
I use a common office product, "white out". It dries to a matt white finish and is easy to see and remove. They also make "yellow out", intended for use on legal pads, if you prefer that color. Keep yer powder dry...……....robin
 
I’ve used a piece of white chalk to put a quick line on the front sight if shooting at a dark target. That helps on a black front sight and is easy to wipe off it conditions warrant it. I’ve also used a black marker on a brass or silver sight to darken the back of the blade when needed.

I too have a special pair of shooting glasses to correct my dominant eye for the sight and weak eye for distance.
 
Learning to shoot with both eyes WHILE HUNTING is one of the best things I ever learned.
Imagine getting a bead on a buck through tough brush, primitive sights and one eye. Now imagine it with both eyes so you can see what he is about to walk into....or out of. BIG difference on when to take a shot or wait 4 more yards for the clearing he is about to walk into.
 
I painted my front sight white, then used bright orange nail polish, the color was traffic cone. The white base coat really makes the orange POP, it's very bright. Two coats of white and two of orange and it works awesome. I also shoot with both eyes open, never learned any other way
 
I went to a green fiber optic front sight on my single shot hunting rifle. I hunt alone so no one sees it on my otherwise traditional rifle. I can see the thing with almost no light left when I come out of the woods after shooting light has gone. That's reassuring in brown bear country where I hunt.
 
When/If you get ready for a good pair of prescription shooting glasses I recommend you talk to these folks:
https://www.decot.com/
I've been using them since 1980. When my eyes "aged" to the point that iron sights were no longer an option...they fixed me up with a modified prescription that gets me back in the game with irons on handguns and rifles.
Keep in mind that NMLRA rule 9100 for primitive shooting prohibits tinted lenses in prescription shooting glasses unless the shooter has a doctor's slip stating that tinted glasses must be worn on a daily basis due to an eye disorder. Commercial non-prescription shooting glasses are allowed providing they do not have have tinted lenses.
 

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