Front sights on old muzzleloaders

[Mean Gene]

Just wondering what everyone's opinions were as to why front sights were so small on those rifles made a couple hundred years ago.

Some of the old rifles I have looked at,
had front sights so small they seem like they would be unusable, however unfortunately I have not been able to look down the barrel of one of these my self.

 

[hanshi]

Beats me. They are miniscule. However, those low sights would be very precise for close range precision shooting.

 

[smo]

I think back then most shots were hunting range shots of 20 to 30 maybe 40 yards on a good day.

Also most shots were in hunting situations vs range time.

Now we tend to shoot more range time shots than in hunting situations.

I know at least I do.

Point being shorter sights could be seen well enough to shoot at hunting distances .

 

[Mean Gene]

Those guys must have had some incredible eye sight.

 

[smo]

They didn’t spend as much time looking at a computer screen as we do! :haha:

 

[George]

I have a 28 gauge smooth rifle with what the old boys called a barleycorn front sight, no rear sight, and have shot a fair bit of PRB in it, killed a deer. I never found the sights to be any sort of problem.







Here's my one-shot-for-all-the-marbles shot, sitting on my butt, ramrod as a rest, 75 yards.



I like 'em. :grin:

Spence

 

[bob308]

I have shot some of the old original rifles. the sights were not a problem and if the barrels were good they shot just as good as the new rifles.

 

[Mean Gene]

Great shooting sir, my hats off to you, I have to admit I was suprised you have no rear sight.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have marveled and wondered about those teeny sights myself. Folks didn't live very long back in the day. Maybe they died before needing glasses. :wink:

 

[George]

Mine is on a barrel 50 inches long. Even old geezers can see that.

Spence

 

[Jaeger]

Slightly off center....hahaha. Wow...that's about as good a shot as you can get.

 

[azmntman]

Slightly off center....hahaha. Wow...that's about as good a shot as you can get.

.... not to be overly critical :surrender:

 

[Coot]

My understanding of the sights on early rifles is that the thinking of the time was that 1) having the sights low on the barrel placed them closer to the bore & thus thought to make sighting more accurate, and 2) having tiny a "V" in the rear and a very thin blade at the front made for more precise aiming than a wide notch & blade. Based on several old guns that I own, this thinking continued into the cartridge era with at least some guns. Like so many things, this thinking was so intuitive, so simple & "logical", that it lasted for some time before seriously challenged & experiments were made that improved our understanding of how the eye & sights interact & how barrel heat affected the sighting plane.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I think I read once that they enabled the user to use the barrel flat itself for running game shots, as fine sights are pretty useless in those circumstances. Having a high rear sight would have resulted in shooting high because you'd have to look over it when acquiring the front bead.

You also have to remember that most frontier people of the day were younger than the ML'ing shooters of today are, so they doubtlessly had much better eyesight too.

 

[Mean Gene]

:thumbsup:
Best answer so far

 

[don hepler]

Did you use any "Kentucky" windage? :rotf:

Just kidding, great shot. :surrender:

 

[M. De Land]

Let's see yah do it again!

 

[smo]

My understanding of the sights on early rifles is that the thinking of the time was that 1) having the sights low on the barrel placed them closer to the bore & thus thought to make sighting more accurate, and 2) having tiny a "V" in the rear and a very thin blade at the front made for more precise aiming than a wide notch & blade. Based on several old guns that I own, this thinking continued into the cartridge era with at least some guns. Like so many things, this thinking was so intuitive, so simple & "logical", that it lasted for some time before seriously challenged & experiments were made that improved our understanding of how the eye & sights interact & how barrel heat affected the sighting plane.

That’s the same type sights I grew up shooting on .22’s.

I still have an old Remington with the small bead front and small vee rear sight.

I can’t see to shoot them now ..... but I could then.

 

[George]

Let's see yah do it again!

Once is enough, my Mamma didn't raise no dummies. :grin:

This rifle is an example, to me, of the disconnect between what the old boys did and how it worked and what we think they did and our modern explanation of how it worked. This barrel is 50 inches long and swamped. The gun feels light and handy to shoot, when you throw it to the shoulder it falls naturally in line, and the sight sticks up above the curve of the breech in front of your eye. You don't have to make any adjustments to your sight picture, make certain you are seeing the proper amount of barrel, etc., it just falls in line that way. The first round ball I ever fired with the gun was at a 12" gong at 65 yards, loaded with a safe, light load, 40 grains of FFg. I just brought the gun to my shoulder, snugged my cheek on the stock in the natural place, aimed at the top of the gong and got a solid hit. I'm no offhand shooter, it wasn't me, it was the gun. I couldn't begin to put it into words, but I'm convinced we've lost something in our understanding of what the old boys did when designing and building their guns. I shoot several replicas, supposedly built just like the originals, but not a one of them fits, lines up naturally and shoots like this one. We are missing some secret ingredient.

That low barleycorn sight is exactly what it needs to be. I've shot the gun under a lot of lighting conditions, killed deer, squirrels, groundhogs with it, and never for even a moment wished the sight was any different.

Spence

 

[M. De Land]

Some one once told me the reason for the small sight was because after using your one shot on a bear it didn't hurt so much when the bruin flattened the hunter and shoved the barrel up his butt! :rotf:
I think he was Kidding............... perhaps not!