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Rear sights now that BoMar is gone


Pat Miles

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Used my last BoMar on a 6" Limited gun I'm building. With BoMar out of the picture what are folks using? I know Tripp is out with a very nice sight but I've heard they are scarce for now. Any other suggestions? I don't mind paying for a good quality adjustable rear sight and don't want to use any that are perpetual headaches. Suggestions?

Pat

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If I was starting new I would go with a fixed Novak style sight. Nothing to break. My STI arrived with the bomar style and was dead on zeroed out of the box, I have never adjusted it. Seriously once zeroed how many of us ever do any adjusting ?

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If I was starting new I would go with a fixed Novak style sight. Nothing to break. My STI arrived with the bomar style and was dead on zeroed out of the box, I have never adjusted it. Seriously once zeroed how many of us ever do any adjusting ?

Just this week I had to adjust load on my 6" gun for this year so that I could use the 5" as backup. The small bump in powder charge got the 6" gun to 171pf and moved the POI up a couple of inches at 25 yards. What am I supposed to do? Replace the front sight 2 weeks before Florida Open?

The Tripp sight is genius. A dovetail holds the body of the sight to the base. Another dovetail holds the blade to the body. Its tough as shit and Virgil has worked very hard to iron out the details.

I don't agree with telling folks just to throw up their hands and stop experimenting, stop tweaking and stop adjusting -- it isn't racing. Nobody gets faster without adjustment.

Edited by Seth
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If I was starting new I would go with a fixed Novak style sight. Nothing to break. My STI arrived with the bomar style and was dead on zeroed out of the box, I have never adjusted it. Seriously once zeroed how many of us ever do any adjusting ?

Joe, this advice is flawed. Seriously.

Just this week I had to adjust load on my 6" gun for this year so that I could use the 5" as backup. The small bump in powder charge got the 6" gun to 171pf and moved the POI up a couple of inches at 25 yards. What am I supposed to do? Grind the front sight down 2 weeks before Florida Open?

The Tripp sight is genius. A dovetail holds the body of the sight to the base. Another dovetail holds the blade to the body. Its tough as shit and Virgil has worked very hard to iron out the details.

Telling folks just to throw up their hands and stop experimenting, stop tweaking and stop adjusting isn't racing. Nobody gets faster without adjustment.

Seth,

clearly you've never encountered Erik Warren -- the king of having adjustable sights fail in the middle of a match....

Adjustable sights are great, but in addition to their advantage (adjustability) do have drawbacks as well. Fixed sights tend to be sturdier -- but you either need to fit the front or know where each particular gun/load hits....

To each their own. My Sevigny sights aren't going anywhere; my Bo-mars were all sold off years ago....

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Telling folks just to throw up their hands and stop experimenting, stop tweaking and stop adjusting isn't racing. Nobody gets faster without adjustment.

Nobody? :)

I think there is a strong point that could be made to leaving the sights and the load alone...and learning a consistent system.

And, the question of being a couple inches high at 25y...that would allow me a neck (shoulder level) hold for a head shot at that distance...which I would prefer due to the added visual reference from the target. Plus, any mashing on the trigger tends to send shots low while we are on the clock....so hitting high is beneficial to most shooters, IMO.

If I were hitting low, however, I'd change the sight heights.

It may or may not be what the opening poster is looking for, but there are solid examples out there of fixed sights that fit the Bomar cut: http://shop.harrisoncustom.com/products/119-hd-001-extreme-service-rear-sight.aspx

Might be worth a look.

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a small powder charge moved POI a couple of inches ? :surprise:

actually grinding the front sight down would make your shots hit even higher, Ive got several guns with fixed sights that once I got the proper front sight hit point of aim, Lots and lots of handguns have been getting along just fine with fixed sights. I shoot a 155gr minor/steel load and a 180gr major load and both hit the same spot, You gain some convenience on initial settings with adjustable but add complexity and somewhere else for something to go wrong. I am pretty happy with the sight I am using on my eagle now, but if it breaks it will get replaced with a fixed sight made for a Bomar cut.

Edited by Joe4d
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Hello: The Tripp sight is like a solid rear sight :cheers: It is that well built. I do use Warren sights on my Glocks and love those. On my 1911's and 2011's I like the adjustable sights since I am playing with different loads all the time. A minor steel load is different than a 171PF load. A quick adjustment and everything is great. Thanks, Eric

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Telling folks just to throw up their hands and stop experimenting, stop tweaking and stop adjusting isn't racing. Nobody gets faster without adjustment.

Nobody? :)

I think there is a strong point that could be made to leaving the sights and the load alone...and learning a consistent system.

Not at the expense of going minor. Besides, if we didn't experiment with grip, stance, load, caliber, powder, bullet type, etc... the sport wouldn't have evolved much.

Having the ability to correct my trajectory based on bullet or powder changes is important to me. I am at 73% shooter looking for every edge I can find. I've taken classes with the best, I dryfire daily, I've invested in my equipment... load is part of that equation to me.

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Just this week I had to adjust load on my 6" gun for this year so that I could use the 5" as backup. The small bump in powder charge got the 6" gun to 171pf and moved the POI up a couple of inches at 25 yards. What am I supposed to do? Replace the front sight 2 weeks before Florida Open?

You changed your load (significantly enough to alter POI by "inches") 2 weeks before the FL Open so what would be the difference in changing the front sight?

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Just this week I had to adjust load on my 6" gun for this year so that I could use the 5" as backup. The small bump in powder charge got the 6" gun to 171pf and moved the POI up a couple of inches at 25 yards. What am I supposed to do? Replace the front sight 2 weeks before Florida Open?

You changed your load (significantly enough to alter POI by "inches") 2 weeks before the FL Open so what would be the difference in changing the front sight?

Lets break this down for a second. I have changed bullet weight multiple times (180, 170, 165) , bullet style (CMJ to Moly to JHP corresponding to the afforementioned weights) this winter AND I changed barrels in the 5" gun. So shockingly I needed to sight both guns in. I experimented all winter, found a load I liked, then found it didn't make major in the 5" gun but did in the 6".

If I were stuck with non- adjustable sights, I'd be in a real pickle. My front sight is hand made and pinned. While the cut is novak its only .090" thick. So getting a front sight would have been a challenge....

Now your question was why all this leading up to weeks before Fl Open? Well, its winter here. We've had a lot of snow, we don't shoot matches year round in most places, and its been wicked cold, so I haven't had the range access I needed to sight in at 25 yards for a match as challenging distance wise as the Open.

I'd say that with 2 weeks to go, I'm in excellent shape. The load is done, the gun is sighted in and I have a back up that makes major.

All of this is possible because I can modify the load ad nauseum and just spin a screw to get the POI I want.

Edited by Seth
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My carry guns all have fixed night sights, all my competiton guns have adjustables either Dawson, LPA, or BoMar, my Smith 1911 has a Wilson Adjustable. I shoot different loads all the time and the point of impact changes dramaticly. Same bullet, same gun, different powder the POI will shift 2 inches left. Thats in my 9mm between tight group powder and power pistol powder. My .45 isn't too much difference. I prefer all my guns to be sighted in POA=POI at 25yds. Then no matter what gun I pick up they are all the same and only the midrange trajectory is different but not enought to matter.

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