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Time to share some Iron Sight discoveries


CHA-LEE

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I still have not heard anything back from the Front Sight people. I am thinking that my e-mail went into the "Spam" folder or they simply didn't find it worthy of the Magazine. I will try sending it again and see what happens. I find it hard to believe that it would take more than a year to get an article into the magazine.

They need content. That is what I was told at a BOD meeting.

[ETA] is sent an email to watch for an article on "Iron sight Discoveries."

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I still have not heard anything back from the Front Sight people. I am thinking that my e-mail went into the "Spam" folder or they simply didn't find it worthy of the Magazine. I will try sending it again and see what happens. I find it hard to believe that it would take more than a year to get an article into the magazine.

Looks like an article that would be good for Blue Press as well.

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Great article. It is very informative and shows that you put alot of time and effort into finding the right sight combination for your eyes and shooting style. It certainly should help anyone trying to come up with the right sight combination. I shoot in contacts with ImpactX Photo Clear lens in my Rudy Project Noyz Stealth glasses unless it is an extremely bright day. I change to Rydon frames with the Racing Red lens on extremely bright days to cut down on glare so I don't squint. Thanks for all of the information you have provided.

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  • 6 months later...

I have had a few shooters ask me about Iron Sights lately so I thought I would resurrect this thread.

By the way, I still have not heard anything from USPSA on this for making it an article in the Front Sight magazine. Gotta love that prompt action taken by the USPSA staff.

Edited by CHA-LEE
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  • 1 month later...

Cha-Lee, this one of the best articles that I have ever read on any forum. It is very informative to say the least. It opened my eyes to things that I would otherwise not pay attention to. I want to thank you very much for taking the time to write it and then sharing it with us. I also am in the same situation being 59 with tired eyes etc. Can you find the time to recommend specific sights/manufacturer and E-mail the information please. Again, thank you..............................

Pumagsd@yahoo.com

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Cha-Lee, this one of the best articles that I have ever read on any forum. It is very informative to say the least. It opened my eyes to things that I would otherwise not pay attention to. I want to thank you very much for taking the time to write it and then sharing it with us. I also am in the same situation being 59 with tired eyes etc. Can you find the time to recommend specific sights/manufacturer and E-mail the information please. Again, thank you..............................

Pumagsd@yahoo.com

I don't know if giving specific advise is going to be that easy. A lot of this is a self discovery thing. You need to pick some sight setups and test them out on your own to see what does or does not work. What sight manufacture you need to buy sights from greatly depends on the type of gun you are using. Dawson Precision makes a bunch of sights in varying sizes for many different gun types so maybe it makes sense to start there? If you have "Tired Eyes" then you should probably start with a "Bigger" sight picture setup. Such as a .105 wide front and .145 wide rear. Then have a .040 Fiber optic in the front sight. The hight of the sights greatly depend on the gun you are using so that will be pistol specific. But a univeral good thing is to have a rear notch that is deep enough to allow you to see the whole front sight.

I hope this helps and good luck in your voyage in finding the optimial sight configuration.

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  • 9 months later...

Guys and Gals-

I've put together an Excel spreadsheet that will show you your sight picture based on all the critical dimensions involved (front sight and rear sight dimensions, sight radius, arm length, etc). It also calculates the size of the front sight as a percentage of the rear notch, taking into account the way your eye is seeing it, and all the angles and distances involved. It's a handy program for anyone who wants to compare a current site package to a proposed sight package, or match their current sight picture on another gun.

Since I have a decent amount of work into this, I'll just ask that I control the distribution of it - I don't want money. Please PM with your E-Mail address if you'd like a copy of it, and if a friend wants a copy too, just ask them to PM me.

I hope this helps some people! It was a massive help to me in coming up with a sight package for my P226 and X5 A/R.

-Scott

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  • 1 year later...

CHA-LEE it has been awhile since you wrote this but it was of great value to me. It has been the most informative iron sight explanation I have read. Thanks it help me make a decision on sight options. I would have read it sooner but just actually stumbled upon this forum page within the last two months or so. I also trust your words because I have seen you apply it at matches.

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CHA-LEE it has been awhile since you wrote this but it was of great value to me. It has been the most informative iron sight explanation I have read. Thanks it help me make a decision on sight options. I would have read it sooner but just actually stumbled upon this forum page within the last two months or so. I also trust your words because I have seen you apply it at matches.

I am glad that you liked my article and found some value in it. I re-read the article and still believe 100% of what I wrote. The only thing that I have changed in my own iron sight setup since then is to switch from a Neon Green to a Neon Orange fiber in my front sight. The Neon Orange is a little better in the less than optimal lighting conditions for me.

I e-mailed this article to the Front Sight people three times and never heard anything back from them. I always see them begging for more content to be submitted for the Front Sight, but continue to ignore stuff I submit. I may not be the best writer, or the best shooter, but I at least know what I am talking about from experience. I guess a no name chump from Colorado isn't popular enough to grace the pages of the Front Sight. Their loss.

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Charlie: As I am coming back to shooting iron sighted guns I am finding that I need a wider front sight as well. The standard 0.115" rear notch and 0.100" fiber front sight width on a 5" 1911 is not working as well as I thought it should. I am going to try a 0.110" Dawson fiber front sight to see if that helps. I like the front sight to sit a little lower than you at 0.160" instead of the standard 0.180" that you like. Although on a 6" gun I like the taller 0.180". For me and my older eyes I like the green fiber dulled down with some break clean. It is bright but not too bright. Charlie you are no chump but a Panda in GM shoes! Thanks, Eric

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for all the work you put into this article! I found it very useful as I'm going from a Glock 24 to an STI 5". I'm going to try a .90 front and leave my rear sight as is (.115).

I've done a lot of experimenting with fiber vs black, and found I prefer black, serrated.

Any thoughts on ramped vs partridge, though?

Thanks again!

Edited by pries81
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Pries81> I have tried front sights with a straight front surface and ramped. Both surfaces front surfaces were serrated. The ramped front sight seemed to pick up more light on the serrations than the flat front version in varying lighting conditions making it look more pronounced than the rear sight. When shooting black on black iron sights this could help in pulling your attention to the front sight. The brightness of the front sight needs to be balanced with the rear sight as well. I always had the best of luck with a front/rear sight setup that had the front sight more pronounced than the rear.

One thing that I found out quickly is that front sights that do not have serrations on the front surface can dramatically change their "brightness" in varying lighting. Light can reflect off of the flat surface of a non-serrated front sight and become very pronounced and look gray in color verses the normal black it should be. I always try to pick a front sight configuration that is resistant to changing how pronounced it is in varying lighting conditions.

In the end it comes down to the lighting conditions you are shooting in most of the time. I wish there was a "one size fits all" sight setup for the varied lighting conditions that we can shoot in, but that isn't the case. All yo can do is pick a setup that works decent in a range of lighting conditions you will normally be exposed to.

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  • 3 months later...

CHA-LEE I have switched both the guns I run for USPSA and 3Gun from the tritium I use at work to ramped serrated fiber optic front and serrated black rears and couldn't be happier. I would still be trying to decide what I wanted if it wasn't for your article to help push me in the right direction. Thanks again.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

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The last few years I have really struggled with seeing my sights in poor lighting conditions. Some shooters suggested I try some prescription glasses with a small amount of plus offset. After some testing with different magnifications I settled on +0.50 prescription in both eyes and it has worked awesome. This small offset brings the sights in focus without making the targets at distance too blurry.

The interesting thing with this is that my eyesight is perfect both close and far without correction. The thing that has suffered is my ability to quickly focus from far to close, which in turn keeps me from seeing my sights properly as I transition between targets. The prescription glasses basically force my eyes to focus on my sights so I don't have to battle the far to close focus delay.

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I have a similar problem. I put a piece of metal through my right eye. Being right eye dominant and shooting that way for many years I had to learn how to shoot left eye dominant. The only way I can see my sights clearly with my right eye is to wear a bifocal. The bifocal throws off my depth perception off when I move.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

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I too have found the same results a year or two ago. Ive come to the idea that .30 thousands or so, difference between the front and rear seems to work well for me.

I can see the arrays and still come back to focus on FS just as i break the shot.

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  • 2 months later...

Great information. Thank you.

A pt.2 to this discussing Target clarity would be interesting as well. I'm sure it has been covered somewhere on BE but what is more important - Clear sight picture or clear target? My 46 year old eyes have trouble with both so my opinion won't matter much...

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