Black On Black On Black

[JLB-US]

While I notice some people from different types of competition using fiber-optic or other bright sights, It seems quite few mention using regular black Hienie sights front and back to good effect.

My question is that are these folks using plain black sights against standard black silloutte targets? When shooting these I would assume a brighter front at least would be helpful, or am I missing something???

[Loves2Shoot]

In IPSC you don't shoot the black targets. The problem I see with fiber optic sights is that most people look at the fiber and not the top of the sight, which is fine for closer targets, but causes problems when fine accuracy is required. Serrate the front sight and it is easy to see.

[JLB-US]

Thanks Loves2Shoot,

Black front sights on black targets never worked very quick for me, but can see where it would show up nice on the IPSC target.

Thanks for the tip on the fiber optic as well.

[eerw]

I found over the last year or so..that i shoot a black front sight as fast and a little more accurately than a FO front sight.

The FO is easy to spot..but my shot placement is better with a serrated black front sight.

IN USPSA/IPSC you are not shooting at a black silohette target..so being able to pick out the sight against your background is not that difficult.

the best thing to do is to try both and experiment..see which you shoot better

Edited January 11, 2006 by eerw

[wsimpso1]

Brian advocates (you have picked up and read a copy of his book, haven't you?) using white paper plates as practice targets. I now believe in it. Sight alignment is a clean doable thing that we must do to shoot well. The black front sight within the black notch is conceptially clear and unambiguous. But if you were to try to put it on the center of a black target, well, it is tough to do quickly, just where it is on the target is hard to tell, the alignment becomes obscured, and (this is important) you have trouble watching the sights in recoil and recovery.

As far as we have all been able to tell, learning to go from good sight picture and trigger release to the next sight picture, and then learning how to do it at Warp Speed REQUIRES that you see the sights through much or all of recoil and recovery. This is what builds smoothness and accuracy, and speed grows from smoothness and accuracy. If you set up your training situation to make following the sights harder, you hinder this learning. If you put sights on a black background you will lose them as soon as recoil disturbs the sight picture. You do not want to get used to losing the sights in recoil.

With a white background, you stack the deck in your favor for seeing the sights. This also gives you something to help bring the sights back to the middle of the target. The white center on the standard target trains you to bring the sights to the center of the target. And when you get to the point where ripping the paper plate apart without losing many shots onto the rest of the target, you will have the high percentage score that is essential in all action and practical shooting sports.

Billski

[Clay1]

For shooting bullseye type target many competitors use a 6 oclock hold to get away from the black on black issue. Think of the 6 oclock hold as a pumpkin on a fence post type of sight picture where the front site just touches or even leaves the smallest of a thin line of white target below the bull and between the front post. The eye can discern very small increments in elevation changes with this type of hold on bullseye targets. For IPSC I use a center hold.

[Ted Murphy]

I went to a event that had a dueling tree that was black. With my black sights, I had a lot of trouble until the paint was shot off the plates. Made me want to get a FO for things like that.

One guy used a CTC laser with good effect.

Ted

[JLB-US]

Good stuff thanks again all.

My problem is that I work for a Parole Office and our qualifications are done on Black B-27 targets, wanted to use same gun for obvious reasons.

Maybe paint front sight with brihgt color for qualification and carry, and take off paint for competition???

Edited January 12, 2006 by JLB-US

[Loves2Shoot]

...or you could just a spray on sight black for competition and wipe it off when you are done.

[Matt Cheely]

...or you could just a spray on sight black for competition and wipe it off when you are done.

+1

I shoot PPC with a 686 that has all black sights. When there isn't a time constraint as in IPSC, the black on black on black works good for being precise.

Anything other than black and I don't seem to get the same consistant alignment. The sight black will make your sights considerably darker than the black target.

[JD45]

This is a true story. After all of the talk about going back to black sights on the forum(last year), I made mine black and went to a match. It was a "theme" match. All of the IPSC targets were painted black!

It was tough, but I didn't shoot much different than usual. I did repaint a tiny white dot on the front sight. This seems to help when I lose alignment in early morning sun and shadows.

[Steve Moneypenny]

I was going to speculate that you were shooting B27's i've ran into them a lot with teaching police and other agencies that use it for a qualifier target.

For my sights i run black on black almost exclusively but i found i had problems getting it to stand out indoors. I've played with fiber optic but always lose them... here are a couple of suggestions that might help.... First never be afraid to do something to help you see.. i would have painted that sight white on match day... a bottle of white out.. red finger nail polish.. anything will work... even spay paint (cut a slit in a piece of cardboard and put it over the sight to keep from painting your gun)

My favorite is a serrated sight with one serration or 2 filled with white paint making 2 lines kind of like the inverse of ]|=|[ if that makes sence but the 2 lines closer the top of the sight... it served me well in quite a few black target situations.

Hope that helps. Never be afrait to experiment a can of sight black and your back to black

[Flexmoney]

Shooting matches in the hills of Rayner's Range and Taylor's Paradise, I have shot targets in varying amounts of back ground, shade and lighting. Some steel blends in, some sticks out...depending on color and back ground (oddly, bright yellow steel is hard to hit...might draw attention from the sights?).

Anyway, I took my serrated Heinie front sight and drilled a small divot hole in them, then filled it with white paint (fingernail polish). I gives me a needed bit of contrast at times. (Kinda like a stock Glock sight, but smaller.)

Usually, however, I sight black over all that anyway. So, I end up with black on black. I do have a very small area at the top of the divot (serration or so big) that seems to be shielded from the sight black...so I always have at least a little contrast.

[Capri]

Try some liquid paper/correction fluid,blue or green works on both sights or front only,

when light condition's vary.