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To Fiber Optic Or Not To That Is The Question


Jasonub

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Hi guys,

I want to ask if top shooters use fiber optic sights or not. Why and why not?

Most tapes I see, barnhart, jarret etc shooting with iron sights have the black on black sights. Why is this? Is there a scientific reason or just a preference?

thanks for the info :D

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There is really not much of a question in my mind, because for me it is a ton easier to pick up the fiber optic (green) with my vision. I think it is one of those thing you have to try for yourself. It also makes shooting on hard cover targets and through black soft cover easier for me.

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I love the simple black on black targets when shooting in daylight conditions because it is quick and uncomplicated. In low light that black front sight just kind of disappears so a fiber optic is better. Since most of my shooting is at night under lights I chose the fiber for my limited gun.

-ld

ps - I am by no means implying that I am a top shooter! :) I just happen to have gone through the same dilema recently.

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It's mainly a matter of being able to see what you need to see.

At the European championship in 2001 they had plenty of bobbers, turners, pop-ups and movers. The problem was lack of contrast. These targets were very hard to see against the backstop. For me this resulted in far to many misses because looking at (finding) the targets made me "loose the front-sight".

After mounting a fiber-rod those problems disappeared. (Now it's just not taking the time, trying to be to fast.)

Red or green doesn't matter to much. Most of my shooting is indoors. I did choose the red type. Outdoors it looks great, but I try to keep the dot at the small side. Indoors it is usually visible, but not always. Then it simply turnes into a black post.

Maybe I would need to try some more green and yellow.

John

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The vast majority of my shooting is done in very bright light conditions. I have been using a small (Caspian) fiber front sight for about two years. Recently I started shooting a revolver in IPSC with a good old Patridge front sight sprayed with sight black. In bright light I really do prefer the black sights.

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The big dogs I have seen don't seem to use them. I ask a GM I know and he said he gets a cleaner sight picture. Some one said TGO uses one for up close stuff and sight blacks it for distance, but that is second hand. I really like the fiber because I have better focus point when I return to the front sight form the target.

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Switching to a fiber optic sight was the single best thing I ever did to improve my shooting in this sport. Old eyes, new sport, I did alright until my splits got into the teens then “where did that front sight go?”

I use an EGW, green, small dot that’s not too bright (kind’a like my brain!) that didn’t overpower the sight picture on bright days but made it MUCH easier to keep track of the FS with the “hoser” stuff.

Ed

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I haven't competed in over a year, so I'm really not "using" anything at the moment. But, if I were to set up some new sights, I'd have a fiber optic in the front, but I black it out in anything but poor visibility, like on a dark or rainy day for example.

As long as I can easily see the front post, I'd prefer to look for and at the front sight as a perfectly focused square, like a giant building silhouetted against the skyline.

be

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I guess using a fiber optic or not is a matter of what you have been trained to do.

I'll explain: if you have started shooting when fiber optic was not available, and you got accustomed to the square black silhouette BE refers, having a different sight picture might be quite distracting, and this is what I suppose to be the reason many top shooters do not use it.

On the other hand, if you are relatively new to this sport, and you don't have an extensive background of training with normal black sights, you may find easier and quicker to pick up that glowing dot on top of your post.

At least, this is what happened to me.

BTW, in my case, it helped a lot in the transition from shooting one-eyed to both eyes open. It simply attracts my focus faster.

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