Does anyone produce a tritium bead for an express sighted rifle? Seems like it would be the cat's meow for a DGR... Why or why not?

Aaron

Try a red fibre optic one mate. They work a treat!

no doubt the fiber optic sight works well... how about low light followup in heavy bush at dusk? I think Tritium would be better... obviously not because I cannot find anything on the net about it.

Tritium works well in no light but only then. A fibre optic picks up light in low light conditions...... if you do a follow up in the dark, you have light of some kind, if only from a good headlight and the fibre optic picks that up.

I'd recommend tritium for a handgun and a fibre optic for a rifle.

I've often wondered if a flip up front tritium sight similar to that on a Yugo AK couldn't be incorporated into a rifle front sight.

tritium glows at night, is just a white color in the day. might be alright if you're hunting DG at night. even at dusk it offers no advantage, i have it in several handguns, but just haven't had any reason to shoot when i can't see anyway

You may have to get a tritium pistol front sight and adapt it to an existing front sight. You could probably find one that is dovetailed and cut a dovetail into the front sight ramp.
Getting the sights to regulate is another matter.

The problem is finding a damn tritium capsule that is big enough to see. The XS Big Dot would be a good compromise combination of a white front bead with a tiny tritium capsule.

The do-gooders must be keeping the capsule so small that it has to be damn near pitch dark before they can be seen.

Buy a bunch of front sights and cut and paste to make a big one!

This is all making sense... fiber optic must be the best for the purposes I am thinking about... as long as they are rugged enough...

SAFARIKID had a 600 Overkill (Tembo he called it) with tritium in the front sight, but he sold it. Maybe PM him for more info?

I always thought a fiber optic sight with a flip-up night bead w/tritium center would be cool...

I've tried a fairly wide variety of foresights over the years and reckon the red fibre optic to be the best of all of the one I've tried by a mile......... Although I have to say, I wonder if it's possible to put a tritium element into the bottom of or underneath a fibre optic to get the best of both worlds......

As for breaking I usually get about 2 years of use before they break and I keep a spare in the stock.

from my limited experience I would go with fiber optic. as a matter of fact my 458 is getting a new fiber front sightas soon as i get it to gunsmith. had my first experience with fiber sights in Uganda a was amazed at how well your eye pickup the sight

The most savy advise I have ever received was given my Butch Searcy when I was ordering a 470 double, He said, "A double rifle or any gun for that matter should fit like a good guail gun so you can point and shoot and you acutally would not have to have sights."

33 years of Law Enforcement, 20 years as a law enforcement firearms instructor and 10 years as a SWAT Member/Instructor and Sniper Instructor has shown me over and over again he is correct with the only exception being Snipers.

Daytime or nightime it does not make any difference; Close Quarters Battle (CQB) is CQB no matter if it is a 2 or 4 legged adversary point and shoot and everything else is bullshit.

When the battery fails, one or more vials crack and your tritium type night sights fail your fiberoptic has no or not enough light or any sight gets broken, bent or completely knocked off your screwed BIG TIME.

Talk to guys who have had this hadden in a read fight and they will tell you one of two things happen...you freeze up i.e. "you go black" or you revert to INSTINCTIVE SHOOTING...and that is the purest form of POINT AND SHOOT.

BASIC, SIMPLE, NO GIMMICK SIGHTS will serve you best because you are using your instinctive shooting ability-PERIOD.

I'd certainly agree that a good rifle should fit like a good guail gun so you can point and shoot and you acutally would not have to have sights.

But from my experience of being close to wounded big n uglies and having to put them down quickly and permanently, those red fibre optic foresights make all the difference in the world in the time it takes to get a shot or shots off accurately and very quickly.

I'll also say that with all due respect, shooting people has got bugger all similarities with shooting the big n uglies..... I'm not suggesting one is more macho or harder or easier than the other, just that they are totally different from each other.

OH YEA, lazer lovers...if you know you will always be alone--maybe it will have a psychological effect on an adversary but if you don't practice without the "light" same deal.

You want to see something REALLY FUNNY? At least funny if your just training. Have a team or just a bunch of guys do a dynamic entry with lazers on their weapons and see what happens...I'll tell ya it's like a bunch of monkey's "loving" tha proverbial football. Who's dot is who's--ya can't tell! To complicate matters--and this is very real-add flashing lights, or smoke, gas, fog, rain or any other element that will work a a prism and your lazers will be defused or refracted. Your only getting half the story in the ad where they show perfect day and night conditions, that's not the way thing generally happen in the real world even if your in your own home. MURPHY is alive and well-unfortunately.

If every setting were as perfect as the commercial that's cool but I'll tell ya if you don't practice you'll wonder where the hell the dot is cuz you will be shaking so bad you'll have a tough time keeping it on target.

Practice, Practice and Practice some more and Point Shoot and you will be confident and good to go! Rifle, Pistol or Shotgun-Promise.

Thanks for the tip but I think my point and shoot ability and the pointability of my rifle is reasonably good already.

i WOULD RATE YOUR SHOOTING A LITTLE HIGHER THAN THAT steve BUT OF COURSE i HAVE ONLY SEEN YOU INSTINCTIVELY SHOOTING AT A CHARGING BUFFALO. WHILE YOU HAD MALARIA SO BAD YOU COULD HARDLY STAND The buff is on the karamoja hunt report posting you can see the holes about 2.5 inches apart in low light and raining not bad shooting for a knuckle dragger

AARON check brownells they have them

500fan
NO one said lazer or home entry take a pill and chill dude

Aaron,

I wouldn't bother with tritium on the rifle. By the time it's dark enough for the sight to light up, you can hardly see what your shooting at. Fiber optice would be a better rout to go, and don't worry they are plenty durrable.

quote:

Originally posted by Rhys:
Aaron,

I wouldn't bother with tritium on the rifle. By the time it's dark enough for the sight to light up, you can hardly see what your shooting at. Fiber optice would be a better rout to go, and don't worry they are plenty durrable.

You can put a light on a problem animal at night but it won't light up your front sight.

Any thoughts on export issues related to the regulation of nuclear materials?

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:

You can put a light on a problem animal at night but it won't light up your front sight.

Charles,

Here's how I do it: I tape a small Surefire to my barrel just to the side of the rifle fore end and in such a location as my thumb falls naturally on the on/off button at the back of the Surefire..... that way, I can flash the Surefire on and off as I need to and the light shines where the rifle points.

I wear TWO headlights. One (above my non master eye)is very bright and shines where I look and the other (above my master eye)is a fairly dim, white light LED which is set up to illuminate the foresight of the rifle when it's in my shoulder and ready to shoot.

My head tracker carries my Surefire Kroma set to blue light function so he can see the blood easier and the other tracker carries either a spotlight and battery or an ordinary torch. (Flashlight to you Americans)

It works for me.

Damn Steve, the big n uglies must feel like they're in the opening scene from the original Terminator movie!

Mate, as long as they feel the bullet from my .500 ripping into their central nervous system before I feel their claws/teeth/horns ripping into me, I don't give a flying fuck whether they see any similarity with the Terminator.

If there's one thing I've learned in my 30 years of hunting Africa it's that there are no second chances and it pays to be prepared and willing to take any and every advantage possible.

I for one don't believe in all that 'give them a chance to decide how they die' bollocks!

dam Steve don't hold back tell use how you really feel!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quote:

Charles,

Here's how I do it:

I knew you had a system for lighting it up, but most clients with fiber optic beads do not rig up that way, and my post was for them.

Or maybe I just think the option of a tritium bead would be cool.

Charles,

Anyone, whether they be PH or client who goes out there without good light is not only wasting their time but also unnecessarily risking their neck big time.

If you can't see where you're shooting and what you're shooting at you shouldn't be out there.

That said, if someone wants to try tritium, I'd say go for it but I'd recommend they try it on something other than dangerous game to see if it works for them.

More death-defying tales from the dark side.

What did John Boy say?

"White bead front sight, all the rest is marketing and bullshit." Paraphrasing maybe.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Charles,

Anyone, whether they be PH or client who goes out there without good light is not only wasting their time but also unnecessarily risking their neck big time.

If you can't see where you're shooting and what you're shooting at you shouldn't be out there.

That said, if someone wants to try tritium, I'd say go for it but I'd recommend they try it on something other than dangerous game to see if it works for them.

Most guys have a light, but maybe they don't all tape it to their rifle to light up the fiber optics they may have. After all, it is not that common to have to follow up something nasty with open sights in the dark.

But then, I am no expert.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
More death-defying tales from the dark side.

What did John Boy say?

"White bead front sight, all the rest is marketing and bullshit." Paraphrasing maybe.

Maybe?

Charles,

The Surefire taped to the barrel doesn't light the foresight. The Surefire is to point where the rifle points so you can see what's coming.

The LED headlight illuminates the foresight.

Will,

John boy and anyone can else can use what they like....... I'll stick to my red fibre optic foresight.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Charles,

The Surefire taped to the barrel doesn't light the foresight. The Surefire is to point where the rifle points so you can see what's coming.

The LED headlight illuminates the foresight.

Will,

John boy and anyone can else can use what they like....... I'll stick to my red fibre optic foresight.

Sorry I mangled the process. It's been a long week. I should have said most guys take one decent light but do not necessarily have it arranged to illuminate their front sight.

It has been said I'm a bit of a gadget freak but either way, I find that having the right tools for the job and being properly set up to eliminate as many possible errors beforehand works for me.

I was taught to be cautious.

remove the word gadget from that and it would be a truer statment your 500 seams like the right tool for you even if the bolts on the wrong side.
I would like to see if yo can shot when you don't have Malaria

Steve-just a bit of fun. Reading through your list of lights made me think of that scene, but I understand completely

Would it be possible to mill a groove below the fiber optic sight rod and insert a tritium capsule? Should produce enough of a glow to see the fiber optic bead in the dark.

quote:

Originally posted by 86thecat:
Would it be possible to mill a groove below the fiber optic sight rod and insert a tritium capsule? Should produce enough of a glow to see the fiber optic bead in the dark.

It has been done.

Judging by the amount of light I get from my tritium watch I wonder if a tritium element would give enough light to illuminate the foresight sufficiently. I'd have thought a small LED would do a better job if there was a way to supply it....... both would be worth a try though.

An LED would work, you'd just have to rig up a battery.

Easy fix to all of this. Aimpoint Micro, mounted on the front receiver ring.

I have a the same red bead on my 500 jeffery and its the ducks guts as they say!! I have hunted buff with it a couple of times in changing light and it was the best thing I ever did changing from a brass bead