New England Custom Guns has an interesting See Thru Fiber Optic Sight available.

http://www.newenglandcustomgun.com

I was wondering if anyone is using these sights and what your thoughts and impressions are.

I have to admit it doesn't look that good but, as I understand it this is a really great iron sight system.

Any imput is appreciated.

Regards,
Dave

I shot an Echols Legend so equipped. To describe them in a word...Fantastic. Tom is right in that they won't win a beauty contest, but they don't look horrible eigther, and from a functional standpoint they are superb in every way.

It probably wasn't a bad thing that D'Arcy had put the rifle together eigther.

davidc. I was forced to shoot such a combination as you describe while in great pain from laughing so hard at such a rear sight,"a fool and his money", more hilarity. " They could have at least put screen across the openings to keep the bugs from flying through, maybe lodging in your eye" . The rear sight was the older version which had tritium dots on the sight vee bar- 1 below center. Front sight was Dieter's patent adjustable elevation ramp with the red laser bead. When the Rigby was stuffed in my face, I put it to shoulder looked around the stock and not finding the on button for the laser started the laughing all over agin. At the terse command to"Shoot the damned thing," I did. Big old blackened giant pine stump. Hard to see in the poor light of a non- typical non- blue sky gloomy afternoon. 110 yards out, the big root shoulder parted company from the stump through the effect of 400 grains of whatever solids Norma loaded in the ammo. More shots at various frequently targeted objects proved to me that you have an enhanced view of your target simply because you can see more of it. The fact that you saw enough utility in such a sight combination to post the question would indicate to me that you would not be disappointed in that selection. I can readily think of a lot of people who wouldn't be caught dead toting a rifle with such a set of sights and I was one of them. You should get the adjustable front sight to go with it. Loads get changed and you don't file the rear sight nor are they available in multiples- dress parade style.

C'mon Tom, tell us what you really think.

I have a set of these same open sights on my .375 H&H, which is an Echols-built custom Model 70. I'll have to admit, I was skeptical of the concept when D'Arcy first showed me a rifle set up with this system, but I went ahead and ordered it anyway, since I'm a rather traditional rifleman who loves to break with tradition on occasion, especially when there's constructive gain to be had as part of the bargain. As I soon found out, in this case there's everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose but outdated technology.

In practice, these are, without question, the most effective open sights I've ever used on a hunting rifle. They are far faster and easier to use than any other open sight system I've ever tried, and far more effective early and late in the day than "tradition" open sights could ever be. The skeletonized rear blade (island base) is of milled-steel construction, solid, rigid, non-folding, absolutely rugged and unmoving, and windage-adjustable only. You see so much more of the target with this skeletonized blade that the difference is nothing short of astounding.

The front sight (fiberoptic bead) is elevation-adjustable only and is housed in a simple, elegant, milled-steel ramp with a steel sight hood. The hood has milled ports which allow light in to activate the bead. It is, like the rear blade and base, simple, rugged, tasteful, and does away with the barrel-band ramp concept, which I personally loath.

As a test, when I first got the rifle I took it outside along with my my .458 Win. Mag. The .458 features a classic, African-traditional, shallow "V" rear sight, plus a 3/32" white bead up front. As good as those sights are and as time-proven as they are, I found that there was no comparison between the two systems, and in every way the skeletonized/fiberoptic sights were superior from every perspective of performance.


You do need both the front and rear sights to make this system work properly and to full advantage. On my rifle, Echols screwed the rear base as well as the front ramp to the barrel, plus soldered them in place. They'll be there for the duration, I suspect!

In case you're wondering, I have a Leupold 1.75-6X as my primary sighting instrument on this .375 H&H. Echols milled from raw stock (then heat-treated) bases to anchor the scope rings, which were built by Mr. Tom Burgess (system98) himself. With the scope removed, those open sights are perfectly visible above the scope bases, and you don't need to fidgit, fuss, arch the neck, open your mouth a smidge, or otherwise make any physical adjustment in order to use them. They are well-engineered all the way! They should work with, let's say, Talley scope bases just fine, and work perfectly with stocks that were designed especially for scope use. As a side benefit, there's less "shadowing" with these sights (when using a scope) than with more traditional open sights.

AD

Mr Burgess,

Thanks for the low down. I will have to drop by New England Custom Guns soon and have a look for myself.
From their website they recommend the Universal front sights and they look like they would compliment each
other very well.

I am most certainly a person that goes for utlity rather than looks every single time. If they work then
rest assured they will be used on both the rifles I want to have built.

To Quote you....

"The fact that you saw enough utility in such a sight combination to post the question would indicate to
me that you would not be disappointed in that selection."

Well I did get a great tip(!!!) and I like to think I am at least smart enough to take the advice of
someone who has vast experince and knowledge from which to draw.

Regards,
Dave