Fiber optic front sights are the next best thing after black coffee, but... Look here:



The darn things are so flimsy that if you just lean your rifle against the wall you may break them. I can't understand what's the point of designing such a fragile contraption to be put at the end of the barrel of a hunting rifle!

After brekaing the third *&%$#@ one, and not finding anything sturdier on offer, I decided to make one that could actually do the job.

I took a Patridge sight, 0.1"/2.5mm thick, filed it to height, drilled it 0.04"/1mm along the ridge, filed a notch in it, stuck a piece of fiber optic rod in the hole, and here it is.



This one (and its brother, made one for both my iron-sighted rifles) has successfully beaten lots of stuff without breaking. Had to replace an insert once, but that's all.

Philip

Now that is a robust sight. Well done.

That's what hoods are for.





KB

I hate those fiber optic sights because in the sun they provide one picture and in the shade another.When I was shooting metallic silhouette my S&W M29 at 50 yds had a two click difference on the sight depending on the light !!!
I now longer have fiber optic sights ,I'm a happy guy !

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
I now longer have fiber optic sights ,I'm a happy guy !

+1

I have used them on several rifles for several years over many months in the field.

I haven't managed to break one yet.

I wonder what I'm doing wrong?

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I have used them on several rifles for several years over many months in the field.

I haven't managed to break one yet.

I wonder what I'm doing wrong?

Are you using a sight hood?

quote:

I haven't managed to break one yet.

I wonder what I'm doing wrong?

You probably never allow any of the camp staff within ten yards of anything, this being the minimum safe distance beyond which some incredible feats of mind-over-matter start manifesting themselves. Uri Geller is a kindergarten kid, with his bent spoons... You should see what they can bend!

KB, hoods are great, if you haven't lost them (I lost all the CZ hoods I ever had), and if there is one on your sight to start with. I had no hoods at hand, but had various front sights to play with. No gunsmithing shop within 2 or 3 thousand miles too... And protective devices are no excuse for weak design.

Mete, I never noticed any difference in picture besides the fact that the sights can be seen in the shade, against a dark silhouette that may get much closer in no time.
Also, you can see them very clearly at dusk, almost till dark. But then, these particular sights are quite coarse, meant for fast work at close distance, not 1/2-a-minute groups at 300 yards.

I still regularly pop baboons at 100 yards+ with them.

Nice sight, but kind of useless to me. Everything I own has a scope as the primary sighting system. Only one of my rifles, a M70 .375 H&H, has iron sights and they're strictly as a backup. In the off chance that the scope breaks I'll have another one zeroed one in the talley QD rings. If both of them break and I have to resort to the iron sights then the big white metal bead will have to be good enough until I can get the scopes fixed. What I'm saying is that since iron sights are strictly a backup for me and there's a 99.5% chance they'll never get used anyway, having a fiber optic bead isn't very important, at least not for me.

Philip,
I didn't at first notice that you are in Africa. I'm sure that makes a difference in available gunsmiths and parts. I can see how hoods are easy to lose. I don't have to worry about camp staff.

The way your sight is made has a "hood", of sorts, or cover to protect the sight. It appears that on both rifles, mine and yours, that the fiber optic is the primary sights. The hood on my sight helps to center the sight in the ghost rear sight. The rear is a NECG sight for clamping onto a Ruger receiver. With the appeture removed it provides a ghost ring of sorts, but the vew isn't round. It's kinda U-shaped. The front hood has daylight around it, when viewed through the rear sight, which helps to give the illusion that the unit as a whole is round, and it serves like a ghost ring.

This is my only rifle so far which I don't intend to use a scope as the primary sight. It is intended for use in the dark timber and rain forests, for close in use "against a dark silhouette that may get much closer in no time".

I have another rifle in progress. It's a CZ 550 medium action, and NECG sells a really neat ghost ring sight to fit it.

KB

quote:

NECG sells a really neat ghost ring sight to fit it

Like this one?






I see that we may share some common interests!

Yes, like that one.

I don't understand why they don't make one like that to fit the Ruger receiver.

Ruger has come out with a scout rifle, which has a good set of sights.

http://www.ruger.com/products/...tRifle/features.html click on "accurate sighting system" to see both front and rear sights.

I have no idea if that rear ghost ring will be available as a seperate part. Also, I can't tell if it will work with something like a factory 375 or 416 Ruger - whether it will match up with the front sight properly.

KB

That peep sight is manufactured by ERA-Recknagel in Germany. They do have one for Ruger M77 on their catalog (download at http://www.recknagel.de/Joomla/), although it looks different from the CZ peep (more like a Lyman-type aperture).

Maybe you can order it through NECG.

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I have used them on several rifles for several years over many months in the field.

I haven't managed to break one yet.

I wonder what I'm doing wrong?

Are you using a sight hood?

Yes.

When I installed a fiber optic front sight it looked a bit fragile so I mixed up some clear 5 minute epoxy and spead a bead of it along the bottom of the fiber optic and sight insert bass. It added substancial support and did not effect the fiber optics light gathering capability. Easy to do also.
Best.

Philip, What happens is that they glow !! The S&W M29 orange insert would glow brightly and what you did without realizing it was to lower your barrel so you could see the target.In the shade you didn't have the problem.
Another solution for poor lighting is to have a front sight that is black with a silver stripe in the center .I have that on one of my rifles.

Mete,

With my ghost rings, I set the sights "dot on point of aim", i. e. the fluorescent bead goes where you want the bullet to go, not just below the bullseye like for target shooting. That's probably why I never noticed any difference with the changing light.

Again, these are fast sights, not fine sights.