Tell me about front sight elements

[tinbum]

More specifically, 18mm ones.

I have a pink(ish) perspex one with a 4.2mm hole. I have no idea if thats good, bad or indifferent!
A quick search has thrown up a myriad of options from £2.50 to £20 per element, pink, amber, centra, metal, glass, perspex all in a million different sizes.

Can anyone suggest a starter pack of type/size to suit informal target, plinking and occasional long range silliness?

Many thanks

[Rutty]

You are actually asking about the length of a piece of string. The size will vary according to the target being used, you personal "preference", shooting position and light conditions. That's before we start delving into ring thickness, colour or shape.

As a starting point, using the NSRA 89 Series targets you would normally expect the foresight size in the prone position to be in the range 3.6 - 4.0. It could be a little smaller or considerably bigger. For kneeling it would probably be .2 to .4 larger than for prone and the range for standing 4.0 upwards.

As far as elements are concerned, the Centra Hi-End Glass with a 1.3 ring thickness gives an excellent image. Don't bother about different shapes unless you have a really good reason to use one,

Rutty

[thisisdonald]

im interested in this as well.. are there any websites that tell the history of development of these sights or the reasons that they have been made this way - I mean, what are they for? how do they work? how can I make a judgement on which to select? I have a set of these for my new fwb300 and dont fully understand.

My initial musings are that it is similar to using different width foresights with a wide rearsight for pistol shooting - you pick an element with an aperture that gives gives you the view you want of the target ie, fully encircled, a wee bit of 'air' around the target, or a big bit of 'air' around the target, everything in between. ? ?

currently my 300 is set up so that I instinctively centre the rear dioptre sight around the front 'circle' insert and the black of the target presents itself inside the foresight circle with probably about 1/3 of the 'air' around it as the front sight element has in relation to the rear diopter... if that makes sense!!

I could do with a good webpage like pilkguns to explain it

[Rickenbacker]

4.2 sounds fine. Nice and big.

The biggest I have in a sexy plastic box of elements that came with my Diana 66 is 4.0 IIRC.

So that's the one I use.

[Clanchief]

Where is the sticky rookies guide to target rifles ?

Coz that's what I need

The reply to TB's post lost me,,,,,,,,,,,,

[thisisdonald]

Well... after examining my rifle and also trawling through the site and finding a great post by Zooma on the subject, I can maybe enlighten us rookies a bit.

The metal front sight elements and the perspex front sight elements are an either or choice you can make. The rear of the fwb300s globe (front) sight will accept metal sight elements, while the front will accept perspex elements. The perspex ones look like a floating circle, while the metal ones obviously have stems to support the circle.
In both cases the diameter of the circle can be changed by selecting a different sized element.
It would seem that sorting at 10m requires an element that allows you to see the whole of the black part of the target with a little white showing around its edge. If you select to small an element you won't be able to centre on the target.
At distances further than 10m or if you are using targets with a smaller diameter of black, you will want an element with a smaller diameter hole so you don't end up with too much white showing around the black, making you feel more wobble... each to their own I suppose.

The rear sight on my 300s has a non adjustable iris so it stays the same size unless I move my head or the whole sight.
In low light it looks as though there's something stuck in the rear diopter. But when I move to brighter light is totally clear - I guess that's where the coloured filter lenses come in to help with the contrast.

How this helps

[Clanchief]

I can see a nice little compact rifle scope or reflex unit going on the xmas list

[PhatMan]

Nick,

As I shake like a sh1tting dog when I shoot standing, I have found a 4.6mm insert, light pink, works well for me.

(The Russians found that the light rose colour was best as a result of some experiments they did in the 1960s - IIRC by Kalinichenko or Itkis ?)

As I have a large amount of astigmatism in my aiming eye, I have found recently that my group sizes when shooting from a rest (and without my shooting glasses) have been improved by using a post foresight - 2.6 mm in width.

In fact, for general use - informal target shooting, plinking, the post element would probably prove to be the most versatile.

Have a peek :

http://www.intershoot.co.uk/acatalog..._Elements.html

http://www.edinkillie.co.uk/ecatalog...s-c-44_49.html

Have fun & a good weekend

Best regards

Russ

[Nikkormat]

My experience of informal target and plinking from 10 to 50 metres with my FWBs...

I tried a post foresight and didn't get on with it.

I tried an eagle eye lens in the front sight, and found that it was okay for circular targets, but useless for plinking and anything that required holdover.

My 300S has a 3.8mm element, and it's okay. My 300S Junior has a 3.6mm, and it's good for corks at 25 metres. My 150 has a 4mm, and it seems to me the easiest to use for most purposes and at most ranges. I will probably replace the smaller elements with 4mm when I get around to buying a couple more.

Matt

[MTA123]

Fiddling with my Original 66 and HFT targets I found that the narrow pointed post was the best foresight. This was based on ease of holding over/under and giving windage. With a ring at the front my brain always wanted to line up the circles.

[thisisdonald]

This seems like a good enough time as any to show off my new gun with all its accoutrements!!
https://goo.gl/photos/X414UCckuqwBcGTx6

[tinbum]

This seems like a good enough time as any to show off my new gun with all its accoutrements!!
https://goo.gl/photos/X414UCckuqwBcGTx6

I covet your box of assorted perspex elements. Is that a sin?

[thisisdonald]

Only if you get in amongst it and soil the different sized holes ya dirty bugger!

[tinbum]

I finally got some quality time with Annie this afternoon. I printed some 10m target cards, sized some hobby pellets to 4.49mm and let fly.

What a cracker! I was shooting from a bench, outside in a blustery wind using one of those natty little bipod thingies that I managed to pick up. The first three shots were to see where I stood zero wise. One tiny little hole in the 8/9 ring at 6 o'clock dead! A little fannying around with the turret and it was dead centre all the time. I've been looking at variable iris's, different front apetures and all sorts of really expensive things, but these sights just work! For 10m there is really no need to change it, but I might buy a smaller front for shooting at 20m.

Now I just need to convince Mrs Bum to let me hole-punch Augusts accounts in the garden.