Front sight width

Somewhat confused with the whole front sight business.  I shoot better with thinner front sight when use centerhold and shoot better with thicker front sight when shoot 6 o'clock or sub six o'clock.......    makes any sense ?

Yes.  It is all about amount of light coming through the visible side gaps and ability to distinguish black versus white background even it being blurry.  That in turn provides for ability to more accurate centering gun against desired PoA.
AP

Are you shooting one handed, or two?

Makes a HUGE difference in what you see.
The gaps get much thiner the further the gun is moved away from you. ....and vice versa.

One hand bulleye style shooting

I womp out the rear sight notch on all of my bullseye .45s. The stock sight picture is too tight for me.

When fine tuning  the front sight thickness , i found a thinner post, more daylight , was less accurate.  Ruger Mk1 5.5 bull barrel. 

The feinwerkbau 65 air pistol had an adjustable rear sight. Easly made the gap wider or tighter. Much easier  to experiment. 

6 oclock hold for me.

I have switched from center hold to sub-six. I would like to use a wider front sight and a wider rear notch.

Going with a thinner front sight has been my only option when light is really different.

It doesn't need to make sense to anyone but you.

I shoot Air Pistol frequently with adjustable rear and different widths front posts. I have experimented with different sight pictures, widths both rear and front and from observation and record keeping of scores, I find the following to be true and to produce the best overall scores:

1. Sub six hold is the way to go.
2. Front post should appear to be the same width or slighter small than the black width
3. Rear sight width should provide just enough light to frame the black clearly without the front post
    a. having more width and light does not necessarily produce better scores unless you can keep            the front sight in the exact middle of the light.
    b. if more rear width, more light,  the sun at different positions during the day with change POI

A lot of great info.  The only problem is LOL , is I STILL dont understand what SUB SIX O'CLOCK should look like.  For many years I often shot with my sights below the black bull with a small white line  of daylight between my sights and the bull. I always thought that that was 6 o'clock.   Still dont understand sub six o'clock.  ..

One thing not said is the front sight should be the size you need to "see" it.  Weak eyes need a bigger post to stay focused on it better.  Thats in width and depth (of the rear notch).   Lighting on the sight and target makes a difference too. 

Sheriff1962 wrote:A lot of great info.  The only problem is LOL , is I STILL dont understand what SUB SIX O'CLOCK should look like.  For many years I often shot with my sights below the black bull with a small white line  of daylight between my sights and the bull. I always thought that that was 6 o'clock.   Still dont understand sub six o'clock.  ..

I consider “sub-6” to having the sights a full bull diameter below the black. It replicates blank wall practice and gives a great background for the iron sights.

I see.  So what would You call a hold bellow the bull with a white line about the thickness of front sight between ?  I never tried sub six o'clock I guess.....

Used to be called “line of white”

It's weird I haven't seen pictures of most of these, but as I've experienced from top to bottom, the holds are:

Frame hold
Cover Black
Center hold
Pumpkin on a post
Six o'clock hold
Line of white
Sub six
Sub frame hold or low frame hold

Anyone can fix what I missed/messed up.

'Pumpkin on a post'

AKA, a 'flat tire' hold to rifle shooters.

WesG wrote:'Pumpkin on a post'

AKA, a 'flat tire' hold to rifle shooters.

Yep, that's the one!

john bickar wrote:I womp out the rear sight notch on all of my bullseye .45s. The stock sight picture is too tight for me.

I pay a gunsmith to do it, but most rear sights are too narrow for me too.

jmdavis wrote:

john bickar wrote:I womp out the rear sight notch on all of my bullseye .45s. The stock sight picture is too tight for me.

I pay a gunsmith to do it, but most rear sights are too narrow for me too.

My philosophy is that I'm just eyeballing them anyhow, so I just take a file to the rear sight. No need for micrometer precision on something that I'm just going to hold at arm's length with one hand and shake around like free candy day at the Chuck E. Cheese.

Most pistol shooters don't have a good enough hold to take advantage of a 6 o'clock, "line of white", or "flat tire" sight picture.

Yes, this means you.

The only pistol shooter I've ever known to use a 6 o'clock hold successfully was Daryl Szarenski, and he put in more hours on the range than probably 99.999% of bullseye shooters. He had a hold like a Ransom Rest.

If you're in the 99.999% like me, I recommend center hold or sub-six.

Center hold:


Sub-six:


Remember that you should be "area aiming" and shooting within your "minimum arc of movement" (or "wobble area") with a pistol. This ain't prone rifle - you're going to see movement. Smooth, aggressive trigger squeeze within your arc of movement gets the job done.

Center hold presumes you can focus on the front sight. My arms seem to be getting shorter by the minute.

WesG wrote:'Pumpkin on a post'

AKA, a 'flat tire' hold to rifle shooters.

If you're really shooting "flat tire", then I have a couple of ideas to get you out of the Marksman class. Provided you don't move to Texas first.

Wobbley wrote:Center hold presumes you can focus on the front sight.   My arms seem to be getting shorter by the minute.

I did say "or"!

I would recommend sub-six out of the gate for slow-fire-only disciplines (e.g., air pistol and free pistol). With sustained fire being such an important part of bullseye shooting, and this being a bullseye forum, I think center hold deserves equal, or probably more-than-equal, weight.

john bickar wrote:

Wobbley wrote:Center hold presumes you can focus on the front sight.   My arms seem to be getting shorter by the minute.

I did say "or"!

I would recommend sub-six out of the gate for slow-fire-only disciplines (e.g., air pistol and free pistol). With sustained fire being such an important part of bullseye shooting, and this being a bullseye forum, I think center hold deserves equal, or probably more-than-equal, weight.

I agree with You on Center Hold for timed a d rapid at 25 yards.