Rear Sight slot width for Bullseye Shooting

This is a follow-up on a discussion I was involved in earlier, regarding the slot width on my Les Baer Premiere II.  I felt the standard rear sight was good for my eyes, but without exception most everyone in this forum strongly suggested I open up the width of the slot.

Two things happened since then.  The first, is I started practicing one-hand shooting.  Ouch!  That made what everyone in this forum said very sensible.  Holding the gun that far out in front of me, there is just a narrow slit on either side of the front sight.  Since this is the Bullseye forum, I'm guessing that the people telling me to open up the slit were one-hand shooters.  For one-hand shooting, I now agree with what they wrote.

The second thing, is I got to wondering about the sights on my Model 52.  I need to measure the slot and the front sight, so I can give precise dimensions, but to my eyes, the rear sight on the M-52 is even narrower than the one on my Les Baer.   My sight picture on the M-52 (shooting two handed) looks almost identical to what I see with the Baer.


Does this mean that all of you who shoot a M-52 one-handed have opened up the rear sight on that gun?  And if so, since the gun was made specifically for Bullseye shooting, why didn't S&W provide it that way from the factory?  ...or was it available with a different rear sight?   I'm not trying to argue, I'm just confused.

its a personal preference. 

I'm not sure if S&W offered different thickness front sights or rear sight notches. Target pistols used in the Olympic disciplines have changeable front sight widths  and well as adjustable rear sights in notch width and depth.

I like a wider notch cause its less distracting for me. I just dislike the one that give super thin amounts of white. The thinner amount of white may be easier to pickup slight alignment errors easier though.

The 52 may have been made with bullseye in mind but it is far from THE bullseye pistol. Dig through the forum and you'll see posts from Jerry describing the short comings of it.

On My Benelli 90 which I now use for 22 EIC matches, I recut the rear notch with a 3/16" chain saw file. This gave me a nice shallow U shaped notch that allows lots of light around the big blocky front sight. If you keep focus on the front sight, I believe your eye will naturally center things. This is coming from an old rifle shooter who shot in the days of iron sights. I wouldn't expect that most would want to attack their beautiful pistols with a chain saw file, but this is what worked well for my old eyes.

Jim

It's impossible for the factory to make "the perfect bullseye gun".  That would be like building the perfect GP race bike or kitchen layout.

What's right for you is just that & would probably drive me nutz.  They can only try to get something in the middle of the road, then it's up to you to make it "right".

New to the site but found this interesting. I might have to buy some chainsaw files.

Rear Sight slot width for Bullseye Shooting

 by mikemyers on Thu Oct 05, 2017 2:02 am
This is a follow-up on a discussion I was involved in earlier, regarding the slot width on my Les Baer Premiere II.  I felt the standard rear sight was good for my eyes, but without exception most everyone in this forum strongly suggested I open up the width of the slot.

Is it possible this is at least partially due to failing eyesight due age.
I'm 73, and my eyes worked great until about 2 yrs ago.
Bottom line is I am curious as to the average of BE shooters on this site.

Twobe1 wrote: New to the site but found this interesting. I might have to buy some chainsaw files.

When you care enough to file on your best pistols.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6pcs-Mini-Files-Set-Metal-Filing-Rasp-Needle-File-Wood-Tools-Hand-Woodworking-/381940709124?epid=527920003&hash=item58ed70b704:g:NngAAOSw-0xYi6mX

If you plan to take a file to your sights, you want a safety file that will cut on only one side so that you do not inadvertently deepen the notch. You can use a grinder to grind off the teeth on one edge. You will also want a set of dial calipers to measure things so that you have an idea of how much you removed. 

I would not use chainsaw files for this. But I do not like a U shaped notch. I prefer a square notch of the right width and depth.

When I bought my Pardini, included were 6 different sight blades that the previous owner had tried while searching for the right sight picture. None of them worked for me, and I bought an adjustable rear blade from Pardini that allowed me to control the depth and the width with a 1.27mm allen wrench.

I notice that none of the posts about the width of the rear sight slot actually give any concrete advice.

I am one of those shooters that likes to have a 'reason' for doing something about my very important sight picture.  I used a very wide front sight and a very narrow rear sight.  This gave a small window of light on each side of the front sight.  I cut my front sight the same apparent size as the bull.  That gave me a reference right/left.  The amount of light was thin on each side.  I aimed at the bottom of the black for sight clarity.

After years of doing this with Bullseye/International, I tried to widen the rear sight.  I eventually chose a rear notch that provided enough white space so that the black front sight was 2/3rds of the rear notch.  I chose 2/3rds because of the 'golden ratio' that your brain finds comfort with.  This allows plenty of light, yet gives me the 10's and score that I needed.  I seldom had fatigue with my eyes focusing and the 'centering' if the front sight was automatic.

Just offering some advice.

I prefer my front sight image to be about equal in width and height.  Height meaning the depth of the rear notch.  My theory with the square front sight is that it is easier to line up square things (front sight and notch, forget the bull for now) just like concentric circles.  High Standard did me a favor when they deepened their rear notch.  Call me different if you like.

The ideal light cracks width needs to be enough to easily define the front sight for your vision quality, and the lighting conditions.  There is an ideal for specific conditions, and there is a good compromise for most variables.  In adjusting, a little bit goes a long ways.  The rear notch is like a window.  Is the window big enough to easily see the front sight but not too big that the light cracks over power the front sight image.



I used to use no lens for shooting.  Now I have to have glasses to see the sight clearly, just like reading at arms length.  One day I went to the range to shoot some irons.  But I forgot my special lens glasses.  I shot anyway and did not do that bad fuzzy sights and all.  I adapted to the less than ideal conditions.