Front Sight Inserts

[Chief TC]

This is one topic that I have seen very little and read very little on. And it’s never been included in an equipment list for published match results.

I guess I’m more curious than anything. But which front site insert do you all use? And does anyone know what most of the winners use? A little I have read it seems to be a mix of the post insert and some sort of front aperture insert. And I know people change them out based on conditions but I’m sure each shooter has a preferred insert. Thanks. Tom.

[Nuclearcricket]

I will start I guess, when I was shooting I played around with a number of inserts. Anything from a fine post, a slit, and a few others, what ever came in the assortment I gave a try. What seemed to work out best for me was a front aperture. Preferable with 4 wire support. That will give you orientation in both horizontal and vertical. The horizontal allows you to level up on the bank and the vertical allows you to line up on the correct animal if you have a miss or 2 and have to count over. You can hold low or high and count over to the correct animal and then center it up in the aperture.
YMMV
Sam

[ian45662]

I like round aperture type in the front. I like a fairly thick or heavy annulus so that I can focus on it. If the annulus isn’t heavy enough I can stack apertures in my Baldwin and Distant Thunder front sights. I use lollipop the most but have also used the cross wire. Size of the aperture itself will depend on the target and the conditions that I am shooting in.

[bobw]

I will start I guess, when I was shooting I played around with a number of inserts. Anything from a fine post, a slit, and a few others, what ever came in the assortment I gave a try. What seemed to work out best for me was a front aperture. Preferable with 4 wire support. That will give you orientation in both horizontal and vertical. The horizontal allows you to level up on the bank and the vertical allows you to line up on the correct animal if you have a miss or 2 and have to count over. You can hold low or high and count over to the correct animal and then center it up in the aperture.
YMMV
Sam

This+

[RB1Shooter]

I use a thin post with bead on top for chickens. When holding, I find my control is much finer than with the round aperture.

For others, I use large round aperture with 4 thin wires holding. I like the aperture thin though. I have recently tried a thick wire lollipop on my #1, 1873 Creedmoor, 2.1 and liked it very much.

Like many others, I have tried all the apertures that came with the card. I have found the cross haired aperture works well for shooting P/T/R on white animals but not black targets.






"There are no shortcuts in loading match grade, BPCR Silhouette ammunition."

[Chief TC]

Great responses everyone. Seems there is some consensus as well on how to adjust on the target with animals and color. I like and agree with a post/lollipop insert for chickens as I think that has somewhat of a component to using open sights. I wish I had the ability to shoot chickens open sights. Despite the weight and length of a Sharps, sighting with a vernier offhand is just difficult.

Also agree with white targets over black. I have a real hard time with black targets regardless of front sight selection.

I am definitely going to play more with the different sights. I think my mainstay will still be the smallest aperture but need other tools for other jobs. Lastly, not sure I like my MVA front globe sight on my Shiloh. I have a Lee Shaver Parker Hale on my Pedersoli that I think works much better for me.

[patchbox]

MVA makes a great sight; however, have a couple of rifles with the Lee Shaver Parker Hale sights and like those better than the MVA sights. One of the reasons I like the Lee Shaver sights is that I can stack inserts - I like the small aperture stacked with the thin crosshair insert.

[Chief TC]

Good idea, patchbox!

[Woody]

You can stack the inserts in MVA front sight too.

Woody

[RB1Shooter]

I like the Shaver from the aspect of bubble location and color. I find it much easier than my MVA or original Remington.

I opt for the large aperture for black P/T/R from the standpoint, I see the animal better. I found the smaller the aperature, the lighter and fuzzier the animal gets.

[doug_bailey]

I started with the crosshair, but switched to the circle and I think that works out better.

I don't like the level on the MVA sight - it's too slow and I tend to have to over twist the rifle to make the bubble move, then guess where to put it to center the bubble, then wait a while. I find myself ignoring the bubble because it's so irritating. I need a faster bubble, but I can't find an after-market source of small bubble level tubes.

[doug_bailey]

OK - I figured out the level. Since I complained about the MVA sight level, I decided to check it out, measure it and see if I could find a replacement online. I removed it and discovered that it's bent. There's a dot on the convex side, so I assume that it's intentionally bent, and I'm guessing that the dot should point up. Maybe that's why it's been so irritating - if the dot was down or flat, then the bubble was not getting any help to be stable.

[TAA]

For use of a front aperature and a black or red bull as the aiming point.

A good friend told me that the imaginary horizontal center line should be divided into thirds. The width of that line divided into equal width thirds. The LH and RH third of each area (equal widths) and the bull the other third. This has worked for me. Depending on the age of your eyes, a common (but different) approach is to use too small of an aperture. This makes it difficult to guage the relationship of the areas on each side of the bull to the bull itself.

This topic now has me looking for a crosshait insert for my Baldwin fron sight assembly.

Tom