Hunting Sights

While shooting the last few days I noticed something. I have noticed it before but never asked. The stock sights on my Smith and Ruger revolvers are pretty good. But when you stretch it out to 50 or 100 yds the sights are way larger that the 10 rind I am aiming at. That makes placing the shot a bit harder. Does anyone use finer or narrower sights for the field? How do they work out for you? I have not seen any listed anywhere and don't know if they are even out there.....or if it is worth looking at.

I know old Skeeter liked his front sight 1/10" wide. What are your experiences?

Sights have always been a concern of mine. It seems a sight has to be fine tuned for your intended purposes. As with almost anything you don't get something without giving up something. The gun people make better sights for longer distances or target shooting versus hunting but there is trade offs. EXAMPLE- a good target sight will snag on a holster. Find a sight you like and make sure you can live with the disadvantages versus advantages.

I put Bowen target sights on nearly all of my single-action revolvers. Best rear sight out there as far as I am concerned. They maintain a similar profile to the factory rear sights so they don't hang up on anything.

I have the same problem with all my Ruger handguns as you do Mike.

Does anyone just make a basic brass bead front sight for the Ruger guns any more?

Like Whitworth,I frequently use the Bowen Target rear sight on my Rugers whether SA, DA, or .22 semi-auto. They are the finest sights available.

With regard to front sights, I prefer patridge or slightly undercut patridge blades. My holsters are made by a local craftsman, Scott Ledford, to accomodate these sights by molding room in the holster, which effectively acts like a sight track.

The standard Ruger SA front sight is about .121" wide, the FA width is .125".
I have tried .100 and .110", but for my eyes, the standard widths shown above work best, allowing less light on the side, and easier precise alignment for me. These are the widths I use for barrel lengths ranging from 4 5/8" to 10 1/2".

On the other hand, my New Vaquero has a .100 wide front sight and a 3.75" barrel, and with this shorter sight radius, the narrower front sight works fine for
me. People do see sights differently, and have different preferences in sight alignment. Despite the costs involved, you may just have to test different options to see what works best for you.

I will also mention that some Ruger rear sight notches have been a bit wider than others, with some old SRH white outline blades having the widest notches. If you can find one, this may give you another option for more light on each side of the front blade.

I went with the recommendation from the guys on here and put Bowen sights on my Ruger rebuild. I love em, and will ALWAYS have Bowen sights now. My front sight is a FA sight that has interchangeable blades. The one I have now is a brass bead, and it has worked the best for me. It is held in place by a set screw, and so far, seems to be tough as nails. Jack did an awesome job with the gun, and those sights were certainly worth the money.

You can check with Gary Reeder. I believe he still makes a brass bead front sight and a V-notch rear for the SRH, RH, and SBH Hunter models.

That's true. On his other custom guns, Gary mounts a FA base and uses the FA brass bead front sight blades. If the gun is to be blue/black, he finishes that stainless base in black chromex.

The way I read your question Mike, was you are aiming point blank at your 50 or 100 yard target and your sights are covering up your target, so you are unable to accurately shoot at that range.

If you shoot with both eyes open you can accomplish what you're trying to do but I think accuracy would suffer a little but the grouping would be a whole lot better than if shooting with one eye closed. For target shooting you need to take a 6 o'clock hold and you shouldn't have a problem, whether shooting with one eye or both eyes.

If your front sight is inter-changeable then you could have a gunsmith such as Dave Clements make you up a thinner front sight and you can always open up your rear sight if you feel there is a need to do so.

Years ago Bob Milek recommend cutting (thinning) the front sight to .100. So for the last 20+ years I've had all of mine cut to that thickness

What are the advantages to the Bowen rear sight and are you using the original front sight?

Yes, I was thinking of a thinner front sight. But I don't want the rear sight super wide letting too much light in. I can narrow the front sight myself. But finding a rear sight blank would be great as I could mate it to the front sight width accordingly. Anyone know of a place to get narrower rear sights for rugers(rh & bh) and smiths?

Mike,

Brownells and Midway both carry replacement blades for Smith rear sights. They do come in different widths and styles. I have not specifically looked for Ruger sights, but I suspect they carry them as well.

Craig

I will check them again. Didn't see anything when I glanced earlier.