U notch sights

KYregular

KYregular

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2018
Messages
760
Just bought a new Springfield xdm elite 10mm with u notch sights. First time using those sights, I found my shots were going left of where I intended, not LOW left just left. I figured out that it is capable to have sort of a mirage when lining up the sights, which made it look correct when in fact the barrel was pointed slightly left (I wear contacts and sights are a little blurry) which doesn't help. Pulled out my P09 with square notch sights and everything was fine. Anyone else have similar issues?
 
I have a couple of guns with the U notch. Never noticed a difference in how they shot.

The top and sides of the sight are your alignment and are no different with either type. Maybe you just need to knock the rear sight a tad right?
 
I don't know if they are all like this but one Major Big Brand Name I shot, the U notch was deep, like they had cut a radius at the bottom of a regular square notch. It had a fibre optic front sight, giving a bright round aiming element. I tended to pull the round bead down into the deep round notch, which gave me low POI. It took hard concentration to get the top of the front post to the top of the rear notch like a Patridge sight, ignoring the round elements, but that is what it took to get correct elevation.
 
My new-ish SA-35 hi-power clone has the deep U rear sight like you are describing. It took me a magazine or two to get used to them, but once I did they shoot like my square notch fixed-sight autos do. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
Carl N. Brown said:
I have found my left and right eyes see the blade in the notch differently on my semi-auto pistols with open sights.
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I’m right handed but left eye dominant. So I have to turn my head to shoot. Or I can shoot left handed. Either way the gun has to be to the left of my nose. I shoot a rifle left or right handed as well. I shot left handed for years as a kid. So I have an unorthodox way of shooting.
 
One easy way to fight mirage on sights is to smoke them with a couple of matches. You will get them covered with a matte carbon soot, which eliminates most of the glare and it's easily wiped off.
P.S. It's a quick and easy solution to narrow down the causes of your POA shifting, not a suggestion for a permanent fix.
 
Yamifrk said:
I’m right handed but left eye dominant. So I have to turn my head to shoot. Or I can shoot left handed. Either way the gun has to be to the left of my nose. I shoot a rifle left or right handed as well. I shot left handed for years as a kid. So I have an unorthodox way of shooting.
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Have you tried centering the gun even with your nose and keeping both eyes open? I have two kids with your issue and that works for them with pistol, iron sights on a rifle is a little different though.
 
UncleEd said:
Mizar, yes back in the ancient days the U.S. Army
with the M1 Garand provided smoke pots to blacken/soot up
the front sights.
Click to expand...

That was for the gas tube. They were stainless steel and couldn't be parkerized, so they stove blacked them at the factory. When that started to wear and they got shiny you use the smoke pot to blacken them up.
 
KYregular said:
Anyone else have similar issues?
Click to expand...
Never heard of an issue like this and haven't experienced it myself.

I have "U-notch" rear sights on a couple of my competition pistols...M&P9 w/ 10-8, 686 w/Apex Tactical Specialties...and the U-notch has no effect on lateral displacement of shots (since you should be aligning the front sight blade with the top of the rear sight and the sides of the notch). The U-notch prevents the bottom of a squared notch from blocking part of the front fiber optic dot and causing you to shoot high
 
9mmepiphany said:
Never heard of an issue like this and haven't experienced it myself.

I have "U-notch" rear sights on a couple of my competition pistols...M&P9 w/ 10-8, 686 w/Apex Tactical Specialties...and the U-notch has no effect on lateral displacement of shots (since you should be aligning the front sight blade with the top of the rear sight and the sides of the notch). The U-notch prevents the bottom of a squared notch from blocking part of the front fiber optic dot and causing you to shoot high
Click to expand...
yeah, I think I just need practice with it of course, and to adjust my focal plane. Contacts already make most sights a little blurry for me, and I just need to adjust to them.
 
KYregular said:
Contacts already make most sights a little blurry for me, and I just need to adjust to them.
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It's because they are floating on your eyeballs...that's why you blink to clear up any blurriness.

Talk to your "eye guy" about having your contacts set for you dominate eye to focus on the front sight and your non-dominate eye set for distance. It is a little shocking the first time you see your front sight and the target both in sharp focus, but it really helps when shooting.

Warning: not everyone can handle the blending of the images of different focal planes...there is a percentage of folks who's brains can't handle it
 
9mmepiphany said:
It's because they are floating on your eyeballs...that's why you blink to clear up any blurriness.

Talk to your "eye guy" about having your contacts set for you dominate eye to focus on the front sight and your non-dominate eye set for distance. It is a little shocking the first time you see your front sight and the target both in sharp focus, but it really helps when shooting.

Warning: not everyone can handle the blending of the images of different focal planes...there is a percentage of folks who's brains can't handle it
Click to expand...
Bifocals prescripts, tried them a long time ago and they were fine but were horrible for night driving. Good idea though I might do that as they have likely improved over the years. Went out and shot my P09 this evening and was fine with square sight. Repitition with the 10mm will pay off I believe.
 
KYregular said:
Have you tried centering the gun even with your nose and keeping both eyes open? I have two kids with your issue and that works for them with pistol, iron sights on a rifle is a little different though.
Click to expand...
I’ve tried but I end up with double vision when I do it. I’ve been shooting like this for almost 50 years and I just naturally bring the gun up and to the left.
 
My Hellcat Pro has an outlined U-notch. I'm not particularly fond of it, seems too busy but doesn't affect point of impact. I have Truglo TFX Pro sights on my Glocks and prefer them.
 
Good article t thhe U Notch sight hers: https://www.thearmorylife.com/understanding-the-hellcat-u-dot/

I think a U notch sight makes accurate aiming more difficult because the bottom of the U is an arc rather than the crotch of a V or the squared of bottom of a Glock style sight. The right angles of the Glock sights and the converging lines of the V notch seem (to me) to make centering the front sight easier. The trick would be to get ignore the arc of the U notch and focus on the vertical sides. Center within the space would be easier for the eye to adjust. I think the subconscious tendency would be to try to place the front sight dot midway on the arc. SO I think you have to learn the focus on the vertical sides of the rear sight.

IMG_1617.jpeg
 
Yamifrk said:
I’m right handed but left eye dominant. So I have to turn my head to shoot. Or I can shoot left handed. Either way the gun has to be to the left of my nose. I shoot a rifle left or right handed as well. I shot left handed for years as a kid. So I have an unorthodox way of shooting.
Click to expand...

My daughter has the same problem but when she was a kid I told her she could learn to shoot using her right eye or using her left hand. She chose right handed and became a good shot.

Now I have a great grand daughter that is left handed and left eye dominant but shoots right handed. She has tried it left hand and said no, right handed is best. She is a close to being ambidexterous as anyone I have ever encountered though. I guess it's easier to adjust when you are a kid. If not for falling out of grandpa's peach tree and breaking my left arm as a little kid I would be doing the left handed, right eye dominant thing. By the time the cast came off I was using my right hand and never went back to the left.

As to to the OP's question I have shot a couple of guns with a round rear notch and adjusted to them but much prefer the square notch.
 
Coyote3855 said:
My Hellcat Pro has an outlined U-notch. I'm not particularly fond of it, seems too busy but doesn't affect point of impact. I have Truglo TFX Pro sights on my Glocks and prefer them.
Click to expand...

First thing I'd do with a Hellcat is black out that rear sight with a sharpie. I love the bright yellow, so that'd be about perfect for me.
 
doubleh said:
much prefer the square notch.
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This isn't directed particularly at you, but to the contributors to this thread in general who have a preference between the two notch styles.

Why are you even looking at the bottom of the notch?

You aim correctly by leveling the top of the front sight to the tops of the rear blade. Then you center the front blade between the sides of the rear notch.

How does the bottom of the notch make any difference to your sight alignment?
 
9mmepiphany said:
This isn't directed particularly at you, but to the contributors to this thread in general who have a preference between the two notch styles.

Why are you even looking at the bottom of the notch?

You aim correctly by leveling the top of the front sight to the tops of the rear blade. Then you center the front blade between the sides of the rear notch.

How does the bottom of the notch make any difference to your sight alignment?
Click to expand...
agree for height, windage is my issue. With the sights somewhat blurry it just seems a little harder. Probably gonna take some time. I can see where they would be advantageous for a quicker sight picture when moving or competing.
 
KYregular said:
With the sights somewhat blurry it just seems a little harder. Probably gonna take some time.
Click to expand...
I'll let you in on a little secret concerning aligning the sights on a handgun.

The technique of aligning sights is a progression. We all start out learning to carefully align the front and rear sights in their proper relationship to each other...that usually entails switching out focus back and forth between them to verify alignment.

As your skill set progresses, you know longer have to consciously do that and can allow your subconscious to take over parts of verifying alignment. What you do is look through the rear notch and put the, sharply in focus, front sight blade on your intended target. You allow your subconscious to balance the space, in the notch, on either side of the front blade
 
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