Aperture sights: What kind should I get?

[Razor_J]

Hi guys, I had a wonderful experience recently with aperture sights. I would like some advice on brands, pricing, so forth. I wish I could tell you what kind I looked through but I dont know and the guy whose rifle I was handling would not tell me. He said they werent made anymore and that he wasnt sure he was even remembering the right name for them. He had a target rifle that had the odd shaped stock to fit your shoulder, and the rest permanently attached on the forend and on the bottom of the stock. I dont know much about this type of shooting so I am sorry if my descriptions arent much help.

The sights had a diopter about 3 inches in diameter with the smallest hole I have ever seen in it. The hole was so small I could not see it even had a hole until he handed it to me and I looked at the diopter up close. The front sight was a large cylinder with a threaded and knurled cap. The cap had a hole in it in which was a tiny ring. He said that the front sight ring fits the inside diameter hole (visually atleast) of the back sight and that what I am for is is the dead ceter of the front ring hole. It was at a gun show and I looked diagonally from the back corner where he was to the front corner of the ceiling and it was 100 yards easily. My old (sadly only 21 years old) eyes cant use iron sights well and with glasses keeping everything lined up and focused is a joke. With these sights I could easily have hit a bottle cap from that range. I cant describe why but aiming through the sight almost seemed to correct my vision somehow. I love iron sights and used to enjoy shooting them at respectable ranges but when I was 16 my eyes went from 20/20 to sad and pathetic in about 4 months. Please please help me find sights like this so I can enjoy iron sights once more.

 

[MrCleanOK]

The front sight you are describing is called a "globe sight". For example, this.

And a target rear aperture. For exmple, this.

These kind of iron sights are really outside my experience, so I couldn't tell you what kind of rifle you'd be able to find them on, or what would be the best way to install them on a rifle you already have.

 

[scythefwd]

redfield made a front hooded globe like you are talking. used its own rail to mount. gehmann is a very good company making them now (both fronts and rears). br prepared o spend more than you would on a deceny scope... 200 for the front sight, same for the diopter, and atleast 100 for the fronts. ive got a anscutz that ill be inheriting that has redfield international sights and a mossberg 44 that has redfield olympics on it... nice.

yes, looking through small holes can correct vision. a pin hole in a sheet of paper will do the same thing.

 

[m33p0n3]

Globe sights are my preferred sights, mostly due to my beginning in shooting with smallbore rifle. They can be rather prohibitively expensive. Personally, the only gun I have with them is a remington 540xr that has the Redfield olympic style sights from the factory.

As for the corrective nature of the pinhole, read up on depth of field and how it's effected by F-stop in photography. The same concept applies to your eye looking through a small hole.

 

[Monk]

Williams makes rear aperture sights for many models of rifles. I put one of their FP sights like this: http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=280201 on my .22 and am happy with it. You can change the apertures depending on what you're using the gun for.

I wasn't able to find a globe front sight that was a straight bolt-on for my rifle (the FP works with my stock front sight) but the Midway catalog has a pretty good selection of them: http://www.midwayusa.com/Find?&userSearchQuery=globe+front+sight&itemsPerPage=20&pageNumber=1

If you're looking for high end stuff you'll find it at Champion Shooter's Supply (they might be at the Camp Perry matches but usually post it on their website) : http://www.championshooters.com/

 

[Monk]

Another link, to Sinclair Shooter's Supply, with more high dollar sights. They also have some really nice gizmos & gadgets.

 

[edwin41]

sights

hello
after shooting a lot of .22 with a anschutz matchrifle i know what you mean.
i shot it at 100 mtr , with is a little over 100 yards and get all of the rounds
very close together.
in holland its called a diopter , dont now if its called the same in the us.
really nice diopter come from centra .
this is a german compagnie so you will find it at centr.de
the also have an adapter to install a globesight on a roundbarrel with no
dovetail , like the varmintguns.
if you want to shoot at longer distances you may want the bigger globe.
standard is 18mm , but for no extra cost you can get the 22 mm.
als they have a less expensive range of diopters , but so has anschutz
and hammerli.