Sight question: Using a thinner sight for fast action shooting.

[FireInCairo]

I noticed you can get thinner front sights for faster target acquisition, but how much do you lose in accuracy?

 

[Sam1911]

I think you might have that backward.

Usually a THICKER front sight is faster to see and put on target and a THINNER one provides a finer, more precise sight picture.

Now, that's not universal, and most folks find some balance between the thin-ness of their sight, the size of the target, and the age of their eyes.

 

[Quack]

I use a .100" front sight with a .140" rear. It provides decent light on either side of the front sight and rear sight. Accuracy is still good for this setup and pretty quick.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[Old Fuff]

Years ago I went the other way and kept a wide .125" front sight, but opened the rear sight notch so I had an image of the white on each side being equal to 1/2 the front sight blade. Because of the substantial width of the rear notch one might expect precise accuracy to drop off.

It didn't. Your eyeball will still center the blade in the notch, but do it much quicker.

 

[Drail]

Old Fuff nails it once again.

 

[FireInCairo]

Thanks for the tip, Fuff.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I use a .100" front sight with a .140" rear. It provides decent light on either side of the front sight and rear sight. Accuracy is still good for this setup and pretty quick.

Thanks Quack.

I've been looking at 10-8 fiber optic front sights for my M&P and trying to decide which width.

Are people really able to tell the difference between .100", .110" and .115"?

 

[Quack]

Thanks Quack.

I've been looking at 10-8 fiber optic front sights for my M&P and trying to decide which width.

Are people really able to tell the difference between .100", .110" and .115"?

I use a Dawson .100" front sight.

As for a .010" difference, I can slightly see the difference between one of my guns with a .090" and another with .100" front sights.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[hentown]

The point of a thinner front sight is simply to provide more daylight on both sides of the front sight, when acquiring the sight picture. That's supposed to be faster than less daylight around the front sight.

 

[dsb1829]

I have mid-width front sights on my IDPA guns. They do make sight acquisition faster. On my 1911 they opened up my 25yd group from 2 to 3in. For a game gun the trade off is worth while.

 

[JohnBT]

"the age of their eyes"

Both of mine are the same age and they're having trouble seeing to fill out my retirement paperwork; forget about seeing targets.

 

[FireInCairo]

I have mid-width front sights on my IDPA guns. They do make sight acquisition faster. On my 1911 they opened up my 25yd group from 2 to 3in. For a game gun the trade off is worth while.

Thanks, this is the kind of response I was hoping to get.

thanks to everyone else for sharing their valuable experiences, too.