SIGHTS

Sights are made in many forms. Some suit one man best; others another. You cannot decide which suits your individual case without trying each sort for yourself.

When you find one form which suits you, it is a pity to risk spoiling your shooting by changing to others; a beginner should never do so, as he will get into an uncertain way of taking his sights, instead of always the same, which is the only way to make reliable, consistent, shooting. Of course, all your sights may be useless if you are going to shoot in a competition, consequent on the authorities making some new rule as to “fit for rough usage”; and then you will have to shoot with whatever will pass the rules.

My patent sight has, so far, complied with every rule, and it can be used for hammering nails without sustaining damage.

The main point is to have a front sight at once easily seen, and of which you see each time the same amount; not sometimes more and at other times less, else you cannot keep your elevation.

Also the “U” in the back sight should have bevelled edges, so as to give a sharp edge, else it looks “woolly.”

Again, if you are not able to see daylight each side of the front sight when it is in the “U,” you cannot be aware that you are not covering part of the front sight on one side or the other, and, therefore, whether your aim is in horizontal axis with your barrel.

The reason I prefer a “U”- to a “V”-shaped notch in the hind sight is because in the “V” you do not see this daylight so well.

As soon as you can shoot well enough to know whether bad shots are the fault of the sighting of the revolver or of your own holding, you can sight the pistol properly for yourself; and in this way you can do the sighting much more accurately, and with greater nicety, than by taking it to a gunmaker and saying: “Alter the sights to shoot three inches higher and two to the left at twenty yards, and open the ‘U’ a little,” etc. To do this, have front and hind sights made of horn, put in temporarily, without any “U” in the hind sight, and both hind and front sights a little higher than you think necessary. Then go to the range with your pistol and several files of various sizes, including some that are round. Make a slight “U” in the measured centre of the top edge of the back sight. Shoot a few shots at the range you want to sight for (taking care that you do not go clean over the top of the butt, owing to being sighted too high), and then keep working with the files, first at one sight and then at the other, till you get them approximately right.

Do not cut the “U” down too close to the barrel, as it will then give you a blurry aim, especially when the barrel gets hot. If you find you shoot too high, unless you cut this “U” down take out the front sight and put in another higher one, rather than file the “U” unduly low.

Remember when filing: Filing at the bottom of the “U” makes you shoot lower; filing at the top of the front sight makes you shoot higher; filing on the side of the “U” or the front sight makes you shoot towards the side on which you have filed. Therefore, by filing a very little at a time, where necessary, you can at last get your sighting perfect. Be sure to file a very little at a time, or you will overdo it. As in sculpture, you can easily take off, but cannot replace. If you have taken off too much anywhere, you may be able to correct this by filing so as to alter the direction. For instance, if you have been shooting too much to the right, you can correct this by filing on the left of the front sight or the left of the “U,” whichever makes the more symmetrical job; but if, by doing so, you make the front sight too small or too narrow or make the “U” too wide, there is nothing to do but to put in a new front or hind sight and begin shooting and filing again.

When you have got the sighting perfect, work carefully with your file (taking great care not to spoil the edge of the “U” nearest to the eye when aiming), and give a chamfered or bevelled edge to the other side of the “U,” so that it has a knife-edge. This is to make the “U” look clear and yet allow the back sight to be strong. On this principle, you can let the hind sight be strong and over a quarter of an inch thick, and yet have a nice, clear “U.” Do not have the “U” deeper than a semicircle. If this “U” is too deep, it hampers your view of the object aimed at. In fact, it should not be quite a real “U,” but a semicircle. You can also file all round the front sight, giving it a taper toward the muzzle, but keeping unaltered the silhouette that you see when aiming, so that the outline shall then stand clear to the eye.

A gunmaker’s vise (padded, so as not to bruise the revolver) is a useful thing, as it leaves both your hands free to use the files.

I cannot tell you how much you may undercut the front sight, assuming you intend to use it in competition, as the rules alter so from year to year. I have an undercut bead-sight which some years was allowed at Bisley as “Military,” and in other years not. The best plan, if you are in any doubt as to its passing, is to send your revolver to be passed by the committee before competing.

When you have finished, and have had a final shoot to see if this finishing has not spoilt your elevation, etc., you can send your pistol to the maker, and ask him to make your sights precisely like your model ones, and to fix them permanently on the pistol without screws, if for Bisley use, so as to comply with the rules. When you get the pistol with these sights, if the work has been properly done, a very little more filing will put the matter right.

Should you not be shooting at Bisley, or at any of those clubs which shoot under Bisley rules, you can, of course, get a pistol with Smith & Wesson’s “Ira Paine” adjustable sights. Carry a miniature folding gilt screw-driver and sight-case on your watch-chain, as I do, and you will then be able to shoot in any light, at any range, or in any style of shooting, by merely giving a slight turn to the adjusting screws to alter your elevation or direction; or take out a sight from your little case of sights, if a sight breaks or you want a different size or shape. Public opinion has not yet been educated to the point of considering this “a practical military sight,” but this will come—in time.

EXTRACTS FROM SPECIFICATIONS OF WALTER WINANS’S REVOLVER FRONT SIGHT

“Great difficulty has hitherto been experienced in seeing the same amount of front sight each time aim is taken, unless the base of the sight is sufficiently undercut to form a ‘bead-sight’; such undercutting being, however, detrimental, as it weakens the ‘sight’ and renders it very liable to injury, and is not permissible in Bisley revolver competitions. The object of my invention is, therefore, to overcome this difficulty, and to this end I make the ‘sight’ of metal, horn, wood, or other hard substance, with a strong, wide base, preferably of the ‘barleycorn’ or triangular section.

“The face of the upper part of the ‘sight’ facing the marksman (as much of it as it is desirable to see in aiming) is made vertical, or inclined slightly towards the marksman, so as to cause it to appear black, as if in shadow. The visible part of the sight below the face inclines forward from the marksman, and downward, so as to reflect the light and enable the face of the sight to be at once distinguished by its difference of shade from the lower part. It may be polished or plated to assist in reflecting the light, while as a contrast, the vertical face is cross-filed, or ‘roughed,’ or may be hollowed out so as to be in shadow, and give it a ‘dead’ black appearance.

“In the drawing, I have shown what I consider the best means of carrying this out. Fig. 1 is a side view, full size, of a portion of a revolver barrel fitted with my improved ‘front sight.’

“Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are sections of the barrel at A B, showing two forms which the sight may assume in section, one having straight sides, the other concave. I show in Figs. 4 and 4*, on a larger scale, for the sake of clearness, a side and plan view of the sight shown in Fig. 1, and in Fig. 5 a modification of this shape. Figs. 6 and 7 are end views, showing two sectional forms of the sight, and corresponding in size with Figs. 4 and 5. In Figs. 1 and 4, it will be seen that a is the vertical face of the sight, which is designed to present a dark appearance to the marksman; and b is the polished, inclined surface, which takes a rounded form. In the modification, Fig. 5, the face a is slightly inclined towards the marksman, and the bright or polished surface b takes the form of a flat incline.”