Moving Front sight vertically downward

[amarinder]

Hi.
My pistol is Walther lp 400 and its front sight is smaller than morini, steyr. I have been shooting by focusing on complete sight picture instead of front sight only. Front sight being smaller is one of the factors which makes focusing on it difficult and therefore I focus upon Sight picture.

Moving front sight a backwards by an inch would obviously make it look bigger and therefore I might be able to focus up on it more easily.

Is Moving Front sight vertically downward advisable ? Nobody adviced my, I was thinking it myself.

Thanks and Regards

AP-570+

[deadeyedick]

Firstly I was intrigued by the 570+. If it is a reality rather than an aspiration I would leave my front sight alone.

If not there is an argument to not move anything, but replace the sight with one at least 5mm wide and of an appropriate height. Walther replacement front sights are obtainable up to this width.

Personally I use a custom front sight 6 mm wide and a little taller than normal. For my eyes this provides a front sight picture that matches the apparent width of the black on the target at 10 metres and is a pleasure to view as a result of its size.

You may have to make an elevation correction with a taller sight but you will have a sight picture that reduces eye fatigue and allows a symmetrical appearance which is easier to reproduce.

[northpaw]

Firstly I was intrigued by the 570+. If it is a reality ...

I think Amarinder Singh is capable of 570..- and beyond.
viewtopic.php?t=56880#p274536

Wonder why wide front sight blades, in the 5,5 -6 mm range, are not easily available. Had my own blades custom made.

[Gwhite]

The most common recommendation is that the visual width of the front sight should roughly match the apparent width of the black, just as shown in Deadeyedick's picture. If your arms are atypically short or long, that's going to have a big effect on the effective width required. To maintain the maximum amount of symmetry in the sight picture, you also want to keep the size of the side gaps roughly equal to the gap below the black:



We are currently fighting a related battle with Benelli standard pistols on the collegiate team I coach. The Benellis have only one front sight width available, and the older models with fixed rear sights all came with the narrowest sight notch. The front sight width is OK for most shooters, but the rear sight is so narrow that if you have long arms, there is almost NO light on either side. I just bought half a dozen of the middle width rear blades. Now that Benelli has switched to an adjustable width rear sight, the supply of the widest fixed notches seems to have dried up completely. Once we've swapped out a bunch of the narrow ones, I'm going to take them to the milling machine & make some extra wide ones.

[wasatch]

Hi,
Here's a thread where I posted about some 3D printed front sights for the LP400. It wouldn't be any problem at all to adjust the design for a series of sights covering the 5.0-6.0mm range, or whatever you like for that matter. Height could be adjusted too.

The attach file option wouldn't accept the Solidworks drawing file format. But I would send it to you another way if you want.

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=50104

cheers,
Fred

[amarinder]

Hi,
Here's a thread where I posted about some 3D printed front sights for the LP400. It wouldn't be any problem at all to adjust the design for a series of sights covering the 5.0-6.0mm range, or whatever you like for that matter. Height could be adjusted too.

The attach file option wouldn't accept the Solidworks drawing file format. But I would send it to you another way if you want.

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=50104

cheers,
Fred

Thanks for sharing the info. Has the material mentioned in the thread " polyamide" performed well or have they worn? Any other material advice?
Also, does the screw interferes in sight picture?

[Rover]

The most common recommendation is that the visual width of the front sight should roughly match the apparent width of the black, just as shown in Deadeyedick's picture. If your arms are atypically short or long, that's going to have a big effect on the effective width required. To maintain the maximum amount of symmetry in the sight picture, you also want to keep the size of the side gaps roughly equal to the gap below the black:



We are currently fighting a related battle with Benelli standard pistols on the collegiate team I coach. The Benellis have only one front sight width available, and the older models with fixed rear sights all came with the narrowest sight notch. The front sight width is OK for most shooters, but the rear sight is so narrow that if you have long arms, there is almost NO light on either side. I just bought half a dozen of the middle width rear blades. Now that Benelli has switched to an adjustable width rear sight, the supply of the widest fixed notches seems to have dried up completely. Once we've swapped out a bunch of the narrow ones, I'm going to take them to the milling machine & make some extra wide ones.

This is a problem I have messed with for thirty years. My successful solution is to buy a 3/16" chainsaw file from a hardware store. They have no taper; even the most inept can cut a perfect half-moon rear notch with one. This gives about the perfect amount of light on each side, besides being a very effective sight picture.

Don't like the idea? Too bad! The Russians were constantly beating everyone with this setup back in the day.

I also put a wider front sight on every gun that will take one, mainly my air pistols.

[10M_Stan]

The most common recommendation is that the visual width of the front sight should roughly match the apparent width of the black, just as shown in Deadeyedick's picture. If your arms are atypically short or long, that's going to have a big effect on the effective width required. To maintain the maximum amount of symmetry in the sight picture, you also want to keep the size of the side gaps roughly equal to the gap below the black:



We are currently fighting a related battle with Benelli standard pistols on the collegiate team I coach. The Benellis have only one front sight width available, and the older models with fixed rear sights all came with the narrowest sight notch. The front sight width is OK for most shooters, but the rear sight is so narrow that if you have long arms, there is almost NO light on either side. I just bought half a dozen of the middle width rear blades. Now that Benelli has switched to an adjustable width rear sight, the supply of the widest fixed notches seems to have dried up completely. Once we've swapped out a bunch of the narrow ones, I'm going to take them to the milling machine & make some extra wide ones.

FWIW, Larry's guns shows two rear sight blades for the Benelli's (but with no dimensional details):

http://www.larrysguns.com/Products/rear ... 63500.aspx
http://www.larrysguns.com/Products/rear ... 63400.aspx

Then there is also the rear sight assembly with the adjustable blade width:

http://www.larrysguns.com/Products/Bene ... _113Z.aspx

Of course, listing any of these on a web page doesn't mean they are available. But still, it may be worth the trouble to email DeAnna about the parts details. If the adjustable blade width rear sight is indeed available on the Kite and fits the older MP90s/MP95, then retrofitting to the newer style rear sight might be a good path.

[Gwhite]

The first two fixed widths are the "A", which is the 3.3 mm that comes with the pistols, and "B", which is 3.7 mm. The "C" (4.0 mm) has been unavailable for a couple years.

The adjustable sight assembly costs around $170. Hence our reluctance to go out & buy a bunch.

[10M_Stan]

Sounds like you're up to speed on the available options. FWIW, the Caswell black oxide is easy to use (if the directions are followed), allows reapplication as a DIY type process, is superior to standard (oxpho-blue, etc) cold bluing and fairly economical: http://www.caswellplating.com/metal-fin ... 5-gal.html

[wasatch]

Thanks for sharing the info. Has the material mentioned in the thread " polyamide" performed well or have they worn? Any other material advice?
Also, does the screw interferes in sight picture?

The polyamide is sintered white nylon that is then dyed black. They are fairly durable but will wear eventually. There are other materials but I haven't kept up with them of late and new materials are being introduced. I used the 3D printing service Sculpteo.

Even if/when they do wear, having 10 of the same size printed would still be less expensive than 1 metal sight from Walther which is moot since the desired width isn't available. And I think the printed black sights performed better in all lighting conditions.

The pictured screw wasn't visible in the sight picture and the size and color of the screw could be revised as pointed out in that thread.

[amarinder]

The most common recommendation is that the visual width of the front sight should roughly match the apparent width of the black, just as shown in Deadeyedick's picture. If your arms are atypically short or long, that's going to have a big effect on the effective width required. To maintain the maximum amount of symmetry in the sight picture, you also want to keep the size of the side gaps roughly equal to the gap below the black:



We are currently fighting a related battle with Benelli standard pistols on the collegiate team I coach. The Benellis have only one front sight width available, and the older models with fixed rear sights all came with the narrowest sight notch. The front sight width is OK for most shooters, but the rear sight is so narrow that if you have long arms, there is almost NO light on either side. I just bought half a dozen of the middle width rear blades. Now that Benelli has switched to an adjustable width rear sight, the supply of the widest fixed notches seems to have dried up completely. Once we've swapped out a bunch of the narrow ones, I'm going to take them to the milling machine & make some extra wide ones.

I have been a fool all these years. Never realized that LP 400 has rotateable fore sight. Its triangular in shape( 4 mm and 2 sides of 5 mm each) and can be rotated on its circular base to get the other side of triangle of length 5 mm . I have been facing the 4mm side .

Rotated the sight and its looks so easy to focus on it. And the above mentioned picture is visible . Cheers...

But my remaining problem is the sight sometimes move towards right and I have to adjust wrist towards left.

[deadeyedick]

But my remaining problem is the sight sometimes move towards right and I have to adjust wrist towards left

.

That’s the reason for the grip ball joint adjuster on your LP400. Loosen and make the appropriate correction, tighten and then when raised the sight picture will be centred without altering your wrist which is a major no no.

Even though the Walther front sights are rotatable as you have found, they come in different rotatable widths as well as different heights and only cost in the region of $20 through any Walther agent.

The one supplied with your particular pistol might not have 5 mm as maximum face width. Check with a vernier and if necessary purchase the appropriate sight with the 5 mm facet and possibly increased height. You may be impressed.