Experiences with bead size

[rifleman1981]

Im considering installing a marbles front sight to accompany my marble tang sight. Should i go for the 1/16 or 3/32 bead size? I have ok vision, and the shots will be kept within 100m in daylight situations. The cal is 30-30

Any experiences?

[Tatersoup]

I'd say it depends on your personal preference.

Here's my "sortof well kindof" technical opinion.

A 1/16" bead will cover about 7.5 MOA. This means at 50 yards it will cover about 4" and 25 yards about 2".

A 3/32" bead will cover about 11 MOA. This means at 50 yards it will cover about 6" and 25 yards about 3".

[lever addict]

If your hunting with it larger is easier to pick up quickly. If it's tiny groups on paper your after then smaller the better.

[Wind]

Hey there rifleman1981 -- If I absolutely have to use a bead, the smaller the better. I prefer blade front sights. You might also consider a Skinner blade with your Marbles tang sight. You can file the blade down to a 1 click zero at 50 yards, and have all the rear sight elevation left to reach out quite a ways further. I think the blade front sight offers greater clarity, and even though this picture is a leaf rear, you can sorta see the difference. Hope this helps. Best regards. Wind

[WyoStillhunter]

Wind, those pictures are very helpful to the topic. First, you have the front sight in focus and the rear a little fuzzy which is exactly the way the human eye should focus for using iron sights. The target would also appear fuzzy. Focus on the front sight is critical to best accuracy.

Second, the bead in your picture is truly a round bead. It does not have a flat face. That picture illustrates how the relative position of the light source (sun) can create a false center for the front bead. The glare on the bead is at 11 o'clock in the picture you provide. Under many real shooting situations the shooter's eye would center that bright spot in the rear sight, not the full bead, thereby sending the bullet away from the intended POI. In other words, the glare causes an incorrect sight alignment. A flat faced, round sight has less of this tendancy but is still susceptible to the problem. A blackened bead will not have the glare but will be less precise than the post sight.

Not mentioned by others is the length of sight radius. A longer barrel will give the front sight a relatively smaller appearance and a short barrel will make it look larger in relation to the target. Tatersoup provides important info but length of barrel will change the MOA covered on the target.

Finally, my eyes can't focus on the front sight without special glasses. I cannot get the front sight in focus, no matter what type it is or how long the barrel. In that case I have to settle for less accuracy (bigger groups) or switch to optical sights for any sort of precision or longer distance shooting. My advice is to use iron sights as long as your eyes allow. The day will come...when you can't make it work any more.

[picketpin]

Just another thought, in hunting situations near dusk I have found it much easier to see an ivory dot than brass. I find that posts sights fade into the background. If Range shooting I agree the post front is a great option. That said I like the 1/16 white/ ivory bead.

james.

[TnBigBore]

I like the 1/16" ivory bead for most applications as well. Using a Williams FP reciever sight, Williams twilight aperture and 1/16" Marbles ivory bead front sight allows me to shoot just about till the end of legal shooting light in the woods of TN.

[rifleman1981]

Thanks for all the replies. Think ill go for Skinners post sight.