Fiber optic front bead sights on hunting shotguns

[John A.]

I have been in the process of changing some of the shotguns' that I use the most often over to fiber optic front beads.

Mainly because when I'm out hunting in the early morning and fog, dark brass front beads just don't stand out as much to my eyes anymore now that I'm getting older.

The fiber front sights are doing much better for me though. Especially in low light early dawn and dusk.

And I tend to prefer the green over the red fiber sights too.

Anyway, this one is a truglo "long bead" that I put on my Charles Daly semi-auto this morning. Price was $12 and some change including shipping from ebay. So, if you account that it took a couple of bucks to pay for the shipping, the price isn't out of line from what a standard bead costs (they're about $7).

Since I wasn't sure what size the threading was on the factory vent rib, I ordered the 6-48 since it's the largest (most robust) thread that's used.

And of course, when it got here, the threads on the factory barrel must've been 5-40 because it wouldn't even start.

So, I just enlarged the hole and used my old 6-48 tap and remedied that little issue in about a minute and a half. I've had the little tap and bit for a couple of years and only costed a few dollars from brownells. It's tools like that which come in handy most often when you need them. Plus, you never have to worry about being dumb and ordering the wrong size thread like I did.

The double barrel that my family got me for Christmas year before last actually came with a fiber front bead that I appreciate a lot too. It's not as long as the truglo but it's pretty bright despite that it's barely 1/3rd of the length of the truglo longbead. It's still crisp and fast to pick up on though.

 

[Rossignol]

I've really been digging my fiber optic beads too and for the same reason. Way easier on the eyes.

Nice work on the mod BTW!

 

[John A.]

Thanks Rossignol.

That's about as simple of a mod as can be done, but one that needed to be done for me.

I'm going to try to go shoot it in the next couple of days once my shoulder is mended. I sprained it pretty good over the weekend and is still letting me know it.

The gun was patterning a little to one side of the point of aim and I'm going to try to thread the front bead in a little to offset the face of it some, in hopes that it may increase pellet coverage better to where I am aiming.

It's good now, but if I can increase coverage, why wouldn't I?

Especially since the gun has a mid bead should let me tweak it pretty easily. Kind of the same technique as how the uzi model A front sight adjusts.

 

[SHOOTER13]

Green is the easiest color for the human eye to perceive...hence the popularity of green emitting lasers and fiber optic light pipe sights.

 

[John A.]

I always thought that blue was the easiest. And why strobe lights are being made blue now for police. ????????????

But I will say that my eye picks up on the green fiber a lot faster and better than it does the red pipe.

 

[Rossignol]

I'm thinking (wondering) about the adjustment. There are mid beads that are dual fiber optic that are windage adjustable. It makes more like a 3 dot rifle sight. Don't know if that's something you're into or not if the issue persists?

 

[John A.]

Thanks Rossignol. I didn't know that.

I've seen rifle sights on shotguns before, but usually on rifled bore shotguns.

I am hoping to maybe shoot it a few times later. I don't expect to walk over the entire pattern to the bullseye and in all honesty, the coverage is very adequate at distance anyway.

But if I can offset the front bead a little and walk a few more pellets over toward the point of aim before loctiting it down, why not?

 

[SHOOTER13]

OK...let's put it this way:

Color vision is the ability of an organism or machine to distinguish objects based on the wavelengths (or frequencies) of the light they reflect, emit, or transmit.

Colors can be measured and quantified in various ways; indeed, a person's perception of colors is a subjective process whereby the brain responds to the stimuli that are produced when incoming light reacts with the several types of cone cells in the eye. In essence, different people see the same illuminated object or light source in different ways.

In very low light levels, vision is scotopic: light is detected by rod cells of the retina. Rods are maximally sensitive to wavelengths near 500 nm, and play little, if any, role in colour vision. In brighter light, such as daylight, vision is photopic: light is detected by cone cells which are responsible for colour vision. Cones are sensitive to a range of wavelengths, but are most sensitive to wavelengths near 555 nm. Between these regions, mesopic vision comes into play and both rods and cones provide signals to the retinal ganglion cells. The shift in colour perception from dim light to daylight gives rise to differences known as the Purkinje effect.

The perception of "white" is formed by the entire spectrum of visible light, or by mixing colours of just a few wavelengths in animals with few types of colour receptors. In humans, white light can be perceived by combining wavelengths such as red, green, and blue, or just a pair of complementary colours such as blue and yellow.

Perception of color begins with specialized retinal cells containing pigments with different spectral sensitivities, known as cone cells. In humans, there are three types of cones sensitive to three different spectra, resulting in trichromatic color vision. ( IE...RGB...Red / Green / Blue )

Green is in the middle... why you ask...? ( see the Charts below )

Perception of color depends heavily on the context in which the perceived object is presented. For example, a white page under blue, pink, or purple light will reflect mostly blue, pink, or purple light to the eye, respectively; the brain, however, compensates for the effect of lighting (based on the color shift of surrounding objects) and is more likely to interpret the page as white under all three conditions, a phenomenon known as color constancy.

Mammals in general have color vision of a limited type, and usually have red-green color blindness, with only two types of cones. Humans, some primates, and some marsupials see an extended range of colors, but only by comparison with other mammals. Most non-mammalian vertebrate species distinguish different colors at least as well as humans, and many species of birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians, and some invertebrates, have more than three cone types and probably superior color vision to humans.

Color perception mechanisms are highly dependent on evolutionary factors, of which the most prominent is thought to be satisfactory recognition of food sources.

Anyway...Green IS the color best seen by the human eye...as proven by the above charts.

{ Wow...I need a beer after that...}

 

[John A.]

Well, that was extensive.

Maybe that's why the green shows up better than the red.

And also maybe that's why the INFRA-RED 850 and 940 nm wavelengths work well for night vision cameras and humans can barely see it, if at all.

 

[SHOOTER13]

Yea...don't know much...but, what I do know will surprise ya !!

 

[John A.]

Was able to put a few pellets downrange using Remington 7 1/2 game loads just because that was what I first grabbed out of the case though I normally use #6's.

This is the target with the fiber sight straight forward. It was patterning a little to the left of the point of aim. Like it was with the factory bead @17'ish yards.




This is after I turned the front fiber dot a little to the left (like drifting the sights) and using the midbead to line up the front fiber up with it.



This tightwad choke is starting to open up better at 25 yards. So, I may want to remember not to tag any squirrels with it at very close range because otherwise, it may tear them in half.

 

[Rossignol]

Oh snap, that worked out nice!

I did a quail way too close like that a few years ago. I shouldn't have. I knew it right as I pulled the trigger that it was too close. Still bothers me.

 

[John A.]

Thanks.

I need to check it with some of the #6 handloads with the hornady versatite wads to see how it does. I just grabbed the first box of shells that I came across this evening, but should maybe give an idea of what to expect with the other shells I hope.

I'm really liking that Charles Daly semi though. It's becoming one of my faves.

Barrel is about 24 inches and swings and carries well. It uses screw in Rem chokes if I ever wanted something different. I tweaked the action spring so it'll cycle low brass now, and with the semi action eats up a lot of the recoil that you'd normally have to grin and bear. Glad that I was able to get the point of aim/impact a little closer now without having to remember the hold-overs to so many different shotguns gets tiresome after a while.