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Antlers
.275 member


Reged: 27/01/07
Posts: 69
Loc: Alaska
British Rear Blades
      #163326 - 04/07/10 11:26 AM

I'm going to have JJ replace the rear blade on my Heym and have been evaluating options for quite a while. I have a question; it seems that most old British doubles have one of two types of rear blades. One type is the wide shallow V and one type has a flat top with a small sharper angled V. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both types?

My biggest challenge in shooting my open sights is finding the center of the rear blade. I have tried differing colors of center lines and differing colors of triangles, and it seems I have a difficult time seeing a line regardless of color and pick up the triangle better - white and silver best. So I was going to have JJ insert a traingle, but wondered which one of the two V designs to go with.

--------------------
Antlers
Double Rifle Shooters Society
Heym 450/400 3"


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mickey
.416 member


Reged: 05/01/03
Posts: 4647
Loc: Pend Oreille Valley, Idaho
Re: British Rear Blades [Re: Antlers]
      #163328 - 04/07/10 01:27 PM

I think you want the wide one. It is designed and time tested for quick acquisition of the target. By focusing on the front sight the eye naturally centers the back sight in balance. Much like a peep or ghost sight.

The small opening is a more precise target alignment tool. It is not nearly as fast and in a big bore not needed.

My opinion only and opinions may vary.

--------------------
Lovu Zdar
Mick

A Man of Pleasure, Enterprise, Wit and Spirit Rare Books, Big Game Hunting, English Rifles, Fishing, Explosives, Chauvinism, Insensitivity, Public Drunkenness and Sloth, Champion of Lost and Unpopular Causes.


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CHAPUISARMES
.416 member


Reged: 16/01/08
Posts: 2908
Loc: DUBBO, NSW, AUSTRALIA
Re: British Rear Blades [Re: mickey]
      #163330 - 04/07/10 02:00 PM


Hi Antlers,

I know that this may seem a little from left field but when I worked and carried a pistol as a tool of trade, the most effective sights for me was a 3 dot sight system, a Red dot at the front and two Green dots at the rear and no matter what time of Day or Night, all I had to do was make sure that my sight picture was, "Green, Red, Green" and I knew that I was on target then just squeeze the trigger.

Just my thoughts,

Cheers,

Jeff Gray


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casper50
.400 member


Reged: 18/10/07
Posts: 1446
Loc: Alaska
Re: British Rear Blades [Re: CHAPUISARMES]
      #163353 - 04/07/10 09:00 PM

I have found that the wide shallow rear sight is one of the few iron sights that my old eyes can still use. And it is quick to use.

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Sikahunter
.224 member


Reged: 05/02/09
Posts: 41
Loc: Delaplane, Va. U.S.A.
Re: British Rear Blades [Re: casper50]
      #163362 - 04/07/10 10:59 PM

Antlers

JJ is finishing up a Heym 88B/SS for me right now.

I told him I wanted a standing bar with 2 folding. All of which will have a wide, shallow "V" with gold or platinum vertical lines and front bead. Filed in for dead on hold.

Once I get it back and check it out, I intend to send him three more of my Heyms. The factory sights are indeed poor in my opinion.

To clarify: The Heyms of which I speak are the "baby" Heyms in .300, .375 and 9.3 as well as a model 37B all of which came with the rear notch and front blade. I am not speaking of the nitro express calibre guns which come with, in my opinion, the correct sights.

I am 58 years old and fully agree with casper50's statement.

Don


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Antlers
.275 member


Reged: 27/01/07
Posts: 69
Loc: Alaska
Re: British Rear Blades [Re: Sikahunter]
      #163382 - 05/07/10 05:14 AM

For clarification, my Heym has the wide shallow V blade so that's what I've shot the most, but if you go thru all the pics in the DR Archive (like I did yesterday) an awful lot of the rifles (many big bores) have the smaller sharper-angled V. So I know alot of y'all are shooting this type sight. I've shot friends' rifles with it myself and haven't noticed a big diff between the two, but I really wasn't focused on evaluating the differences b/w the two types.

As I stated in the OP, my biggest challenge is finding the center (and other very experienced DR shooters have expressed the same problem when shooting my rifle); I'm wondering if the smaller V might work better for me.

--------------------
Antlers
Double Rifle Shooters Society
Heym 450/400 3"

Edited by Antlers (05/07/10 05:16 AM)


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93mouse
.375 member


Reged: 17/08/07
Posts: 745
Loc: Slovenia
Re: British Rear Blades [Re: Antlers]
      #163410 - 05/07/10 05:13 PM

IMO there is no straight one and only answer to your question.

There are a lot of differences between shooters - while one thing may work for one it may be totaly useless for the other. Sight picture that one sees sure falls into this category - there are guys that don't need much of affirmation looking through the sights to decide at what point they are aligned, then there are guys that need much more...therefore the steepness of the V depends entirely on you - while one can be prety happy with shallowest V other needs a deepest notch to see it - Your eyes have it! To see a center of the rear is crutial - therefore if you need to have a sharp angled V so be it - you may sacrifice a bit of speed for accuracy and that's not bad at all - you just need to decide on how much.

I'd pick a .22 and try a couple of different rears with it, after finding the one that suits you best I'd apply the resullt on your double.

P.S. Take your time - Don't take any second bests - it is worth it at the end!


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Paul
.400 member


Reged: 28/08/07
Posts: 1031
Loc: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Re: British Rear Blades [Re: 93mouse]
      #163412 - 05/07/10 07:17 PM

I suspect the real reason for the wide V with no flat top is for optional use of a moon sight. Because the moon sight is so much bigger, the flat-topped version could leave the bead sicking out the top.

With ordinary U or V tangent sights, I was taught to align the top of the bead or post with the flat top of the rear sight. You can't do that with a wide pointy-top express sight, so most seem set up to require a 'fine bead' alignment. This works OK on the first shot or the range, but I've heard a couple of professional hunters say clients often shoot high on the second shot - maybe they forget to pull the bead right down into the V in the excitement, esp. when there's no low flat top to remind them to keep it down.

This is not a problem likely to occur with a peep sight, of course.

Edited by Paul (05/07/10 07:19 PM)


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Antlers
.275 member


Reged: 27/01/07
Posts: 69
Loc: Alaska
Re: British Rear Blades [Re: Paul]
      #163451 - 06/07/10 06:23 AM

Quote:

I suspect the real reason for the wide V with no flat top is for optional use of a moon sight. Because the moon sight is so much bigger, the flat-topped version could leave the bead sicking out the top.

With ordinary U or V tangent sights, I was taught to align the top of the bead or post with the flat top of the rear sight. You can't do that with a wide pointy-top express sight, so most seem set up to require a 'fine bead' alignment. This works OK on the first shot or the range, but I've heard a couple of professional hunters say clients often shoot high on the second shot - maybe they forget to pull the bead right down into the V in the excitement, esp. when there's no low flat top to remind them to keep it down.

This is not a problem likely to occur with a peep sight, of course.




That's an interesting theory about the moon sight Paul. It might make sense of something I noticed when going thru all the archives. It was not uncommon to see the wide V on the first blade, but flat topped sharp V blades for the folding blades - I couldn't figure why that was done.

Mouse, I think you may have hit upon the answer, though it makes my decision more difficult. I had hoped that others had dealt with the same question and would pipe in. Thx.

Edited by Antlers (06/07/10 06:30 AM)


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