4 3/4 inch vs. 5.5 inch ... a BIG difference or... not ....

[kennisondan]

Hey guys ... the FA 4 3/4 inch barrelled 475 is presenting a problem.. in the last light the front and rear sights are very fuzzy and the game animal is fuzzy too.... resulting in poor accuracy... on paper and otherwise... I shoot the 5.5 inch guns better by a good margin... is it possible that the extra 3/4 inches of sight radius is enough to make a difference to my eye ? that is not a lot of distance..
I have gotten rid of 4 inch revolvers due to being harder to shoot accurately than the six inchers... and grew up on the six and 7.5 inch barreled large bore guns...
Second : if there is that much difference, how long is it possible that the 5.5 inchers will be ok for my eyes before a 6 o  inch barrel is necessary for good accuracy..?
I  would not want to alter the gun or trade it if the fix is only short term and willl have to let go of my shorter handguns as my eyes go south..
thanks'
\I have read that many folks need longer barrels, other glasses, etc.. for me my deal is hunting deer and poor light happens (twice a day..lol) I had to pass up shots due to the fuzzy sights I could not clear up....
went to the scoped encore and scored easily... see the longer sight radius better than the shorter when the light is poor...
dk

[Lloyd Smale]

I would think that if your rear sight is fuzzy it wouldnt matter what the barrel lenght is its going to stay fuzzy. Dan i to am having more and more problems with my eyes and open sights but it seems to be a problem that isnt barrel lenght specific. I just need to get a pair of glasses. Ive made it 51 years without them but i guess its time to admitt it. Heres the best cure i can think of. You box that 475 up and send it to me and ill send you a grand and you can buy a couple long barreled guns!! I wish i could offer you more but i would have to about sacrafice myself to the old lady to get that much right now!

[Ken ONeill]

Dan,
A GOOD optometrist can help your problem. Take your 4 3/4" gun to the office with you. Be prepared to try a number of different combinations.

[Graybeard]

For me that front sight has been fuzzy for a lot of years and seems to be slowly getting more so. A 6" no longer works all that well for me it really takes a 7.5" or 8-3/8" to pretty much clear it up for decent iron sight work. But the longer 9.5" to 10" barrels really get it to where I need that front sight to be. The rear should be fuzzy really as the front is what you want to see clearly for best accuracy.

None of us were ever really able to see front, rear and target all three clearly even if we once thought we could. The front sight is what MUST be clear for best accuracy. For my eyes if I use glasses to clear up the front tho it makes the target so fuzzy that accurate shooting is just as impossible. Glasses are the answer for many but not for me where my vision is at this time. Getting that front sight out there to where my vision natuarlly begins clearing is the only answer for me for accurate iron sight shooting.

[Luckyducker]

I must be wired up backwards or something!  As my need for more power in my bi-focals the shorter barrels are easier for me to see.  Really I can shoot with open sights better without my glasses on, and that includes shotguns.  I have scoped my 6.5" 41Mag Blackhawk because I just couldn't shoot it well enough with the factory sights to gain confidence in proper shot placement.   

[S.B.]

 As age progresses it becomes harder to focus and change the focal distance, quickly? I'm diabetic so don't see an optomitrist but see an opthomolgist. My question is why are trying to focus on the rear sight?  Don't get me wrong here, I have the same problems as you and many other older shooters. Do you have any other health issues that could affect your vision? Or has your Dr. change or adjusted any medications, lately? Has the amount of physical exersice, you get changed, lately? Life's a bi**h and then we die.

[.357 shooter]

Here is my take. I wear glasses but I have found that I can see the sights on all my handguns alot better than the open sights on my Marlins. I am not sure if it is because the sight radius or the different type of sights, ramp verse post sights? But also I was also trained in law enforcement to have the rear fuzzy the front sight clear and the target just a tad out of focus. So for me I like the whole target out of focus and just pick a spot on the target I want to hit. Kind of like archery. This system works for me. I am not sure I explained that very clear?

[Heavy C]

Dan,

Do you wear glasses now?  I'm near sighted and once I saw an eye doctor and got me some glasses.  It allowed me to not only focus on the target but the front sight as well.

Someone else asked about other health issues.  I'm a diabetic and on those days when I've a rough day with my blood sugars; everything is blurry even with glasses.  Ain't it fun getting old. 

BTW, I'm enjoying the Linebaugh.   

[kennisondan]

Hello Helpful Handgunners; Appreciate all the responses. IN reverse order : Heavy C : yep glasses and the script changes yearly, and I am a bit behind on it cause I thought it was ok till I tried shooting in poor light and the front sight turned to a hallucination at best..I am not diabetic that I know of, but I do have blood pressure and arthritic problems and take new meds for all that stuff now, so there is a consideration to look into .. BTW : glad you like the linebaugh, what is there not to like unless the front sight is fuzzy or something... lol ///

357Shooter : at close ranges it would not make a difference but the front is really fuzzy in the poor light and over 60 yards on a brown deer on dark mud in the shadows is fairly safe broadside, it would seem. I shoot instinctive long bow and have not gotten the hang of the little gun well enough yet for any point shooting, but if I do not see the sights better than lately, it could benefit to lose the distraction and misplaced reliance on them... longer sight radiuses were always better for staying steady on hold for me, but I can see the front best when far out there including on the end of my marlin 45 70 cowboy model...a change of glasses would be cheaper than a change of barrel, I guess but I will not give up on it for sure... my bow shooting is so on and off I will not discuss it in public unless it is on a good day..

SB : health issues and meds are all different and changing; I am not trying to use the rear sight in focus either, but nothing is fucused or crisp at any time right now, except my scopes and they are not as good as they could be once I strain my eyes too long; as to physical activity, that has changed slightly from little to none, and I am having symptoms like the blockage in my arteries is either worse or the blood pressure meds are ineffective sometimes and I get dizzy, and short of breath too.. but there is only a little time left to the season and I have much to do.... so assuming I survive the rest of the season I will see my heart doc and my Rheumat. Doc and an Eye Doc too.. I hope they are not too fuzzy to identify when I finally get around to that -- lol I  do want a bit more of life before I die so let is B)))tch On Baby... a couple of hunts I made I walked with a cane and struggled to enter a tree stand got more stoved up and wondered how to get down without it being the really fast way like falling... I hunted on the ground when it was too bad to get in a stand at all, .. but I still gotta see the front sight to feel good about the shot, and was amazed how bad that sight picture got to be around dark.. looks kinda funny when you bring a lot of different guns out with you to try to shoot a one hundred pound doe...

Ducky Lucker : you are wired backwards but the scope will help even you as it helps me.. shot three shots with the encore scoped and got the game each and every time... no fuzz there for me.... we gotta do something, right ?

GB : I am wondering if the problem for you and I will need similar remedies... did Smale get you to sell all your shorter guns to him with that "wife story " he threw on me, too ? the target was a terrible blur and the sights were double triple imiages of little value... and I so want to put the crush on a front shoulder with some 400 plus grain medicine before the year is out... when I left the little rascal at home, the deer in great light ran up to me and posed and dawdled the morning away, too close for me to take a shot with the gun I was using and call it anything much enjoyable... a spear may have been a challenge, if it was not too long and still required a throw to connect.. lol

Ken O Neill : I will take the little rascal to the optometrist and heck, may just run by the pharmacy and the bank, too I bet they all give me fast courteous service at no charge to boot....lol..... I will call an Eye Guy and tell him I am coming in armed .. in advance to avoid the confiscation confrontation problems that can occur... I do hope that either multi focals or special glasses can take care of it, I am determined to work it out or make some changes, but I love the shorter than seven inch guns now that I have carried them, and I still love the sights I got, I shoot them great in good light at least... I shoot no irons good in poor light right now... and am not even sure I still shooot the five and a half inchers Okay at dark thirty.. have not tried in a while, since I went with the littlest gun this season and stuck with it. ..

Lloyd Smale : I was about to take the easy way out, and just send the gun to you but I checked with your wife and she said you cannot have another gun for any price and further that, once I get my eyeball problems Ironed out, so to speak, that there were a couple of guns that she was going to make you sell for about a grand each... sort of to reverse the flow for a while... I tried to talk her out of it, but settled on that 500 Linebaugh you have posted pics of on occasion; and decided not to wait till I get the eyes right, since the price was reeeeeeeelllllly decent.... check (to her ) is in the mail ... glad you got plenty more than that one and the other one I am about to send the bucks for .... I knew you would want me to have it... bein as we are tight.... lol  ..... yep Lloyd go on and get your first set of glasses... whippersnappin' young pup.... bout time .... hope they have to be at least bi focalled numbers with geezer frames.... LOL

Kennison dan : you are not even "up" to shooting... you should be used to "short barrels and fuzzy targets" cause I heard.....(wait that's me.... Uh delete that remark ....)
in closing  :

New glasses; then if not OK new barrel vs. new gun becomes the question, I guess... anyone try that laser surgery in order to better shoot the iron sights ? scopes on my little packn pistols seems so high tech, but eye implant or RK surgery just like in the old west would be OK... I guess, whatcha think handgunners ?
dk

[Lloyd Smale]

guess i dont know what all the fuss is about seeing your sights. Im a pour enough shooter that it doesnt matter if i see the target or the sights anyway. Hell it just makes it more of a challange. If i wanted easy id take out a 300 weatherby with a 4x16 scope on it.

[S.B.]

One thing you should remember, "It's the boy with the most toys(when you die) that wins this game", and then your widow and her new boyfriend can auction them off, for pennies on the dollar? hehehe.
I had a friend who was a top ranked(close to Illinois State Pistol Champion) bullseye shooter we used to joke with Jack and tell him, we'd buy all his guns from his widow, after his death but, having been one of his pallbearers, he must of had them all in the coffin with him for he was a skinny man and that coffin weighed more than any two men we ran with, most were beefy men?

[kennisondan]

admission :
Master SMale :  I did cop out and shot meat for dad to claim with my AR style 308 and 4-14 IOR scope; and netted a doe for a little dinner with my scoped 15inch encore 308 as well... wished I had had the open sighted gun on the bike with me as it was duck soup with the encore..but impressive power for sure on the doe and two huge bobcats one morning recently.. I am going to the eye doc today if possible and we will see ( pun intended ) if nothing else works I will shoot enough to not use the sights and use it like my stick bow... If I had tried that I would have done better on the short shot insted of relying on and being limited by sights I could not see well enough to use but would not ignore and just shoot... lol
SB : I am gonna leave my guns in great shape for the next guy... and two other things too.... I want a letter in the paper that I died of a combination of many venereal diseases shared by my sweetie and me that proved incurable and deadly.... and I willl leave some compressed charge reloads stoked with the wrong powder all boxed and packaged with each weapon it is intended to blow to smithereens.... lol
at my funeral the only thing I want in the box with me is one of those battery operated laughing boxes and a boom box playing some old rock tunes and war protest era ballads and jerry jeff walker and Kris Kristofferson and parrot head songs .... and I want a Keg and a wet bar and live entertainment.... my friends will know not to shoot the reloads... they are for boy friends.... My will will amuse and surprise many as well...
but I am not dead ... I am just visually impaired and deaf and stoved up with arthritis and a few old injuries and a big dose of living like I am dying .... I am gonna fix them eyes and take the meds and go shoot before the weekend just cause...
dk
 

[S.B.]

May you be in Heaven three days before the devil knows your dead. Live hard and die fast, who wants to die with a perfect body? I'm going to try my best to wear mine out, completely.

[Sweetwater]

The first day you are in Heaven, you will notice that everything is a lot clearer, and nothing hurts!

I have not done this, I'm still convincing myself that I can see open sights well enough for what I use them, and the scopes on my long guns all work well for me, BUT...several years ago my younger hunting buddy, who had been wearing glasses since childhood and could not see across a room, had LASIK surgery, followed the recoup instructions to the letter, and now, 7 years later, he still does not wear glasses for any reason. He (we) had to redefine his shooting technique as now he really could see the open sights and knew what the target looked like without a pair of field glasses.
No I do not own stock in LASIK. I just saw what it could do. My stepson had it performed last year and also sees things differently now. My company insurance won't cover it, so I'm stuck until a change is made. The cost would have to come out of my gun fund and I'm unwilling to stoop to that.

Regards,
Sweetwater

[.357 shooter]

I thought about Lasiks, But then realized I would miss that frog peeping through foggy Ice feeling.

[paul105]

I'm in my early 60s, and have the same problems described above.  I've tried a number of different things short of going to the eye doctor.  Most were real compromises.  If I could see the front sight clearly, I couldn't see the target, and actually had trouble walking because of the magnification.   I found that with a minimum diopter (1.25x) in my case, I can see the front (FA & S&W fiber optic) sight clearly, without the other problems.  I've been using these magnifying shooting glasses for all my shooting with iron sights.  They are reasonably priced, and might be worth a try.  If they don't work, you won't be out a lot of money.

http://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/category/magnifying-safety-glasses.html

Paul