Chicken exhaust, or should I get a new attitude?

[gunfish]

I use a center hold on the target. I have discovered that applying white paint to the top of the front sight on my M1 and 03 rifles helps me stay on center. The paint is only on the top edge of the sight, less than a millimeter tall. I loaned one of my rifles to a fellow competitor and I was informed that this is not legal for CMP Garand and Sprigfield matches.

The reasoning was that the rifle was not issued with white paint on the sight and is therefore not within the rules. Now I have great respect for rules, otherwise anarchy would exist and I don't want that.

Howener the rifle was not issued with a shooting coat, sticky stuff, spotting scope, shooting mat, shooting glove, and a bunch of other stuff that folks use when competing.

I have several ways to make the sight stand out on the bull so I am not asking for suggestions unless someone wants to share a pet technique. I would like comments regarding whether I should get a modified attitude or just accept this CS as part of the joy of the shooting experience.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[limazulu]

I use a center hold on the target. I have discovered that applying white paint to the top of the front sight on my M1 and 03 rifles helps me stay on center. The paint is only on the top edge of the sight, less than a millimeter tall. I loaned one of my rifles to a fellow competitor and I was informed that this is not legal for CMP Garand and Sprigfield matches.

The reasoning was that the rifle was not issued with white paint on the sight and is therefore not within the rules. Now I have great respect for rules, otherwise anarchy would exist and I don't want that.

I had a discussion on the old forum regarding the same topic. The consensus was that it was legal because the rifle didn't come with sight black on the front sight either and the rules don't say anything about the color IIRC.

I have the same trouble at 200 yards the sight blends with the black bulls eye. I tried a different color but where I shot, it was so dark that the color wasn't vibrant enough.

I suppose another option would be to have glasses that brought the focus closer to the front sight giving you a slightly fuzzy bulls eye. I find the 600 yard bulls eye much easier to contrast with my front sight for that reason.

Hopefully others will chime in.

[Maury Krupp]

There is a lot of old info, hearsay, and just plain wrong crap that gets foisted off on shooters in the name of "da rulez"

When some "X-spurt" tells you X or Y "isn't legal" ask them to point to the applicable chapter and verse in the rulebook.

If they can't then they're FOS and you're free to ignore them.

FWIW, blacking sights (ie, changing their color) along with painting witness and other marks on competition rifles (sights, gas cylinders, etc) have been done for years and are an accepted part of the game.

Maury

[Patrick Chadwick]

Limazulu, you are right in your supposition with regard to glasses. Assuming that, like me, you are no longer a teenager, there is no way you can see bull and blade sharply at the same time.

Fuzzy bullseye and sharp blade works. Sharp bullseye and fuzzy blade results in one of those targets where the shots are spread up and down in a roughly vertical line, so it looks as if the target would fall into two halves if you carried on long enough! The effect is less with a real blade (Swiss G or K type rifles, or Swedish Mauser) but disastrous with a Mauser inverted-V type foresight.

My personal solution is to have glases that are optimized to see the foresight blade sharper than the bull. But the typical optician will provide car-driver's glasses (optimized for about 25 yards) which are nbg for shooting, unless you insist that you want something different. There are specialists for shooting glasses, and in my experience it's worth finding one.

Sights were being blacked way back in the days of black powder and "Schuetzen" rifles. Just about anything you can think of with regard to bolt-action rifles was already known and tried in the 19th century.

As to the rest of the "rulez", as a teenage cadet I had to learn to shoot a full-bore rifle with only a shirt, a training that teaches you to have the rifle under proper control. In fact, I rather looked down on those who needed shooting jacket, hat, gloves etc to be able to shoot, being accustomed to shoot in whatever clothes I happened to be wearing. I cannot afford that superior attitude these days, but I still think that all this special gear is not in the "spirit of the original".

"The rifle was not issued with a shooting coat, sticky stuff, spotting scope, shooting mat, shooting glove, and a bunch of other stuff that folks use when competing." O how I agree, but just think a moment about the purpose for which the rifle was originally issued. Not to make holes in paper...

Patrick