Rear FO Sight for Shady Conditions?

[rdtompki]

I'm running a 9mm 1911 in Steel Challenge with an adjustable rear sight and FO front. The firing line at our short practice range is almost always in shade and even with my competition shooting glasses focused on the sights (actually, the front sight of course), I simply don't get a great sight picture. Shot a match today in bright sunlight and the sights simply jumped out at me. I need to replace/repair my rear sight in any event and I'm thinking an FO rear would help greatly in these practice sessions, but it's not an inexpensive experiment. Shooting my H&K P2000 with three dot sights under the same conditions I do believe the dots help achieve faster sight alignment - it's a bit of apples and oranges, but all I've got.

Any thoughts/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, I used my backup gun at the match and I liked the trigger more than #1, but that might be my much greater success in scoring hits.

[PPGMD]

I would paint your front sight a bright color like orange.

[BN]

Something to try that won't cost much: Try putting a little dot of paint on your fiber and beside the rear notch on each side. Basically make 3 dot sights. If you are shooting at white steel plates, then use orange or green paint.

A rear fiber optic won't show up much in the shade.

I like a wide rear notch, but that is personal. Everybody doesn't like the same sights.

[HCM]

Fiber optics in the rear won't show up well in the shade and they will overpower your front sight in brighter light. I would look at a rear site with a wider notch and consider painting your front sight orange or bright green as suggested above.

[rdtompki]

Agree with all above. If I had an FO rear I would black out the fiber in bright sunlight. In thinking about things last night I'm going to initially head in a different direction. My shooting glasses are photochromic with a 20-80% transmission range. I suspect in the shade the lenses aren't transitioning near the 80% for a variety of reasons. So - I'm going to try a few shots next time out with my reading glasses probably covered with safety glasses. I'm also going to investigate whether clear or yellow lenses might work best. The single prescription lenses aren't cheap, but a straight color would be less expensive than the photochromic.

I'll also try the orange paint on the front sight, but I think what I'm suffering from most is that the top of the rear sight blade is not crisp - maybe some orange paint there?

BTW, other than this in-shade condition the photochromic lenses work great outdoors. My wife and I don't do any indoor shooting, but I certainly would want either clear or yellow(?) for that environment.

[HopetonBrown]

If you shoot 3 dots faster than 1 dot that is certainly a possibility, but you are in a very small minority. I'd suggest employing a shot timer to validate your theory.

[rdtompki]

If you shoot 3 dots faster than 1 dot that is certainly a possibility, but you are in a very small minority. I'd suggest employing a shot timer to validate your theory.

I'm fine with black sights (with or without front FO). The shade situation, unfortunately, is our practice range, but I think clear, prescription shooting glasses will help a great deal. I can conduct an inexpensive experiment by using my regular, progressive glasses with clear safety goggles, but I suspect this will "prove" that clear glasses will really help.