licking your front sight (sort of)

[bnail]

Anyone know how the hollywood tradition of licking your thumb and swiping it on the front sight of the rifle got started? What the heck is supposed to be getting accomplished by this?

 

[walruskid1]

knocking down the glare as per sgt york.

 

[bnail]

Walruskid:
Did hey state as such? I'm curious, did Sgt York ever write a memoire, I'd love to read that!
It seems to me that by rubbing your thumb on the front sight, you're effectively polishing it; thereby making it shinier.
appreciate the answer. :thumbsup:

 

[LRB]

Skagun, I believe you are right. With a silver blade it should not be needed. If mine gets dull, I rub it with a stick. Shine comes right back. I may be wrong, damn, that coudn't be, but I think this is just another Hollywood thing. I have tried it, and do not see any difference.

 

[walruskid1]

i'm kind of partial to smoking my front sight with a carbide lamp. i'm pretty sure that was in the movie, i'll have to dig out the tape and watch it again. i think it was when he was at the turkey shoot.

 

[Zonie]

I suspect the folks who can see a deer tick on the ear of a 12 point buck at 90 yards might wipe the front sight off to get the dust and fuzz off of it. It might mess up their aim if a piece of lint was there. :: ::

Movie directors pick up on (or add) little things like this to add suspense to the scene. I mean, how suspenseful would it be if Ole Jake just picked up Ole Flyswatter, primed it and fired?

It's even better if he slowly takes aim, squints a few times, lowers the rifle, wipes the sweat from his forehead, then licks his finger and wipes off his front sight, takes aim again and then fires while the camera refocuses on the fly walking across the X on the wooden block (200 yards away) which suddenly becomes a hole in the target. Much rejoicing is then heard in the background as he takes the Deed from Smeddlys hands and gives poor Nellie back the rights to her 3 acre farm.
:applause: :applause:

 

[CrackStock]

I filed a slight bevel cut across the top edge of my front sight to catch the light and make this area more visible. I will rub the fouling from it at times to make sure that the bevel stays shiny and bright.
(That's my story and I'm stickin to it!)

CS

 

[bnail]

I used a carbide lamp when I was shot competition (never legged though). when we shot for qualification, there was a smudge pot burning so we could blacken our sights. you can even buy "sigh black" to spray on, but you had to be sure to take it off at the end of the day, or your groups would begin dropping as the builkd up on the front sight post increased. blacking my front sight was all I've ever known. I can't stand a shiny front sight now. :shake:

 

[Pork Chop]

In the Foxfire books, there is discussion of using bone for front sights. The rationale was that the bone (or silver) would be easier to see in thick woods as they picked up more light. If you had a low light level, then keeping the sight clean would make sense. In the southeast where I have hunted, there are places that are almost dark as night during the daytime. I could see needing a brighter front sight in there.

 

[Halftail]

I used to try an Smoke my front sight with a burning Candle,It worked but a Black Marker works just as good,so that's what I use now.

 

[hobbles]

Zonie
Well wrote my friend,, heck,, I felt that one,,,,,,

 

[rudy parnell]

There is an old guy that lives around here, that is a seven generations removed Cherokee Chief. His family fled to the hills rather than march to Oklahoma on the "Trail of Tears" The government hung the people that hid out and at least one of them was his ancestor.So, he lost his status in the Tribe. Well to get on with the story this person is the best trout fisherman and hunter that you ever saw. Can walk out of anywhere in the pitch dark of night. Unbelievable with dogs! He will lick his thumb and touch it to his front sight in the dark of night and knock a coon out of the tallest of tree. I doubt very seriously if he has ever watched any TV to amount to anything. I asked him why he did "it" one time and he just grinned and said,"I just do". It was so dark that he couldn't have seen the front sight if he'd of wanted too!

 

[Stumpkiller]

I took a fine single-cut file and dragged it sideways across the radius of my silver sight a few times. With the grooves instead of against them. Looks like the edge of a dime but finer. Seems to make the world of difference by scattering the glare.

I can see where licking your thumb and wiping the sight might be wise in the muddy trenches of WWI, but he was doing that ta' home long before.

Gives ye time ta' think and psychs out the opponents. Just remember to lick your thumb BEFORE ye scratches yer . . . well, lets not go into my top secret shootin match routine in a public forum.

I blow snow, ice and water out of my rear sight frequently here in the Great White North.

 

[Deadeye]

Putting spit on the front sight wasn't to wipe anything off.
Just the opposite, the spit made the sight shine so he could see it better.

 

[bnail]

That's the conclusion I reach. It just goes against my grain to have a shiny front sight though, unless your surroundings are too dark to see a blackend sight. And, having said that, I just had a silver front sight put on my Bess, I'm curious how I'm going to like so much brightwork down there. :hmm:

 

[musketman]

It seems to me that by rubbing your thumb on the front sight, you're effectively polishing it; thereby making it shinier.
appreciate the answer. :thumbsup:

Depends on what you have in your mouth at the time, chewing tobaccy would make for some brownish spit...

 

[CG6018]

A few years ago when ants became extinct and the world went fuzzy, I noticed that it seemed to adversely affect my shooting scores as well. Maybe a wad of gum might help some if I could find it in blaze orange, but I don't think a mere swipe of spit can help much anymore.

 

[bnail]

A few years ago when ants became extinct and the world went fuzzy

You're right, I ain't seen them buggers around in a while myself! Hmm, wonder where they went? :hmm:

 

[gordy]

I've always doubted that rubbing spit on the front sight did more than clean off the dust and fuzz.Some say the moisture cuts down on the glare,never worked for me.For the most part I blacken the front "and" rear sights,used to be that the Army kept smoke lamps along the fireing line to blacken the sights,(M-1 Garands) Don't know what the policy is now. :front:

 

[bnail]

I used smudge pots in the Marine Corps well into the 90s. I'm willing to bet they still do it. though you can buy sight black at the PX and many shooters use that. I had a can in my shooting bag, but I preferred the soot.