AGENT TIKKI
New member
Ghost rings on a handguns? I have them on my shottie and they work great. I'm looking for some new night sights on my Glock and am astounded they make em for handguns....anyone have personal experience with em?
Ghost Rings on a handgun?
- Thread starter AGENT TIKKI
- Start date
The best handgun ghost ring BY FAR is the Goshen Hexsite:
http://www.goshen-hexsite.com/index2.htm
The Glock version could, with some work, be adapted fairly well to a lot of other guns. Not mine though, just too far off...so...with Tim's permission I've been developing my personally owned semi-clone and while it's beyond funky in the looks dept. and needs custom holsters, damned if it doesn't work extremely well:
This is a target-focus setup - the sights work despite both front and rear being blurry. It feels like it lines up automagically behind your eye, wherever you look. Read the most detailed review so far for more details:
http://www.goshen-hexsite.com/pdf/Handguns_2008June.pdf
Despite being all-black front and rear, it still works as long as there's enough light to ID the target. By keeping the sights dead black they are always darker than the target and your "subconscious" can still use them. You have to practice sighting with them in the dark before you'll believe they work but once you do, it's just beyond cool. And with a target-focus setup, keeping both eyes open is easy. It feels like a red dot sight except there's no actual red dot - and there's also no batteries, wires or glass.
http://www.goshen-hexsite.com/index2.htm
The Glock version could, with some work, be adapted fairly well to a lot of other guns. Not mine though, just too far off...so...with Tim's permission I've been developing my personally owned semi-clone and while it's beyond funky in the looks dept. and needs custom holsters, damned if it doesn't work extremely well:
This is a target-focus setup - the sights work despite both front and rear being blurry. It feels like it lines up automagically behind your eye, wherever you look. Read the most detailed review so far for more details:
http://www.goshen-hexsite.com/pdf/Handguns_2008June.pdf
Despite being all-black front and rear, it still works as long as there's enough light to ID the target. By keeping the sights dead black they are always darker than the target and your "subconscious" can still use them. You have to practice sighting with them in the dark before you'll believe they work but once you do, it's just beyond cool. And with a target-focus setup, keeping both eyes open is easy. It feels like a red dot sight except there's no actual red dot - and there's also no batteries, wires or glass.
To properly work the ghost ring must be near the eye !The ring then automatically centers to the eye.
That means on a long gun they work fine!
I've used a ghost ring on rifles and they are very accurate and fast.
On a handgun the ring is away from the eye thus the centering effect is not there !!!
That means on a long gun they work fine!
I've used a ghost ring on rifles and they are very accurate and fast.
On a handgun the ring is away from the eye thus the centering effect is not there !!!
scorpion_tyr
New member
Nothing wrong with 3-dot Trijicons 
That's the "Goshdarn Hacksite Mk4".
The Mk5 has been built by a local machinist but not installed yet - been too busy during election season. Once I get it on, it will need new leather that covers the sights - because I'm not allowed to post pics or show it off. It uses design elements Tim Sheehan invented but hasn't actually used yet. Kinda like how next year's Corvette is road-tested wrapped at least partially in cardboard .
But seriously. Tim has come up with something genuinely new.
Think of it this way. Starting in the '50s Jack Weaver came up with a change in how you shoot a gun with sights, moving away from the old target shooting system and moving towards a combat-oriented use of the sights. Cooper and all those other guys followed. But they were all still using target sights. Three-dots and tritiums and the like tried to move away from pure target sights but really, didn't move far enough away.
Tim Sheehan has come up with the next step away from target-oriented sighted fire to to combat-oriented, without diverting into electronics along the way.
Now, there's somebody else even better known in gunnie circles who is also barking up the target-focus tree. Gabe Suarez. But here's where he's going:
http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?p=620163 - don't worry about the text, just look at the pics.
He's advocating small electronic sights, but because they're not totally reliable he's advocating a second set of plain black iron sights set radically tall so they can be seen right through the glass.
The net complexity of THAT system hardly needs commentary. You use the glass sight target-focus but the iron sights front-sight-focus. And if the glass fogs up bad enough you might still find yourself hosed. Plus your front sight is so tall you get holster compatibility issues even with holsters where the electronic sight fits.
Tim's system gives you a target-focus hold, easy use of both eyes and all the rest of the advantages of red dots without the complexity and mess (and holster compatibility problems!!!) of the sort of thing Gabe advocates.
The Mk5 has been built by a local machinist but not installed yet - been too busy during election season. Once I get it on, it will need new leather that covers the sights - because I'm not allowed to post pics or show it off. It uses design elements Tim Sheehan invented but hasn't actually used yet
. Kinda like how next year's Corvette is road-tested wrapped at least partially in cardboard .But seriously. Tim has come up with something genuinely new.
Think of it this way. Starting in the '50s Jack Weaver came up with a change in how you shoot a gun with sights, moving away from the old target shooting system and moving towards a combat-oriented use of the sights. Cooper and all those other guys followed. But they were all still using target sights. Three-dots and tritiums and the like tried to move away from pure target sights but really, didn't move far enough away.
Tim Sheehan has come up with the next step away from target-oriented sighted fire to to combat-oriented, without diverting into electronics along the way.
Now, there's somebody else even better known in gunnie circles who is also barking up the target-focus tree. Gabe Suarez. But here's where he's going:
http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?p=620163 - don't worry about the text, just look at the pics.
He's advocating small electronic sights, but because they're not totally reliable he's advocating a second set of plain black iron sights set radically tall so they can be seen right through the glass.
The net complexity of THAT system hardly needs commentary. You use the glass sight target-focus but the iron sights front-sight-focus. And if the glass fogs up bad enough you might still find yourself hosed. Plus your front sight is so tall you get holster compatibility issues even with holsters where the electronic sight fits.
Tim's system gives you a target-focus hold, easy use of both eyes and all the rest of the advantages of red dots without the complexity and mess (and holster compatibility problems!!!) of the sort of thing Gabe advocates.
what about half ring?
Here's my hipoint with a half ghost ring, sweeeet!
Acquiring a target at 25 yards is super easy, at the range that is. I'm not talking self defense
The secret of a ghost ring is not to focus directly on it, just put it in front of your eye sight line, by the way they derive from the sights on some machine guns and anti aircraft guns.
In any case a red dot is the closest thing.
Here's my hipoint with a half ghost ring, sweeeet!
Acquiring a target at 25 yards is super easy, at the range that is. I'm not talking self defense
The secret of a ghost ring is not to focus directly on it, just put it in front of your eye sight line, by the way they derive from the sights on some machine guns and anti aircraft guns.
In any case a red dot is the closest thing.
AGENT TIKKI
New member
With a long tube to sight down, it does not have to be close to the eye in order to center. If your angle is off, you will not be able to see down the tube.... It just the Hexsite seems a little to old school and a little too heavy.
Any more info the Mk5?
btw. Gonna have to check out that paint, Gatpardo!
Any more info the Mk5?
btw. Gonna have to check out that paint, Gatpardo!
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Once you're looking down the tube, you can't see the tube at all. It's obscured by the rear hex aperture piece (a cut-up section of 7mm socket in the Mk4).
Really, it doesn't feel much different to shoot than real Hexsites, which I've now experimented with at Tim's shop once on plastic guns.
The tube is there for just one reason: to shade both the front and rear sights from glinting. As a bonus it turns out to make the draw a lot slicker from a holster built for it.
With *any* sight, you should be able to get close to a proper alignment with your eyes closed - that means you've practiced enough presentations. The sights are then able to get you that last 2% or so onto the target (which even at 15yds is the difference between a hit or miss). With any sight, the issue is "how fast can it deliver that last 2%?". The Hexsite/Hacksite wins big because once you've looked at the target to ID it as something worth shooting, you don't have to shorten your focus back to the front sight - and then possibly back out to the target and back if something changes out there.
Really, it doesn't feel much different to shoot than real Hexsites, which I've now experimented with at Tim's shop once on plastic guns.
The tube is there for just one reason: to shade both the front and rear sights from glinting. As a bonus it turns out to make the draw a lot slicker from a holster built for it.
With *any* sight, you should be able to get close to a proper alignment with your eyes closed - that means you've practiced enough presentations. The sights are then able to get you that last 2% or so onto the target (which even at 15yds is the difference between a hit or miss). With any sight, the issue is "how fast can it deliver that last 2%?". The Hexsite/Hacksite wins big because once you've looked at the target to ID it as something worth shooting, you don't have to shorten your focus back to the front sight - and then possibly back out to the target and back if something changes out there.
That is an interesting sight. It certainly does what the maker says, highlighting the target. It is similar to the round peep sight on the M1 Carbine, and a couple of other rifles. I look over the sights when I do combat shooting with a handgun, so I wonder if the hexsite would compromise that picture? I would like to try them out somehow. Thanks for the informative post.
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
I have about a 1/2 dozen long guns & revolvers I've set up like this...
( Common Williams Fiber Optic Ghost Ring rear sights, coupled with common fiber optic front sights )
doing so requires a custom dovetail adjustable sight base for my revolvers, but they should fit on quite a few semi autos that already have the dove tail rear slot...
more on handgun ghost rings & some more details & pics of my set ups here...
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=421452
( Common Williams Fiber Optic Ghost Ring rear sights, coupled with common fiber optic front sights )
doing so requires a custom dovetail adjustable sight base for my revolvers, but they should fit on quite a few semi autos that already have the dove tail rear slot...
more on handgun ghost rings & some more details & pics of my set ups here...
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=421452
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AGENT TIKKI
New member
In your experience does it allow you focus more on target acquisition, and can you do it more quickly than with traditional 3 dots?