Adjustable night sights for use on assault rifles or other instruments including tangent sight mounts

Abstract

A method and apparatus to optimize windage adjustment allows the user to leave the front sight post centered and adjust windage using a rugged, compact traversing leaf on the rear sight by replacing the traditionally non-moving rear sight notch with a click adjustable notch of a configuration similar to that seen on a target pistol. A rugged, compact click adjustable mechanism adjusts the windage on the rear sight and the sight leaf contains two or three luminescent elements such as tritium vials in one of three configurations, thereby adding a night sight capability to the rifles.

1 . An adjustable sight adapted for use on a rifle having a tangent sight base, comprising: 
 (a) an elongate rail member or leaf having a hingedly mountable distal end adapted to be hingedly received within the tangent sight base and a free proximal end adjacent a proximal leaf segment having a transverse bore defined therethrough;    (b) said transverse bore being in communication with a transverse slot defined in the proximal end of said leaf;    (c) a sight blade including a proximal sight surface defining a sighting notch and a distally projecting cantilever support carrying a transversely aligned cylinder, wherein said sight blade cylinder has a threaded interior bore;    (d) wherein said sight blade's cylinder is dimensioned to be received within said sight leaf's transverse bore; and    (e) a windage adjustment screw dimensioned to be coaxially received within said sight leaf's transverse bore and to engage said sight blade cylinder's threaded interior bore, wherein said windage adjustment screw has a screw head that projects laterally from an open end of said sight leaf's transverse bore such that when said windage adjustment screw head is rotated, said windage adjustment screw forces said sight blade's cylinder to move laterally in relation to said sight leaf.    
   
   
       2 . The adjustable sight of  claim 1 , wherein said leaf's distal end carries first and second opposing laterally projecting transverse pins, adapted to hingedly engage pin-receiving indentations in the tangent sight base.  
   
   
       3 . The adjustable sight of  claim 1 , wherein said leaf has a surface including graduated range indicia.  
   
   
       4 . The adjustable sight of  claim 1 , wherein said sight blade's proximal sight surface includes a luminescent elements aligned with said sighting notch.  
   
   
       5 . The adjustable sight of  claim 1 , wherein said sight blade's proximal sight surface includes a plurality of luminescent elements arrayed around said sighting notch.  
   
   
       6 . The adjustable sight of  claim 1 , wherein said sight blade's proximal sight surface includes first and second luminescent elements arrayed around said sighting notch.  
   
   
       7 . The adjustable sight of  claim 6 , wherein said sight blade's proximal sight surface includes first and second circular or dot-shaped luminescent elements aligned on the left and right sides of said sighting notch.  
   
   
       8 . The adjustable sight of  claim 6 , wherein said sight blade's proximal sight surface includes first and second elongated or dash-shaped luminescent elements aligned with one another on the left and right sides of said sighting notch.  
   
   
       9 . The adjustable sight of  claim 8 , wherein said sight blade's first and second elongated or dash-shaped luminescent elements are positioned on said sighting surface on the left and right sides of said sighting notch such that, when used with a dot-shaped front sight luminescent element, provide the shooter a “dash-dot-dash” alignment well suited for rapid target acquisition in low light situations.  
   
   
       10 . The adjustable sight of  claim 6 , wherein said sight blade's proximal sight surface includes first, second and third elongated or dash-shaped luminescent elements having said first and second luminescent elements aligned in parallel with one another on the left and right sides of said sighting notch, and wherein said third luminescent element is aligned with the bottom of the sighting notch and is substantially perpendicular to said first and second parallel luminescent elements to provide a U or bucket shaped outline of luminescent elements around said sighting notch.  
   
   
       11 . The adjustable sight of  claim 10 , wherein said sight blade's first and second elongated or dash-shaped luminescent elements are positioned on said sighting surface on the left and right sides of said sighting notch such that, when used with a dot or ball shaped front sight luminescent element, provide the shooter a “ball in a bucket” alignment well suited for rapid target acquisition in low light situations.  
   
   
       12 . The adjustable sight of  claim 1 , wherein said sight is included in a kit including a plurality of sight blades, each having distinct proximal sight surfaces including either (a) a distinct arrangements of luminescent elements arrayed around said sighting notch or (b) a sight surface without luminescent elements, enabling the user to configure the rifle's sights for a selected application.  
   
   
       13 . The adjustable sight of  claim 4 , wherein said sight blade's luminescent element includes tritium.  
   
   
       14 . The adjustable sight of  claim 4 , wherein said sight blade's luminescent element radiates light in a first selected color, and further comprising a front sight having a front luminescent element radiating light in a second color easily distinguished from said first color.  
   
   
       15 . A method for aligning a rifle's the sights, comprising the method steps of: 
 (a) providing a rear sight having a proximal sight surface including first and second elongated or dash-shaped luminescent elements aligned with one another on the left and right sides of a sighting notch defined in said proximal sighting surface;    (b) providing a front sight including at least one round or circular luminescent element; and    (c) aligning the front sight with the rear sight to provide a sight picture having said front sight's circular element centered between said rear sight's first and second elongated or dash-shaped luminescent elements.    
   
   
       16 . A method for aligning a rifle's the sights, comprising the method steps of: 
 (a) providing a rear sight having a proximal sight surface including first and second elongated or dash-shaped luminescent elements aligned vertically and in parallel with one another on the left and right sides of a sighting notch defined in said proximal sighting surface, and having a third luminescent element aligned horizontally and perpendicular to said first and second luminescent elements, along the bottom of the notch, to define a luminous bucket shape;    (b) providing a front sight including at least one ball-shaped or circular luminescent element; and    (c) aligning the front sight with the rear sight to provide a sight picture having said front sight's circular element centered between said rear sight's first and second vertical luminescent elements, and above said third luminescent element, to provide a ‘ball in the bucket’ sight picture.