![hiviz-14.jpg](/media/rhbpyqcy/hiviz-14.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=987&height=551&rnd=132889865860530000&quality=60)
Many action pistol shooters, especially those with “older eyes,” prefer fiber-optic front sights. They’re fast to find. But, not all popular competition handguns come with them. That was a situation I recently faced with my Ruger MKIV .22 LR pistol.
![HIVIZ Front Sight Kit for Ruger MKIV .22 LR pistol](/media/22ljgyzs/hiviz-27.jpg?quality=60)
Cataracts had kept me from competing with iron sights for the last couple of years. The factory black front blade wasn’t an issue since I was running a reflex sight for Steel Challenge RFPO. Cataract surgery changed that, and I wanted to shoot that gun in Rimfire Pistol Iron Sight (RFPI). I had only fired one RFPI match since the recent surgery, while testing a Kel-Tec CP33, and wasn’t classified. It was a simple matter to pop off the Burris FastFire III reflex sight from the MKIV, zero the iron sights and head to a match.
I was quite disappointed. My “new eyes” let me see the sights clearly. But finding that black front blade quickly, and getting it aligned with the rear sight and then onto a plate, was like a frenzied game of “Where’s Waldo?” Maybe that’s because I was so used to seeing the red dot from my reflex sights on the white plates and the brain didn’t quite compute. But, it wasn’t fun.
A quick look through the Shop Ruger website showed a HIVIZ fiber-optic replacement front sight (#84147, $39.60) for the MK series of .22 LR pistols. I used a similar HIVIZ unit on my two GP-100 competition revolvers and was happy with them.
Like the GP-100 sights, it came with interchangeable, reusable fiber-optic rods in red and green—along with a solid white (which I had found works very well on indoor ranges). A small tube was included to house them.
![HIVIZ Fiber Optic Sight replacement](/media/sq0hh0j0/hiviz-28.jpg?quality=60)
The sight was simple to install—unscrew the existing front sight and screw on the HIVIZ. They were identical except for the .090 FO rod. A replacement screw was included but I used the existing screw, added a drop of Blue Loc-Tite and was done. The first three-round sight-in group from my 25-yard benchrest showed the impact point was right in the middle of the FO dot. I didn’t have to touch the sight setting.
That bright red FO front sight made a big difference! My first eight-stage match with the black front sight classified me in lower C Class RFPI. One eight-stage match later, with the new front sight, I advanced to middle B Class. That’s a huge jump in one match. And the only change was the front sight.
HIVIZ offers FO replacement sights for virtually all popular competition handguns. They can brighten up your day.