Choosing a Rear Sight Iris ?

[bored184]

With all the option available how does one choose the correct rear sight iris? Some of the options include colored filters, polarisers and magnification. I am in my mid 30s with OK eyesight but my eyes are extremely light sensitive. If I am not careful I will end up with migraines from eye strain.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[r bose]

This is a tough question and almost impossible to answer for one particular shooter so I'll generalize. I'd say most if not all shooters have no power in their rear sight. Generally, power is added to the front sight. For highpower and palma shooting, I've not seen many shooters use color filters or polarizers built into the rear sight but some do. In my opinion, the more lenses you have between your eye and the target, the more distorted the sight picture can be. FOR ME, I have nothing but an adjustable iris in the rear and adjustable iris in the front with .5 or .75 power in front depending on shooting distance. I have used color clip on glasses attached to my prescription glasses when shooting in very low light (yellow) and "rose" color in very bright light.

I'd look thru as many rifles as you can and try to decide on what to buy depending on what your eye likes.

 

[DR_2297]

Wear a corrective lens to get to whatever your Rx is at distance for a mid range / long range rifle with ample sight radius. This will allow you to focus the front aperture without losing the bull.

You can buy snap in place color & polarizing filters if you think they will help and you want give them a try.

I have tried the rear iris with built in magnification / correction and also with polarizing filters. I always end up back at a simple Gehmann 510 and a lens on my face or contact in my eye.

For Service Rifle (AR) with irons add + 0.75 to your distance Rx. For a Garand or M1A make it +0.5.

 

[Kerry Spurgin]

I would have to agree with these guys. lenses in the rear Iris can be problematic. they come loose they move and above all their small and imperfect - this leads to 9s! If they shift at all and get near the edge of that small lens you will get distortions. keep your lenses on the outside like the Snap-on colors/lenses, shooting glasses, if you need them.

 

[Erud]

Agree with everyone else, the Gehmann 510 is where it’s at.

 

[spclark]

Congratulations on choosing to go with match sights rather than optics, as seems to be the current fashion in high power.

Simple is best. Gehmann's 510 is the most common you'll see out there.

Magnification?

As your birthdays grow in number so may your need for assistance with focusing properly on the sights. When the US NRA made magnification legal at both front and rear a few years back (also legal for shooting under ICFRA rules outside the USA; T2.11) I added an adjustable diopter in front of my rear sight irises, left my Decots in my shooting kit. As my prescription changed I'd buy new lenses for shooting; a variable makes this unnecessary. (Some report issues with those diopters failing but as yet I haven't had that happen to the three I use regularly.)

Filters can be useful but those fitted to rear irises having a bad reputation for coming loose they're not too popular. I and others have a set of filter inserts in rubber rings that fit over the back of 510's & similar irises but it seems they're no longer available here in the USA? Certainly you can buy them from overseas vendors, I don't think there's any restrictions on importing stuff like this yet....

 

[DR_2297]

I have recently been giving this a shot. My distance Rx is only + 0.5 with no astigmatism. This seems to work very well thus far. As long as I wear a hat to cut glare from overhead light.