Open Sights

[nmkid]

So, I have always had a bad problem shooting open sights. I can only focus on one of the sights at a time. One will be sharp and the other will be blurry. One of my nephews was telling me he read that using a ' rear peep' sight will help me solve that problem. Is he yanking my chain?

 

[rlporter507]

no, a rear peep acts like a diopter and will allow you to see the front sight better. you can only focus at one distance at a time. front sight is the one to focus on.

 

[mmcu]

Your nephew is correct.

Generally speaking, the closer the peep sight is to your eye, the better it will work for you (i.e.: Garand).

Barrel mounted peeps sights that are further away from your eye do not work as well (i.e.: barrel mounted dovetail).

 

[Steve Donlon]

Peep sights are great but my eyes are beyond peep sights anymore, so I have to use a white dot in the front and just hold at 6 o'clock with a white line in the center of the rear sight. Just line them up.

 

[K22]

When I was in the Army we trained with the M16 which had peep sights. Of course I had good eyesight in those days in my 20's, but even so, they were amazingly effective even shooting out to 300 meters.

I agree with post #2, the rear peep acts as a diopter creating a sharper front sight image. The front sight is the key in open sight shooting; it must be crystal clear to an effective open sight shooter whether it be rifle or pistol.

The Army Marksmanship Pistol manual makes this point quite clear. The human eye can only focus on one object at a time. Thus, the rear sight and target will not be as sharp. One of the most difficult elements in training open sight shooters is to get them to focus on the front sight rather than the target. If done correctly, the target will be slightly blurred, but the front sight will be sharp.

 

[gdbleb]

no, a rear peep acts like a diopter and will allow you to see the front sight better. you can only focus at one distance at a time. front sight is the one to focus on.

This. I am assuming you are shooting rifle. Us XTC folks used to buy different aperture sizes as the smaller ones get you a greater depth of field and thus you could see the front sight crystal clear and the target wouldn't be totally fuzzy. It was a trial & error thing for your eyes. Then we got Bob Jones lenses for the rear sight. Then we got micro-sights (another story), Then finally scopes. I may yet go back to a Warner and a Stallings.