Which Is Better for Seeing Sights and Targets?

[Scott Kurki, 12475]

I know thereare a lot of variables and personal preferences involved but from anscientific/educated perspective, which should be better for shooting with ironsights:

1. an aperture on glasses with open sights
2. a peep sight without an aperture
3. an aperture with a peep sight?

[Fred Jr]

Personally I never liked a peep sight. As my eyes got older (just my eyes) I went to the Merit. Later as they eyes kept getting older I had special glasses made for shooting and also used the Merit. The glasses made the site clear and the Merit made the target clear. Don't know what I'll do next, maybe some one will develop a shooting-eye dog!

[John Holland]

The answer lies in your own eyesight as it is, or has been, or will be, affected by the natural aging process. That is why you see so many "older shooters" using a musket with some form of long range sight to get the rear sight farther down the barrel so the sights become clear again. When that no longer works you will then see them with a plethora of diopters, etc.

Maturing ain't all it's cracked up to be!

John

[Lou Lou Lou]

Due to poor vision I went to a peep w/o aperature 20 years ago. My reasoning is that a iron sight peep is more reproducible that a merit stuck on my glasses. My 2 cents

[Mike McDaniel]

For rifle or musket? Peep sight all the way. Go look at the Olympic rifles. Peep sights, every one of them. The eye naturally centers up in the peep...which means that you don't have to focus on the rear sight at all, only on the front sight and target.

If you need a special prescription to put your focus on the front sight, or an aperture to increase your depth of field, that's a completely different subject.

[Charlie Hahn]

One thing not mentioned here is hydration. I find that if you abstain from your favorite "group tightener" and drink water for 10 days before a competition you don't need any of the other aids, .......just saying!

Charlie Hahn

[Michael T.]

You mean to say some of us are drinking teams with a shooting problem????http://www.n-ssa.org/vbforum/images/smilies/icon_razz.gifhttp://www.n-ssa.org/vbforum/images/smilies/icon_lol.gifhttp://www.n-ssa.org/vbforum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

[Lou Lou Lou]

I don't have an excuse. I only imbibe once a year. That's my story and i'm sticking to it!

[Michael T.]

Yeah... But 365 days all in a row???http://www.n-ssa.org/vbforum/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gifhttp://www.n-ssa.org/vbforum/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif

[Greg Ogdan 110th OVI]

And now back to the original question! What works for me is putting the intermdeiate trifocal power in my shooting glasses, which clears the front sight, and using a peep rear, for reasons above. OK, so the target is a bit fuzzy, no problem really. Oh, yes, and orange front for paper and black front front for breakables. I need all the help I can get! Just ask my teammates! FOUR TILES FROM VICTORY.

[Jim Brady Knap's Battery]

I was always taught that your eye can only focus at one distance at a time and in shooting that has to be the front sight. When I shot high power team matches we always had a coach using a scope that was big enough to see the back side of the holes at 600 yds, the thing looked like a tripod mounted howitzer, and he would spot the shots give us sight corrections. At times when I thought I was trying my butt off had broken a clean shot he would ask if my eye went downrange. He would then give his lecture about the eye's ability to only focus at one distance and that that had to be the front sight. He would also want us to call each shot when it left the barrel. Not "Oh I think it was high." Nu-uh! He wanted us to tell him at what clock position and what scoring ring we expected the shot to be. That way he knew we were in control and using the proper techniques for good shooting and he could confidently give us sight corrections to get us in the 10 ring. A six o'clock seven ring call that winds up in the X ring is still a bad shot, lucky but still bad, and happens many times because you are not staring at the front sight. The front sight is the most important factor for your eye to deal with. A peep surely helps as does a Merit by helping to clear up everything in your field of view but you still must stare at the front sight. Paying enough attention to what you are doing during each shot cycle to confidently call the shot is a big factor too.

My denarii's worth

Jim Brady
2249V
Knap's Battery

[Muley Gil]

And now back to the original question! What works for me is putting the intermdeiate trifocal power in my shooting glasses, which clears the front sight, and using a peep rear, for reasons above. OK, so the target is a bit fuzzy, no problem really. Oh, yes, and orange front for paper and black front front for breakables. I need all the help I can get! Just ask my teammates! FOUR TILES FROM VICTORY.

As has been noted here before; the human eye cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. When we were younger, we were able to focus on the target, the front sight, and then on the rear sight so fast that it appeared that all three were in focus at the same time. As we age, we can't do that anymore. Since we can't focus on the front sight and let the target and rear sight blur. If we have practiced enough, both will be in alinement. Peepsights are great in that by looking through the peep, the human eye will center the front sight.

Like my firearms instructor at the po-leece academy said lo those many years ago, "FRONT SIGHT, TRIGGER SQUEEZE. FRONT SIGHT, TRIGGER SQUEEZE............."

[Blair]

Jim & Gil.
That, too, is the way I was taught to shoot at targets.
Rear sight is fuzzy, because it is to close.
Target is fuzzy, because it is so far away.
Target (with open iron sights), floats around the clear (in focus) front sight like a fuzzy balloon on a string, except in rhythm with your heart beat.
Squeezing the trigger, when the round goes off... you, the shooter should be "somewhat" startled by the report. But, if the shooter is focused on the front sight and it location on or around the target... the shooter should be able to call his shots.
Blair

[John Holland]

Jim's discertation sounds exactly like a quote from my own shooting coach....from a time way, way, back in the last century. Oh, to be a youthful shooter again!

John

[Fred Jr]

What's all the stuff about shooting choaches? Nobody never taught me nothing!

[Blair]

Once long ago, in a Galaxy far far away, there was an organization called the NRA that sponsored such training in various shooting competitions.
The "dark side" took them somewhere beyond our current understanding.

[Fearless Frank]

I tried Merit disc and it helped some. I bought low magnification reading glasses that gave me a clear front sight, a fuzzy rear sight and a very fuzzy target. I got one pair for my 3 bander and one pair for my Maynard because barrel on the Maynard is so much shorter. Oh, by the way the Maynard glasses work great for Revolver because the distance between your eye and the front sight is about the same. Then I put peepsights on everything but the Revolver.

[Fortitudine]

There was a great article in a past Skirmish Line on this subject...especially on the depth of field and focusing subject. Don't remember what issue, but it was a couple of years back. Maybe someone remembers and can post it here.