how to aim a rifle with peep sights

The seated position, comfortable for some, is uncomfortable for shooters with bad hips. Almost all of them clamp to a base or a rail via levers. Use the adjustment to move the aperture in the same direction you want your shots to move. This will give you an advantage over precision shots and also it is one of the keys behind being a good shooter with peep sights. Youll hear the expression, half a blade left, or a quarter-blade right, meaning the shooter is compensating for the wind by holding off-center by a half or a quarter of the front sights width. Red dots and scopes are typically an after purchase and the most accurate and durable ones come at a high cost, sometimes more than the guns themselves. Keeping it firmly in this pocket allows the recoil to be absorbed by your whole body, rather than snapping back into your shoulder, making for a painful and inaccurate shot. Theyre a sight everyone should learn how to use and if youve got multiple rifles theyre affordable to equip to each one. Presidential sportsman Theodore Roosevelt eschewed them in spite of his abysmally poor eyesight . Its simple. offers these aperture sights for the Henry and Marlin lever action rifles. Once youre comfortable with that you can experiment with larger peep sights but most people tend to stick with or go back to the smallest aperture. Inside 200 yards, you can shoot them with startling accuracy. If you are missing to the right, adjust the peep sight to the left. I hope the above video gave you a complete idea of what Im talking about. They like centering their entire pin guard in the peep. Whether you're a hunter, shooter, or gun enthusiast, peep sights are worth considering as an upgrade to your rifle. Most iron sights do not add very much weight at all to the gun when scopes add several pounds to the overall weight of the gun. 1895 peep sights. Many red dots and scopes cant say the same. Because its not a terrifically hard kicker, hed been talked into mounting a scope on the rifle. QUICK TIP FOR USING PEEP SIGHTS EFFECTIVELY Armed Defender Gear Reviews 67.2K subscribers Subscribe 513 Share 127K views 11 years ago A peep sight setup is incredibly accurate when used. Everything you need to know about the parts Sign up for the Field & Stream newsletter and get the latest intelligence straight to your inbox. If youre looking for a light build and not wanting to shoot very far, iron sights are advantageous over dots and scopes. [ Hes also OLs optics editor, helping readers to make informed buying decisions. David E. Petzal Look through the peep sight. Published Nov 6, 2013 12:44 AM EST. The post front sight will be centered through the rear peep sight where the top of the front sight is the length of the radius of the circle or half the diameter. Some of these amazing peep sights are fun like you will like shooting your targets very quickly with these peep sights. from your barrel if you had one as well. Twitter and other social media icons below. Lower the rear peep-sight if your shots are going too high. When youre getting started buy practice ammo to learn shooting and aiming, your goal should be to learn from every shot. Don't believe me? An open sight is any form of rear sight that features a notch. How to Improve a Rifle's Peep Sight Accuracy written by Steve Markwith Despite the advent of high-end optics, many people still use iron sights. There are two categories of iron sights: those for general use and those for speed shooting. wikiHow is a wiki, similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. The proper trigger placement is between the fingertip and the first joint of the index or trigger finger. "keywords": ["peep sight rifle"], If your rear sight is V shaped, but your front sight is circle-shaped, the front circle should be centered in the V and not be any higher than the top of the rear sight. Good shooters assess their shots and make corrections to improve to become as accurate as possible. The second important thing is to keep the peep sight parallel to the axis of the gun barrel. Shoot groups of 3-5 shots to understand where your shots are grouping. Subscribe to OL+ for our best feature stories and photography. Iron sights are lighter and smaller than anything optical. Its fast, and precise, but you have to practice. For tips on how to follow through after youve fired a shot, read on! Your gun sights are usually set for a specific distance range optimized for the ammunition the gun is designed to use. You should be able to maintain the proper sight alignment and picture while focused on your front sight. Ive handled a good many of their backup rifles and noticed a high degree of unanimity in what they do and do not use, namely: No scopes. When you start shooting at an advanced level, youll know why you missed your target before you even see the shot. Control your breathing before you fire, since too much movement of your body will disrupt your aim. We will assume that you are using the smallest sizes. And peep sights can be surprisingly precise aiming devices. The ghost ring, which Jeff Cooper loved and promoted, is nothing more than a peep sight with an oversized aperture. We hope you enjoy this video. Step 2: Install and Adjust the New Peep Sight, First, you need to attach the peep sights to the gun. There are rear sights shaped with a U cut out, V shaped, the bottom half of a square, the bottom of a triangle, and more. Cindy Coker - Co, *Competitive Shooter of the Week* You set your eye, so you look through the rear peep sight/rear hole/rear sight peephole. Peep sights work by being a small aperture that you look through. ExSniper. Just to name, you can find ghost ring sights or Talley sights with different levels of adjustment levels. When youre following through on the shot, youre keeping a great shooting stance, youre still focused on the front sight, your grip is still correct, and every fundamental is kept intact. 3) Determine peep sight windage and elevation settings to align with your front sight.. 4) Check customer reviews of peep sights from reputable brands to ensure quality is up to par before you buy. Peep sights: These are similar to open sights, but the rear component is crafted with a lens for the shooter to look through. If you hit anywhere other than the center of the bullseye, do you know what went wrong in your shooting process? Align the rifle sight. Ultimately, it's up to the shooter to decide what type of sight picture works best for them. | Anything with a window will also require proper cleaning such as wiping down glass, applying anti-fog cream, and continuous upkeep to maintain a clear view of the optic. How to Aim with Iron Sights SHOOT 101 1.71K subscribers Subscribe 1.3K 346K views 7 years ago Before there were scopes or red dots there were iron sights. You can manage it later on and do the adjustments accordingly. Over the course of more than a century, PHs have found that the combination that works best for them is a big bead up front and a shallow rear V. The best material for the big bead is gold or ivory. If it's not, then it's likely because the hole is dirty and needs cleaning. Dont believe me? Cant hit the target? However, each rear sight may take getting used to. They are of very high quality, extremely well thought out, and the prices are less than one would expect.). How do I pick the right peep sight for my rifle? Pick the desired aiming point. This article has been viewed 339,461 times. | The target will also be somewhat out of focus. To learn more, weve compiled a list of the best air rifle scopes for you to check out! Lock the bolt or cylinder in the "open" position if you have to leave your gun - this way, even if the trigger is pulled, the bullet won't fire. The sight radius is the distance from the rear sight to the front sight. Many scopes and red dots require batteries to light the optic. Once you sight it in, you do not touch it unless you change ammo. To aim, you center the target in the rear peep or aperture sight, and then bring the front sight into the center of the hole. They offer no magnification, which is a huge disadvantage out past 200 yards. Most rifles, particularly semi-automatic weapons, are designed to eject spent casings from the side of a gun. SuperFocus Glasses. Want to improve your peep sight accuracy? "https://www.pinterest.com/theshootingmystery/", The human eye will automatically center itself in the middle of the peep sight. Step 3: Align Your Sights With Your Target. Rear sights come in many shapes and forms. (One masterful builder of heavy rifles flatly refuses to mount a scope on any of his hard kickers. Shooting Mystery is reader-supported. Warthog ivory is better than elephant ivory, as its finer-grained and doesnt yellow over the years. The drawback to fiber optics is that theyre pretty fragile. Start alignment by setting the zoom know to as low as possible. Now slide the pencil out. Shooting Mystery is an independent website that provides content for informational purposes only. Guns are heavy, it's hard for many to hold it steadily. The sight picture is simply putting the blade in the centre of the notch and level. You wont have to decide which one to concentrate on. If rifle peep sights are new to you, it's advisable to give them a shot before you completely write them off as something that doesn't work in your favor. People have long known peep sights to improve vision, so peep sights on riflesare widely used across the world. Happy Shooting!Checkout:22 rifle peep sights. This is the standard sight picture taught in the Basic Rifle Marksmanship [BRM] training for infantry units at Fort Benning Georgia. Everything else comes secondary. Every single fundamental goes into aiming a gun. R.P.P. During your journey to becoming an ever more effective shooter, When aiming down the sights of your firearm, are you, Hold control allows the shooter to maintain proper sight alignment and sight picture while firing the shot. In use, you put the bead on the notch, pull the trigger, and concentrate on not wetting yourself. "datePublished": "2022-08-09", Once you are done with finding the appropriate peep sight for the rifle. Similarly to breath control, the goal of holding the gun as still as possible is to minimize the arc of movement so the sight picture or alignment doesnt alter. If you are shooting left handed or right handed using a left-handed weapon, make sure the casings will not eject back into your face. Aperture sights, once a staple, still have a place in the modern shooting world. Iron sights have been tested and used for years through many World Wars and have endured through all conditions. Its the first sight your eye will focus through. You can have the sight connected to the rail base or pop up peep sight attached to the rail. His enthusiasm for handling firearms and hunting gear inspired him to create the Shooting Mystery blog. Since you're prone, hot spent casings can roll against your skin or fall onto your body, but this applies to shooting from any position. Please share your thoughts in the comments section and remember to give us a thumbs up and subscribe. To create this article, 31 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. The peep sights are the old and reliable options which will never fail you. So, are iron sights obsolete? Clean and blacken your sights. Rifle peep sights greatly improve daylight vision, as well as work well in low light conditions - which has helped many shooters hit their mark with greater ease than ever before. It would help if you, After fixing the gun, let it face the target and turn the zoom adjusting knob to the, When you have a bullet hole in the pipe, you turn the, Peep sights enhance notch-and-post open sights by, You set your eye, so you look through the rear peep sight/rear hole/rear sight peephole. Concentrate on the front bead of the peep-sight system, bringing it into focus and centering it on your target. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. This super sight exists, though it has been nudged aside lately by red-dots, reflex sights, and low-mag riflescopes. The most important lesson in learning how to aim with iron sights is that iron sights may still require sighting in. Rest it on the side of the trigger guard, or use it with the other fingers to grip the stock. This is our first YouTube video for the channel. Made of CNC machined aluminum for long lasting durability. This is a viewer funded channel. Look through the peep sight. My father was a peep-sight apostle, and he installed various Lyman and Williams receiver sights on every rifle our family owned. Whereas a large peep sight gives greater wiggle room so its more difficult to center the halfway pin and thus gives a large margin of error. Edit: a word. Its why the field of view is so long and sharp through a camera lens thats stopped down to a tiny aperture. Whether peep sight installation is right for you depends on your preferences, but you're sure to go home with dinner if you've installed peep sights on the rifle you're using. Granted, the old dirty thirty isnt the most precise rifle in my collection, but its a good platform for the test. I think no matter which type of sight you are going to choose, the end objective is going to be the same. The variable scope was regarded with extreme and justified suspicion. If you hinge on the two instructions above, you will find a new and more exact way to precise your peep sight. Let your fellow shooters know share this article using the Facebook, If you're using a telescopic sight, the principle will be essentially the same. Why do soldiers place the butts of their rifles against their shoulders when firing? Maintain good breath control when firing in this position. 5) Peep sights are easy to use, even for beginners. There are two brief explanations for using a small peep sight: By reducing the apertures size, you can minimize your edge for error when aiming. Just $1 per month . Are there peep sights for Picatinny rails? The tactical counterpart to NECG is Troy Industries, which specializes in backup sights for ARs. "@type": "ImageObject", As our eyes age, it becomes increasingly difficult to shoot open sights, as our focus strays between target, front post, and rear notch. I grew up respecting their ability as both-eyes-open sights for shooting running deer and rabbits, and they remain the best moving-target sights Ive ever shot. Peep sights also improve on magnifying optical sights by allowing you to see a wider field of view, at a fraction of the cost. ], Take lots of time setting up your shots and learn to relax. However, it also still depends much on what your objective is. First of all, You need to choose the right size peep sight for your aperture. This will take some initial practice before you get it done right. When aiming with iron sights, any movement or lack of control you have in these steps will move your sight alignment and picture which in turn, moves your shot. Some shooters find peep sights very helpful for acquiring a target quickly, while others prefer the open sight picture of a low variable scope on their hunting rifle. If you look at distant objects in bright light, they appear sharper and more focused than they do without your hand-made peep. Read on to discover tricks the pros use to hit the target every time. This sight set up includes a rear peep sight that is still round-shaped, with an aperture or hole as the front sight. Your groupings of shots at one target will determine how precise you are at that distance. To create this article, 31 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. You just compare aperture sizes while aiming. They worked under the most horrific conditions imaginable. Step 2: Install and Adjust the New Peep Sight First, you need to attach the peep sights to the gun. This happens to everyone, especially beginners. Aiming With a Rear Peep Sight A rear peep or rear aperture sight has a round-shaped hole you can look through to see the front sight. Our bodies are never at rest making it difficult to aim, but not impossible. "publisher": { So, which one comes out on top in a head-to-head matchup? A basic aperture-sighted rifle (i.e., there's no scope on the rifle) - often called "iron sights" - consists of two parts, a front sight post or "bead" near the tip of the rifle's barrel and an aperture or "crook" about halfway up the barrel. Again, this effect increases with distance. Besides, scopes can fail. When all three are in line, your sight picture is correct. Hold control allows the shooter to maintain proper sight alignment and sight picture while firing the shot. Because good iron sights dont break. This system lets you easily switch to a scope wearing Talley QD rings as well. For optimum low-light performance, consider pairing it with one of Brockmans front sights with a Tritium insert. Make sure your scope is properly sighted before firing and that your front sight post is blackened and matte, not reflective. It will not coincide with the trajectory immediately. "name": "Shooting Mystery", Be careful of your hot shell casings. Stop and take a look at where you are aiming versus where your shots are ending up. I personally use a shooting rest that can lock the gun in one place. The number one rule of shooting with iron sights is front sight focus. Be sure to position the post front sight exactly in the middle of the rear peep sight. You can use a screwdriver to loosen the screw. Unless youre young and your eyeballs are flexible, and unless you have eyesight on the order of 20/20 or 25/25, youre going to have a hard time sighting with them. Subscribe to OL+ for our best feature stories and photography. More to come! Be sure to tighten the screws back up once you're done adjusting the sight and add a little blue loctite to hold them in place. The circle of the aperture should be equidistant from the circle of the rear peep sight. All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. There were never any complaints about them. perp.jpg (25.88 KiB) Viewed 89 times. One size never fits all in the firearm industry. This takes trial and error with a lot of practice to aim properly. Find the Mechanical Zero While you don't need to have it set to mechanical zero in general, there are certain cases where iron sights have some BDC. Dont go bashing them. Breathing techniques (3-4-3) can also be used. They all work fine. Abandon your position and realign yourself properly. The peep sights require you to aim through a small circle to acquire and shoot your target. Sighting with it, your eye registers the aperture only as a ghost image and unconsciously centers the front sight in it. The perfect shot starts and ends with the perfect sight alignment. Shooters who are accustomed to using peep sights -- and have their rifles properly sighted-in -- can accurately hit their targets at distances of up to 100 yards. Since being accurate at a distance with iron sights requires you to see your target, the disadvantage with iron sights comes when you start to stretch out to higher distanced targets. It should also be very tough. Check that the sight is aligned with the bead at the end of the rifle so youre aiming straight when you pick a target. Align the top of the front sight with your aiming point and line up the top of the front sight so that it's centered in the notch of the rear sight. Now slide the pencil out. Windage is adjusted with the side screw and elevation with the top screw. If youd like to see an exemplary selection of ghost rings, go to the NECG site. Do you want to know how to use peep sights? Steve Forrest -, Identifying 7.62 NATO ammo can be tricky. Iron sights are very cheap and most always come with the gun you are purchasing, making them cost-efficient. But at both 100 and 200 yards, the peep sight held its own. Early on, anticipating the report and recoil of the rifle causes many shooters to wobble when pulling the trigger. These are a superb waste of money, as dangerous game is almost never shot from beyond 100 yards, and usually much closer, and the useless little leaves have a habit of folding flat whenever they feel like it. Now slide the pencil out. This brings us to the next front-sight consideration: Whatever the actual sight, it has to have some sort of protection from bangs and hard knocks. Just $1 per month , Quality iron sights are simple, lightweight, and surprisingly accurate out to 200 yards. Theyre used in Olympic rimfire competition, and long-distance shooters score remarkably well with match peep sights. Never put your eye right up against a scope mounted on a rifle when firing the resulting kick will damage the. Address: 4455 Camp Bowie Blvd, Ste 114 #852, Fort Worth, TX 76107. Did you pull the trigger with your first knuckle rather than the pad of your finger? Understanding the optics -- and how the human eye works with a peep sight -- is a vital first step to mastering a rifle. If yes, then you must be looking for it to improve your accuracy with iron sights and become a better version of yourself then Peep sights are going to help you for sure. Andrew McKean Basic peep sights are easy to make. 1) Determine the peep sight aperture size you need for low light (smaller) or full light shooting (larger). This system also permits you to change over a scope wearing Talley rings. But given the choice between standard buckhorn sights and many of the unremarkable unmagnified reflex sights on the market, peeps are an option that deserve to return from obscurity. There are a lot of peep sights available in different sizes. At the end of the day, peep sights are a great choice for shooters and work to greatly improve their vision when shooting in low-light conditions. Therefore, choosing the right sized peep sights can decide what you achieve as a result. It would help if you manipulated the bullet's path to coincide with your gun's center. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. Speed comes with time, but accuracy is earned with learning how to aim with iron sights. If you have the carry handle sight, you have to use the Z notch when using a 20-inch rifle. 8) Follow the manufacturer's instructions for peep sight installation. This will allow you to aim lower to the bull's eye. If your rear sight doesnt come with an adjustment tool or a dial to move the sight in a direction, it may require a sight pusher tool to move the rear sight left or right. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/7\/73\/Aim-a-Rifle-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Aim-a-Rifle-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/7\/73\/Aim-a-Rifle-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid148237-v4-728px-Aim-a-Rifle-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":259,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":410,"licensing":"