Front sight focus

breakingcontact · Feb 9, 2013

I know this may be overly particular but...

Front sight focus should be on the center (dot) of the front sight or on the top edge of the sight?

beatledog7 · Feb 9, 2013

It depends on your eye and your gun. But consider, if there's a dot, why would it be there if it weren't to draw your focus?

conw · Feb 9, 2013

Using the dot on my Warren sights instead of the upper part of the blade seems to make shots go a bit high.

HKGuns · Feb 9, 2013

Sight picture will depend on the particular pistol you are referencing. There are differences between European produced pistols and 'merican produced.
Here is a link that may help you understand what I mean. My HK's use sight picture #3 in the link below, others I own use #2 and #1 respectively.

I had a difficult time getting hits where I wanted on my targets until I figured out that pistols with fixed sights are designed to use a particular sight picture. Your manual should show you how to align your sights for the particular model you are shooting. If not, a little web searching or experimentation at the range will help.

I prefer #3 as it is natural for me to get the dots aligned over my target. I see no point in putting dots on a sight an then using either sight picture #1 or #2.

Sight Picture differences

CPshooter · Feb 9, 2013

Using the dot on my Warren sights instead of the upper part of the blade seems to make shots go a bit high.

Same with the Meprolights on my PPS.

The sight could be designed with a POA/POI sight picture (top edge of front sight), but the dots are still there to line up for low-light conditions to get you "close enough."

It really just depends on the sight and the gun. Also, there's no reason why you can't use a POA/POI sight picture, but then let your eye focus on the dot as you squeeze the trigger so you have something to focus on to help keep the sights from moving at that point.

tipoc · Feb 9, 2013

Front sight focus should be on the center (dot) of the front sight or on the top edge of the sight?

In general the white dot sights are painted on to the black sights by hand or machine. Their purpose to to help the eye quickly find the sights in low light conditions. Their placement on the sights is not always precise.This is the same with tritium sights. In the case of the latter they are more often precisely placed.

Bullseye shooters tend to use black on black sights and go by the top and sides of the sights, level across the top and the amount of light showing on each side being even.

The difference is the type of shooting involved and the purpose you want to put it to.

tipoc

9mmepiphany · Feb 9, 2013

breakingcontact said:
I know this may be overly particular but...

Front sight focus should be on the center (dot) of the front sight or on the top edge of the sight?

Not really particular, but...

If your sight has a dot in it the rare face will all be at the same distance to your eye as the top edge...so if one part is in focus the whole rear face will too. When sights are undercut or ramp style the focus should always be on the top edge of the blade.

If you are asking which part of the blade your should be paying attention to...and your intent is accurate shooting...you should be paying attention to the top of the front blade and aligning it with the top of the rear blade as well as the intended Point of Impact (POI) on your target.

Dots on front and rear sights are seldom regulated with the alignment of the sights. If you are willing to accept a lower level of accuracy in your shooting, you can use them as aiming points...you just have to be aware that the consistency of shot placement with them is inherently diminished

tuj · Feb 10, 2013

^^^ what he said. With some guns, I find that a perfect straight horizontal alignment of the dots gets me a good shot while with others, I have to put the dot lower in the notch. And I've even shot one gun that wanted the dot ABOVE the notch!

Front sight focus

breakingcontact

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beatledog7

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conw

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tipoc

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tuj

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