Swampy
Member
Check with John Holliger @ White Oak Precision.
Best,
Swampy
Garands forever
Aperture vs. Notch sights
- Thread starter StudentOfArms
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Check with John Holliger @ White Oak Precision.
Best,
Swampy
Garands forever
77cherokee
Member
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2016
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- 1
I am going to drag this up from the dead. I have shot with ghost rings, semi and full buckhorn, notch and post, and simple v-notch. Out of all these I am best with a notch and post. I can acquire the sight picture and target much faster than any other system and can shoot far more accurately than with with a peep sight/ghost ring. Semi-buckhorns are the best for accuracy, but I absolutely despise peep sights.
One size fits all doesn't
One size fits all doesn't
Captcurt
Member
Prefer a Red Dot.
The only problem that I have with aperature sights is in dim/ low light. I shoot notch or v and bead better. Even then I have to be careful and make sure that I get the bead to the bottom of the notch. Always have a tendency to shoot high in low light.
The only problem that I have with aperature sights is in dim/ low light. I shoot notch or v and bead better. Even then I have to be careful and make sure that I get the bead to the bottom of the notch. Always have a tendency to shoot high in low light.
Aperture rear sight have been the standard for US service rifles for decades. They're the most accurate in all light conditions. But you have to center the front sight in the rear sight field of view for best accuracy.
That said, large V notch rear sights and a bead on dangerous game rifles are probably best when one of 'em charging you and you're well centered in their sights. Daytime only, that is.
That said, large V notch rear sights and a bead on dangerous game rifles are probably best when one of 'em charging you and you're well centered in their sights. Daytime only, that is.
Elkins45
Member
I have a couple of rifles without scopes. They ALL either came from the factory with aperture sights or had one installed shortly thereafter. The only exceptions are a couple of milsurps where it would require drilling holes and goofing them up, but even my $50 Turkish Mauser has a $40 Williams peep installed.
Having grown up with notch rear sights I was frankly amazed the first time I shot a peep at 100 yards. I wouldn't have believed I was capable of shooting an unscoped rifle that well.
Having grown up with notch rear sights I was frankly amazed the first time I shot a peep at 100 yards. I wouldn't have believed I was capable of shooting an unscoped rifle that well.
morcey2
Member
I have some issue with aperture sights for one simple reason: Uncorrected astigmatism (albeit slight) causes the round hole to be significantly oblong when I'm focused on the front sight. I can do it, but it's not as simple as centering the front sight in the circle, because there's no "circle" to speak of. It looks more like a fuzzy paramecium. 
I have contacts that I wear occasionally that correct it, but I haven't worn them often enough to get my eye used to them.
Matt
I have contacts that I wear occasionally that correct it, but I haven't worn them often enough to get my eye used to them. Matt
Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
If you are even aware of the "circle", if you're thinking about it at all, if you're consciously trying to center anything -- you're doing it wrong.
You get your rifle up to your cheek, obtain your proper cheek weld, the rear sight aperture disappears and you simply put the front sight on the target.
Most likely, if you're even able to try to adjust the centering of the rear ring once you've got the rifle in shooting position, the rear sight is too far away from your eye.
This is indeed a problem with some of the modern add-on aperture sights systems. Especially how Mojo sights fit on AKs and SKSs. Totally wrong and IMHO, a waste of money.
The sight should be approximately as far away from your eye as the end of your nose is. (Which is why military shooting instructors tell soldier to touch their nose to the charging handle of their M-16.) If it's several inches away, it really isn't acting as an aperture sight should anymore, but rather like a post-and-notch sight system that happens to have a "top" to the notch.
SwampWolf
Member
QUOTE: "...and too much focus on the rear sight..."
Yep, one of the most common errors there is for some people transitioning from regular irons (notched rear/front blade) to a peep sight is trying to reconcile the rear aperture with the front blade. As others have said, look through the aperture and focus on the front bead/blade; a healthy eye will center the two points naturally. And this phenomena is what makes the receiver type sight so much faster to employ when compared to conventional iron sights, especially when using a "ghost" ring for big game hunting purposes.
Yep, one of the most common errors there is for some people transitioning from regular irons (notched rear/front blade) to a peep sight is trying to reconcile the rear aperture with the front blade. As others have said, look through the aperture and focus on the front bead/blade; a healthy eye will center the two points naturally. And this phenomena is what makes the receiver type sight so much faster to employ when compared to conventional iron sights, especially when using a "ghost" ring for big game hunting purposes.
Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
I had posted a bit about this before with a few graphics:
An aperture sight works by being VERY close to your eye. So close you don't really see it. As long as your view is within it, you just put the front sight on the target.
The standard forward notch sights and these ring sight work differently in that you have to deliberately align the front and rear sight, focus on each. The ring confers NO benefits of a real aperture or ghost ring sighting system.
Standard notch and post sights:
Mojo type forward mounted rear ring sight:
Actual ghost ring or aperture:
The aperture really just becomes a dark cloud through which you're viewing the front sight and target. As long as you're looking through that dark cloud, your body is already doing all the centering up it needs to.
An aperture sight works by being VERY close to your eye. So close you don't really see it. As long as your view is within it, you just put the front sight on the target.
The standard forward notch sights and these ring sight work differently in that you have to deliberately align the front and rear sight, focus on each. The ring confers NO benefits of a real aperture or ghost ring sighting system.
Standard notch and post sights:
Mojo type forward mounted rear ring sight:
Actual ghost ring or aperture:
The aperture really just becomes a dark cloud through which you're viewing the front sight and target. As long as you're looking through that dark cloud, your body is already doing all the centering up it needs to.
I have to consciously center the front sight in the aperture's field of view by moving the rifle to have bullets hit point of aim.
If I have the rifle zeroed with the above sight picture, then aim with the front sight at the right edge of the aperture field of view but correctly placed on target, which direction will the shot go if fired with such a sight picture?
If I have the rifle zeroed with the above sight picture, then aim with the front sight at the right edge of the aperture field of view but correctly placed on target, which direction will the shot go if fired with such a sight picture?
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Prefer tech sights for the SKS and they also make rimfire versions. I generally find open sights to be faster but less precise. Buckthorn sights I dislike. Aperture sights are what I learned on in the old days in the military and they generally perform better for me than open sights particularly at a distance.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
If you shoot better with barrel mounted sights than an aperture, you're doing something wrong.
Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
That's confusing. Why would you do that? It would take a deliberate effort to do it wrong.
The whole (entire) point of a rear aperture is to position your eye in exactly the same place in relation to the rifle for every shot. And that place is just so up, down, left, and right, that when you put the front sight on the target that's where the barrel points.
Don't think of the pair of sights as on a line, with you bobbing your head back and forth trying to position your eye behind them so you can see one through the other.
Think of the rear sight and your eye as a unit, locked together, that forms the center of a pie wedge section of a circle, and the front sight is out on the edge of that circle. Your eye and the aperture are the center, and the rifle barrel is a line (a "ray" in geometry) heading out from that center. As long as your eye and that aperture stay locked together, you can accurately aim that barrel at anything out beyond that circle. That's why you don't need to SEE the rear sight. It just needs to be there, ensuring your eye is in the right spot.
Sam1911, I asked that question to see how many people know that once a zero's obtained with aperture sights and both of them and the target are at the middle of the view through the aperture rear sight, if the front sight is at the edge of the field of view through the aperture but correctly positioned on the target, a round fired in those conditions will strike at a different place relative to the front sight's position on the target.
Light rays travel in straight lines. So, where would the round strike with sights and target aligned as I asked.
I've demonstrated that to several folks and all were very surprised to learn that the front sight has to be placed mid point in the aperture for best results. If the front sight is 1 MOA to the side of aperture center, the bullet will strike 1 MOA to the side of the aiming point. That's because the three elements are no longer in line and therefore, so is the bore axis relative to the target
Light rays travel in straight lines. So, where would the round strike with sights and target aligned as I asked.
I've demonstrated that to several folks and all were very surprised to learn that the front sight has to be placed mid point in the aperture for best results. If the front sight is 1 MOA to the side of aperture center, the bullet will strike 1 MOA to the side of the aiming point. That's because the three elements are no longer in line and therefore, so is the bore axis relative to the target
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