Peep sights--right "distance"?

[Eightball]

Alright, I've been wondering something about peep sights, and their relation to how far away they should be from one's eye. A bunch of guys I"ve talked to about AR15s (and their LEO/Military cousins) say that, with a collapsible buttstock weapon, to try to get "nose to charging handle"-type weld, which plants the rear of the aperture real close to your eye--and that's fine and dandy. However, when I pick up a standard AR15A2 model, it seems significantly easier to sight with through the aperture. I'm aware of the longer sight radius, but also the rear aperture is farther away from your eye than on a collapsing-stock weapon. Same thing goes with my M1 Garand, and my M1 Carbine--the peep sights' rear aperture is at (relatively) varying distances from my eyeball, which (duh!) affects the sight picture.

So, my question goes as follows---how far away from one's eye should the rear aperture on a peep-sight system be, ideally? And, as a possible set of follow ups (or, just to muddy the waters), how does the rear aperture diameter come into play in this? And, what is the ideal length away for the front sight to be in such a sight method?

It's just something I started thinking about when I was messing with my M1 Carbine, and noticed what seemed to be a difference between it, my M1 Garand, and my 16" Middy AR15, and in relation to the AR15A2-ish rifles I've futzed with. Is there something to it, or am I just thinking too hard?

 

[cracked butt]

"nose to the charging handle" applies to AR-15 rifles as well. Putting your eye in the same spot every time is important for accuracy.

With other harder recoiling battle rifles, you need to get a cheek weld that is in the exact same spot every time.

 

[SimpleIsGood229]

As CB mentioned, it doesn't matter, so long as you have a consistent cheek weld. Just do what works for you. Personally, the nose-to-charging handle thing never felt right to me, so I back off a bit when shooting an AR.

 

[Eightball]

*bump*

 

[lefteyedom]

Doing the samething verytime is what matters most.

 

[taliv]

sorta what they said.

keep in mind that the distance changes with your position. when you go prone, your head will be forward (unless your neck is made of rubber) and your eye will be closer to the sight than it is when you're in standing position.

that doesn't make a difference as long as you keep the same position standing and keep the same position prone.