Why did the military move from tangent to peep sights?

skirsons

skirsons

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I always wondered this. All the World War I rifles, with the exception of the Ross, had regular tangent sights. By World War II, most rifles used peep sights.

In my opinion the tangent sights are a lot easier to use. Does anyone else find this? Why did they change them?
 
skirsons said:
I always wondered this. All the World War I rifles, with the exception of the Ross, had regular tangent sights. By World War II, most rifles used peep sights.

In my opinion the tangent sights are a lot easier to use. Does anyone else find this? Why did they change them?
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WWI also had the P14 and US M1917 which had peeps.....
Peeps are alot easier to use actually, much faster target acquisition.
 
Hitzy said:
WWI also had the P14 and US M1917 which had peeps.....
Peeps are alot easier to use actually, much faster target acquisition.
Click to expand...

True there are a few more exceptions.

Everyone says that peeps are easier to use. I just don't find that it's as easy to shoot accurately.
 
There seems to be a rift between the sporting rifle crowd who traditionally preferred conventional iron sights and the shift to peep sight that the military took. I think a lot of the reluctance to adopt peep sights for sporting use is simply a lack of familiarity with them. First time I used one, Air Cadets, I thought poorly of them. Zoom ahead now 25 plus years, and I find peep sights not only the fastest of the iron sights to aim, but far more accurate than standard notch style sights. As well, they improve my field of view by way of the peep allowing me to focus on both the front sight and see a more distinct target.
 
skirsons said:
True there are a few more exceptions.

Everyone says that peeps are easier to use. I just don't find that it's as easy to shoot accurately.
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Just takes practice. All of the fun milshoots we had, it's almost always peep sighted milsurps taking all the tops spots.
Olympic target shooting is all peep sights as well. It really is a drastic improvement over the tangent sight system.
 
Could it be that peep sight allow to have greater distance between front and rear sight than with a tangent sight (usually located much more forward than a peep).
Greater distance leading to potentially greater accuracy...as well, when looking through a peep (specially the combat one) all you have to concentrate on is the front sight therefore simplifying target acquisition????
 
JacquesT said:
Could it be that peep sight allow to have greater distance between front and rear sight than with a tangent sight (usually located much more forward than a peep).
Greater distance leading to potentially greater accuracy...as well, when looking through a peep (specially the combat one) all you have to concentrate on is the front sight therefore simplifying target acquisition????
Click to expand...

Yes to all that.....:)
Whether you are using tangent or peep, you do the same thing with both----focus on the front sight. With the peep, your brain naturally centers everything, so you just put the front sight just below what you want to shoot and bingo....:sniper:
 
Tangent sights require you to focus in three planes, i.e. the rear sight, front sight and target. Even with young eyes, that is difficult, let alone older eyes. The peep sight system is far superior for accuracy as well. That's why target shooter use micrometer peep sights. A circular front sight together with a round target bull and rear peep sight form a set of concentric circles that he eye automatically aligns properly. Tangent sights are cheap to manufacture and are therefore still found on new rifles, although almost everyone just ignores them and puts a scope on his/her newly acquired rifle.
 
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