How to aim using iron sights?

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dak0ta

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Hi,

Just a quick question regarding iron sights.

Do you aim with the rear sight and line up the front blade on the target? Or do you aim with the front blade and line up the sight with the rear sight? Also when looking at the target, should the very tip of the front blade be on the area of the target that you want to hit? Or does it not matter?
 
When shooting open sights, I line up the top of the front sight with the top of the back sight, centre the front sight in the back sight notch and put the top of the front sight directly under where I want to hit. It usually works for me........ YMMV

Cheers!
 
The top of the front sight should be flush with the top of the notch in the rear sight. Focus on the front sight. The sights should be adjusted such that the point of impact is just above the top of the front sight.
 
For me, the quickest way to align the sights is to keep my eyes focused on the front sight.

When I've identified my target, which should be somewhat blurred because my focus is on the front sight, it is easy to superimpose the FS and align the rear blade.

Depending on the accuracy requirement or range, I can choose to carefully align the FS and RS, or just align the FS with the target.

should the very tip of the front blade be on the area of the target that you want to hit?
Click to expand...

There are two common methods of FS alignment, the dead center hold and the 6 o'clock hold.

Some folks prefer the dead center hold i.e., the target center (or bullseye) is aligned vertically with the FS and the RS. With the dead center hold, your front sight partially covers the target, the bottom half to be exact. Precision shooters use this.

For maximum speed, some shooters prefer the 6 o'clock hold. They align their sights with the bottom of the target, be it a paper bullseye, a falling plate or an animal silhouette. This way, the target is completely visible to the shooter and the relationship between target, FS and RS is easy to establish. Needless to say, the shooter must know where his Point of Impact is relative to his Point of Aim, for given distances. This is my preferred method.
 
tjhaile said:
The top of the front sight should be flush with the top of the notch in the rear sight. Focus on the front sight. The sights should be adjusted such that the point of impact is just above the top of the front sight.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much it right there. I like to use the "pumpkin on a fence post" analogy as the sight picture for notch/post irons. By having the POI just above your front sight, you are not obscuring the target.
When you get enough practice in, if your front sight is nice and square, you can zero using one of the corners on the front sight and squeeze a little more accuracy into your groups :)
 
And the older we get, the more difficult it gets for your eyes to adjust between the 3 focal points; front, rear, target.
Ghost rings, on the other hand, help us old buggers that still like to use open sights.;)
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_sight
Fuzzy_sight_picture.png
 
right and a few inches low if it was my gun, i don't know how anyone can shoot precisely while the sights are a few inches below the target...
 
The 6 oclock hold has the advantage of leaving the target visible but it can be difficult to get a consistent sight picture.

For instance, are you right on the bottom of the bull or covering just a little of it? What if you are using targets with different sized bulls today than the one you had yesterday?

I prefer a front globe sight that has an apeture just a little larger than the bull. The eye naturally centres everything. You just have to concentrate on pulling the trigger when all the rings line up. Some people prefer a crosshair in the front sight.
 
How you do this all depends on whether or not you are shooting a handgun, a rifle, and for hunting or targets, or casual plinking.
A handgun sight alignment is nicely shown above. These are the standard type of sights seen on many handguns. Where you decide to aim and where you decide to have the bullets hit, is a matter of individual preference. In all cases, your focus is on the sights, and the target is blurry. Some prefer to hold in the centre, and the bullets should hit just at the top of the blade. Others prefer to hold at 6 o'clock, as shown in the diagram above, and the bullets will hit several inches high in order to be in the bullseye. Others will hold deep 6, using the white target space between the bullseye and the bottom of the paper. Very good accuracy is possible.
For a rifle for targets, it is much the same question; what sight picture will allow you to hit the centre of the target.
For a rifle for hunting, or casual shooting, what type of sight alignment and where the bullets hit are different. You mentioned a blade, in which case the sight alignment is similar to the pistol alignment; top of the blade is level with the top of the rear sight. The bullets should hit at the top of the blade at your sight in distance.
However, if you are using a bead, it changes again. Many prefer to have the bead sitting up in the u shaped notch, so that there is some space under the bead and on each side. Your bullets can hit under the bead, or on the top of the bead. Your choice.
All of which to say, more complicated than the crosshairs on a scope. Practice is needed to get good.
For my hunting rifles with a bead, (a .45-70), I tend to have the bullets hit at the top of the bead at 100 yards. Any further distance I know that the bullets will hit under the bead. I hold for centre of chest of a deer from 50 to 150 hards.
 
I hate when irons sights are anything but a U for the rear and a flat top post at the front. Peep sights excluded.
 
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