Peep sight

[Daryl Pelfrey]

Do you think a peep sight would improve mst shooters groups,,,,, as a rule ir n the norm.   or Not

[smokinbuck]

Many folks shoot very well with open sights of varying styles. Peep sights serve to clarify the sights and targets for a lot of us who have a few more years under our belts.  For me they help and I use them whenever the discipline will allow and am able to do much better than with opens.  For some of us nothing helps a lot and we just have fun.
Mark

[MuskratMike]

If you're much over 50 as a general rule yes they will help. A ghost ring at the tang and regular front and rear sights are worth a try.

[Daryl Pelfrey]

That was my thinking. Ive always been a rellly good shot. Today I shot my 40 cal flinter but the groupwere no where good enough. Im thinking it was the ball,, patch combo. Im ordering ske .018 patches and  .395 balls from  TOW and see if i can get it shooting better.

[recurve]

 a Lowell Haarer  ghost ring

[MuskratMike]

At almost 67 I am having the same ghost ring put on the rifle Lowell Haarer is creating for me. He swears by them.

[Daryl Pelfrey]

I put the johnson peep kn my 40 flint I just finished. Really like it.Im hoping to take squirrels with it.

[Scota4570]

Yes

A peep gives much better focus via the pinhole effect.  It also increases the sight radius.  Finally is eliminates conscious effort for sight alignment .  IT must be why they are not allowed for NMLRA competition. 

[Turtle]

 I think the biggest advantage of a peep is when hunting. I sometimes don't have the time to carefully align open sights when hunting like I can target shooting. Also, in the heat of the moment, people often put the front sight on a deer and forget the rear sight resulting in shooting high. A peep prevents this. I  like a fairly large aperture in between a small peep and a ghost ring. I sometimes add it to my flintlocks for hunting sometimes and leave the open sight on for the rest of the year. I missed an easy shot this year with out the peep and think it would have helped.

[Hungry Horse]

 If you pick up virtually any antique squirrel rifle, that hasn’t been screwed up by a modern nimrod, you will find very fine low sights. Now if these old guys that fed their families with these rifle, on a daily basis could have seen the sights better, and harvested more game, with different sights, don’t you think they would have used a different sight combination? A peep sight works because it doesn’t make your eye do all kinds of light measuring like the modern “ barn door” sight, that most of us have been told is the best sight. The “ barn door” sight is a square notch rear sight, with a wide, and tall square front sight. This sight is nothing more than the old M1 Garand sight package which is great for combat, but not for fine target shooting, or shooting small targets like squirrels. A peep sight makes your eye focus by drawing on your eyes natural ability to center objects. The fine squirrel sights on great grandads squirrel rifle do the same thing.

  Hungry Horse

[P.W.Berkuta]

Beg to differ but the M1 Garand has a peep rear sight and a post front sight and it does / did VERY well on the target range AND the battlefield. The M1 carbine also has this sighting set up as does the AR's. The combination of aperture front & rear sight is used on small bore and air rifle in local and olympic competition for a reason 

[Sharpsman]

I'm 26 days away from 79 and God has blessed me always with great vision and I still see the barrel sights on my MLs quite well. I shot NRA HP comp for dang nigh onto 55 years and all of that was with aperture sights. Fantastic sights when learned how to be used! I learned on a M1903A3 Springfield....later on the M1 Garand! For those that cannot any longer use barrel sights....go with an aperture sight!!

[Roger B]

If you are strictly talking target shooting, the Jaggi, Knoblock, or Champion shooting glasses frames are a possible work around.  They are used by Olympic style shooters, but are not PC.  You have a small, circular, lens for the shooting eye which you adjust to be centered on your eye when your head is on the rifle.  The lens is cheap and uses your distance prescription. You can have the lens made by your optometrist.  You can add an adjustable aperature ahead of the lens which centers everything up, and add a blinder for your non shooting eye.  I find them very useful.  Some models are expensive, but you can get lower end models for a little more than the cost of a good flintlock (lock) and work just fine.
Roger B.

[Ky-Flinter]

Guys,

Let's call a halt on discussing the modern guns.  Thanks.

-Ron

[Daryl Pelfrey]

I was asking about peep sights since I have one on my flintlock

[Daryl]

YES- peep or aperture sights will improve or have a huge positive potential of improving your shooting if you are having difficulty discerning the rear or rear and front sights on your rifle.

Note- the only negative, and it could be a big one, is that they are not allowed in many competitions. If you want an aperture of peep sight for your own plinking and/or game shooting,
 
have at it. Once learned (short learning curve) you should experience improved accuracy.

[Ky-Flinter]

I was asking about peep sights since I have one on my flintlock

No problem with that Daryl.

-Ron

[Daryl Pelfrey]

Thanks Ron. I think it almost went south though. I should have specified peeps on muzzeloaders.

[OldMtnMan]

A peep will help clear up my lousy vision if the hole in the aperture is small enough. The problem is that small of a hole is not that good for hunting. A ghost ring is great for hunting because you can get on the target fast. The problem is a ghost ring doesn't help my vision. I still like them for hunting.

[Darkhorse]

I start with a small hole, shoot it some, drill it out, shoot some more, drill it out, etc. A small hole works best for shooting targets but blocks out too much of the animal when hunting so my hunting peeps have much larger holes. The only way I know it's right is when aiming at a deer etc.
My vision had got so bad I couldn't aim with iron open sights. Finally I made up some simple peeps mounted in the tang. Suddenly I was shooting small groups again. A peep may not help everybody but they sure helped me.

[Turtle]

 I make my peeps with a narrow outside margin so they obscure little of the deer.

[Daryl]

As to peeps that aren't quite peeps. There is one that takes a bit of practice, that is normally placed at the normal rear sight location.
It is simply a U shape and used with a bead that is properly sized to sit in the bottom of the U, with equal distance side to side and
on the bottom of the U up to the bottom of the bead.
Sighting is virtually identical to a peep sight, however there is not top- the top is open to meed regulations. It is a cheater that is not
cheating for use in chunk matches.
Kinda like this, but with straight vertical sides - a larger, in proportion bead would be easier to use, just like with normal peep sights.




A full or almost full buckhorn rear sight can also be used as a peep, if set up that way.



Of course, if you want to get serious about apertures. Here's my AJ Parker with German lens adjustable aperture.

[Marcruger]

The key is that you don't have to line up three things: front sight, rear sight, and target. 

With a true peep you look THROUGH the rear sight, so there is nothing to align.  Put the front sight on the target and you are there.  Peeps need to be back near the eye to be most effective.  Ones way out on the barrel baffle me. 

I think a mistake is to have a bead front sight with a peep.  Your inclination is to put that bead on top of the target.  Yep, the target disappears.  I like a flat top blade front, and the top of the blade cuts the target in two.  At least you see the top half.  The other option is a tubular front sight with inserts, but those are not appropriate to our longrifle conversations. 

Some folks with good eyes can come close to scope quality groups with a peep setup. 

God Bless,  Marc

[Scota4570]

As my eyes get worse I may have to go to a peep and DQ myself from matches.  I have seen peeps done as my sketch above.  I like that idea because it looks like it was not an after thought and would be impossible to knock out of alignment. 

[ron w]

peeps do work good,. I shot one for target archery for many years, so I know a little about them. one thing to avoid is the temptation to make your orifice too small. the closer the peep is to your eye, the smaller the peep can be. conversely, the farther it is away from your eye the larger it HAS to be, in order to focus through it. size of the aperture is not all that important as long as you can see clearly through it. your eye will naturally try to center the front sight and align the target all in the peep unconsciously. when using a peep, simply concentrate on the center of the target with the front sight/bead slowly floating around in the central area of the peep. don't try to over control the float,... just let it happen. as long as the float is evenly distributed around the inside of the peep, your hold is good.  beginers will have trouble keeping the bead inside the peep, but practice will improve that as your subconscious learns what it is supposed to do. just concentrate on the center of the target and don't be afraid to abandon a shot set up if your bead is straying too far off center. this abandonment, teaches your subconscious that it cannot let that happen. never force a "disobedient" shot set up into being a shot.....abandon the process as soon as you see the bead straying too far, because it teaches your shot process to not accept this straying from the center of the target. (this cannot be stressed enough) not abandoning a straying shot set up will teach your subconscious that it is OK to stray from the target too far.  this is exactly what you don't want your aiming process to learn.and above all be consistent with this discipline so your shot process clearly learns what it should and should not do.