Scotton & Farnham Rifle Club Sights

Definitions Rear Sights Fore sights Eye relief Pin hole mounted near breach which height and horizontal position can be adjusted- some have variable hole sizes A ring mounted on the end of the barrel Distance between the eye and the rear sight.

Rear Sights The size of the hole in the rear sight in conjunction with the eye relief determines:The amount of light the eye see receives The smaller the hole the less light the eye sees The depth of field The range of view that is in focus to the eye The amount of foresight that can be seen through the rear sight The table below gives the diameter of the area viewed at the foresight for different eye relief and rear sight diameters Distance between rear and fore sights Rear sight aperture mm 0.7 0.8 0.9 54 62 69 27 31 35 18 21 23 13 15 17 11 12 14 9 10 12 8 9 10 770 1 77 39 26 19 15 13 11 1.1 85 42 28 21 17 14 12 1.2 92 46 31 23 18 15 13 mm 1.3 100 50 33 25 20 17 14 1.4 108 54 36 27 22 18 15

Eye Relief mm 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

A typical fore sight has an aperture of 3.9mm, outer diameter of 6.6mm and a mounting tube 15mm outer of 22 mm This gives the optimum of 1.1 rear sight with an eye relief of between 40 to 50 mm

Copyright Dr J Exon, Scotton & Farnham Rifle Club

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Fore Sights The amount of the target that is viewed in the foresight is determined by Distance being shot and target size Size of fore sight hole the distance between the fore and rear sights Card Size 205 mm 273mm 350mm

Bull size Outer ring Card paper size

Distance between centres of cards on frame White section between 2 adjacent bulls at 100 yrs

350 mm 145mm

Diameter of area seen through sights in mm 100yrds Fore sight aperture mm fore to rear sights 3.2 mm 3 550 503 537 600 462 492 650 426 454 700 396 422 750 369 394 800 346 369 850 326 348 900 308 328

3.4 571 523 483 448 418 392 369 349

3.6 604 554 511 475 443 415 391 369

3.8 638 585 540 501 468 438 413 390

3.9 655 600 554 514 480 450 424 400

4 671 615 568 527 492 462 434 410

4.1 688 631 582 541 505 473 445 421

4.2 705 646 596 554 517 485 456 431

4.4 738 677 625 580 542 508 478 451

4.6 772 708 653 607 566 531 500 472

4.8 806 738 682 633 591 554 521 492

5 839 769 710 659 615 577 543 513

Ratio of diameter of the area seen on sights to bull diameter 100yrds Fore sight aperture mm fore to rear sights mm 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 550 2.5 2.6 2.8 2.9 600 2.3 2.4 2.6 2.7 650 2.1 2.2 2.4 2.5 700 1.9 2.1 2.2 2.3 750 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.2 800 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 850 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 900 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8

3.8 3.1 2.9 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.1 2.0 1.9

3.9 3.2 2.9 2.7 2.5 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0

4 3.3 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.1 2.0

4.1 3.4 3.1 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.3 2.2 2.1

4.2 3.4 3.2 2.9 2.7 2.5 2.4 2.2 2.1

4.4 3.6 3.3 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.5 2.3 2.2

4.6 3.8 3.5 3.2 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.4 2.3

4.8 3.9 3.6 3.3 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.5 2.4

5 4.1 3.8 3.5 3.2 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.5

Copyright Dr J Exon, Scotton & Farnham Rifle Club

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Ratio of with of area seen in sights to target paper size 100yrds Fore sight aperture mm fore to rear sights mm 3 3.2 3.4 550 1.4 1.5 1.6 600 1.3 1.4 1.5 650 1.2 1.3 1.4 700 1.1 1.2 1.3 750 1.1 1.1 1.2 800 1.0 1.1 1.1 850 0.9 1.0 1.1 900 0.9 0.9 1.0

If greatter than 1 you are viewing target frame and sand behind target

3.6 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.1

3.8 1.8 1.7 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.2 1.1

3.9 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1

4 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.2

4.1 2.0 1.8 1.7 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.2

4.2 2.0 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2

4.4 2.1 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.3

4.6 2.2 2.0 1.9 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3

4.8 2.3 2.1 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4

5 2.4 2.2 2.0 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.5

Any asymmetry in the viewing area between left and right will cause the sights to align to the darker side Normally on a frame you get equal amounts of off target viewing on both sides so it compensates Any asymmetry in the viewing area between top and bottom will cause the sights to align vertically towards the darker part eg For a target on the top of a frame if sights are set correct you will shoot high or if you sight in on a top card you will shoot low on a card where the edges do not influence the picture For a target on the bottom of a frame if sights are set correct you will shoot low Conclusion either add additional white card top and bottom the frame to compensate or minimise the effect by by putting the sighter on the centre target so the sights are set for symmetrical image The effects of the use of extension tubes can be seen from the table Adding 200mm from 700mm for a 3.9mm fore sight goes from 1.5 x paper size viewing area to 1.1 paper size ie see 5% on either side

Copyright Dr J Exon, Scotton & Farnham Rifle Club

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