Does a Peep Sight Correct For Being Nearsighted???

[whitfang]

I'm considering buying a Marlin 336 and saw a tang sight with peep aperture that would fit that lever action rifle. 

Normally, I have to scope my firearms because of being nearsighted, meaning I cannot focus on a rear sight, front sight and a target at the same time.  If wearing contacts or glasses, I can not focus on the rear sight without reading glasses.  If no contacts or glasses, I can focus on the rear sight, but not on the target.

My question is this; does a peep sight allow a nearsighted shooter to get a good sight picture? 

[zoner]

will a peep sight help focus on the front sight.....i say yes. Mount your gun like you were going to shoot and look around the rearpeep at the front sight....now move your head sideways so you are looking at the front sight thru the peep and you'll see that the front sight is much sharper(more in focus) than before.This is something that your eyes will do naturally...you have narrowed the focus...looking thru the hole MADE you focus on the front sight better. Your eyes are wonderful things...they try to focus on whatever you look at. With standard iron sights by the time you have looked at the target,then the front sight,then the rear sight,then the target again none of them will be focused well cuz you been lookin at three different things back and forth. when you sight thru a peep the peep hole itself is there but it's kind of a ghost...look at the front sight. Target will be somewhat blurry but the front sight will be sharp as a razor....you'll also find that the front sight tends to naturally center itself in the peep hole...this is something that your eyes and your muscles do naturally.

[zoner]

since your talking leverguns i can say that I went from factory irons on a m94 winchester to a lyman tang peep and a post type front sight it was well,night and day. Not only did the peep help focus on the front sight the increase in sight radius made a big difference....the farther apart your irons are, the more accurate you'll be able to shoot....

[Badnews Bob]

Being nearsighted has nothing to do with it. I am horrably near sighted and shoot irons just fine, Peeps sights do help a bunch.  I hear that you can't focus on both sights and the target all the time, Well guess what no one should be able to do that. You can not bring into focus three things at diffrent distances, Your eyes are not made to do that. something has to remain blurry, I had it described to me as this,

You look thru the rear sight and pick up the front then you focus on the target, The rear sight is no longer in focus it is blurry but you brain knows where you looked and will hold that sight picture for you. Peeps sights reinforce this because your eyes automatically focus on the center of a circle.

It works.

BTW nearsighted means you can see things up close but not far away.  I see perfect up to about 12" then everything gets blurry. Farsighted means everything is blurry up close but you can see well far away.

[whitfang]

Thanks for the replies.

Now if I can just win this auction, I'll have a Marlin 336 and be able to buy a Lyman #2 Tang Sight to go on it.

Thanks!!!

[Skunk]

You look thru the rear sight and pick up the front then you focus on the target, The rear sight is no longer in focus it is blurry but you brain knows where you looked and will hold that sight picture for you. Peeps sights reinforce this because your eyes automatically focus on the center of a circle.

+1 on Badnews Bob's description.

When shooting peeps, I use my glasses for seeing things clearly in the distance and focus on the front sight and target. Just let the rear sight sort of blur around the center. Works great.

Good luck on the auction Whitfang.

[diggler1833]

For shooting a peep, the front sight should be clear, while the target and rear sight should be blurry.  As long as your vision is good enough to be able to focus on the front sight you should be able to shoot a peep sight well enough.

I've been in matches where guys have taken their glasses off because they felt that it helped them concentrate on the front sight post more than the target.

[Skunk]

For shooting a peep, the front sight should be clear, while the target and rear sight should be blurry.  As long as your vision is good enough to be able to focus on the front sight you should be able to shoot a peep sight well enough.

I've been in matches where guys have taken their glasses off because they felt that it helped them concentrate on the front sight post more than the target.

In my case, the front sight is long distance, so when using glasses, I get a clear front sight and a clear target. Just curious Diggler, why should the target be blurry if it doesn't have to be? Not saying your method is wrong, but if I didn't have a clear target, I think it would be pretty hard for me to hit what I thought I was aiming at.

[diggler1833]

If you are shooting at a target hundreds of yards away and you can see it clear as day, then you aren't concentrating on the front sight post.  Your sight alignment will more than likely be off since you aren't able at that point to make sure that the front sight is centered in the rear sight.  A clear front sight post will allow you to center it in a somewhat blurry rear sight.  From there center your clear front sight post (still centered in your rear sight aparatus) in the middle of your somewhat blurry target.  May sound wierd, but trust me, it works.

Wow, I just condensed a 20,000 word answer into a paragraph.

All of that being said, I found that I shot better holding at 6 o'clock.

[Skunk]

If you are shooting at a target hundreds of yards away and you can see it clear as day, then you aren't concentrating on the front sight post.

Well there in lies the problem why I wasn't understanding your method. I'm used to shooting .22lr at 50-75 yards and of course my target is clear at that distance compared to "hundreds of yards away." At that distance the target would indeed be blurry by default and I wouldn't have much choice in the matter.  Hang in there, I'm working on a .223 with peep sights for specifically shooting at targets set at 300 yards.

Wow, I just condensed a 20,000 word answer into a paragraph.

Good job Diggler. It does make sense when the longer distance is considered.

[Siskiyou]

I have used a peep sight on three different firearms starting out with a 760 Remington, you can see the Williams base still on the side of my rifle.  The peep sight was a big improvement over the factory semi-buckhorn sight.


Mounting a scope on the Model 760 was an improvement over the peep sight.  I replaced the factory rear sight with a folding Lyman sight.

I have a Marlin Model 336 which was sold as a package gun with iron sights and a 4x scope.  The iron sight was sighted in long ago and forgot because I prefer the scope.



With my eyes I could not have shoot this group with iron sights.  The Marlin is now wearing a 2-7x35 Burris.   Top two are factory Remington 150-grain, the bottom two are my Hornady 150-grain Roundnose reloads.



The tough one for me and the jury is still out is not scoping my Jungle Carbine.  I am happy with the peep sight for close range shooting.  Good commercial scope mounts are made for the rifle, but I want to have a rifle with iron sights for those super nasty heavy rainfall days.  Most shots are within one hundred yards and I do okay at that range with a peep.  I am writing about one of those days that you are exhausted from being in the rain.

This fall I hunted about a week with the scope equipped 336 Marlin.  The light rain and snow came down a couple of days.  It was not enough to bother the Burris scope.  I was pleased with the scope/Marlin combination.  If the conditions deteriorated enough I could have removed the scope from the base of the Weaver mounts and put the scope in my day pack.  It did not get that bad. 

Last spring I needed low scope rings to mount a scope on a bolt action rifle.  High rings are easy to get but the low ones are more difficult.  I happen to spot rings and a base for a Marlin 336 at Wal Mart with low rings.  I bought the package for a few dollars, kept the rings for my project and passed the Marlin base to a friend.

I have also used a combat shotgun with a peep sight.  I recommend it.

When I shoulder a rifle with a peep sight my eye picks up the center of the hole/light, in my mind the peep sight is out of focus and the eye focus on the foresight (front) and the target.  Focusing on the peep, the foresight, and the target is a complex process for the eye.
I do not mind using a peep sight on the right rifle.  This one has one in the ladder sight, and when it is folded down the user has the use of another peep sight.

[diggler1833]

Skunk,

My apologies if I made it harder to understand earlier.  With in-laws at the house and my wife sitting here next to me asking when I was getting off the computer I had to try to put the quickest thing together that I could.

I won't be much help for shooting a peep sight at 50-75 yards.  In my day a few years ago I did it from 200-1000yds.  There are some pretty significant differences in sight picture at closer ranges.

The fundamental still remains though that your concentration for sight alignment/sight picture should be on a clear front sight post/tip.  Although, at closer ranges the target will be less blurry, but will never be crystal clear as it would if you were to focus on it.

[diggler1833]

Anybody who doubts the power of marksmanship fundamentals and skills needs to check out a Service Rifle match if they get the opportunity.  Watching guys hold around 2MOA at from 200yds all the way back to 1K with a peep sight is amazing.

While I think that I'm a pretty decent shot and have had the opportunity to teach a little bit of marksmanship in my day, it was a real eye-opener to first step out on the line with some of the world-class shooters.  It was definitely a humbling experience.