Posted by Roland Cannon on November 15, 1999 at 09:12:27:
Does a person give up an advantage by using a short site radius on the guns that have this adjustable? My gun appears to be
more steady with a shorter distance between the two sites, but I know this is just an illusion.
Posted by PKuemin on November 15, 1999 at 09:27:51:
I think it depends on your ability to stabilize the gun. Somebody (like me) who comes from the dynamic side of ISSF shooting
and isn't great in his "static" abilites :-) might shoot better with a shorter sight radius, because he doesn't see the shake, rattle and
roll and therefore works better with his trigger finger. I don't know many people with a steady enough hand to use a long sight
radius, like on modern match air pistols, to the limits. On the other side, world class shooters like Uwe Potteck modify their
guns for a longer sight radius, and argument that a "normal" deviation will make a smaller fault on the target - but these people
can hold the gun, you wouldn't believe it - I've seen the Scatt recordings :-/
Personally, I calculated the sight deviation I see on my FAS when I shoot a 10.0 in the 25 meter precision stage and then
adjusted my air pistol so the same visible deviation will give me a 10.0 at 10 meters, and I'm quite happy with this - probably
because my limits are a lot lower :-)
Posted by Roy Nagel on November 19, 1999 at 01:44:46:
Any sighting accuracy you might lose with a shorter sight radius is miniscule -- IF the sights are properly set up for your eyes
and the lighting conditions on your shooting range.
I posted a note on how to determine the right rear notch width a couple of months ago, but here it is again, very briefly:
It's called a sighting triangle test. The pistol is blocked up or clamped upright on a table or bench, pointing downrange. The
shooter sits behind it, pistol at arm's length, and looks over the sights to the target area, where a large blank sheet of paper has
been pinned. An assistant goes downrange, holds a target against the white backing sheet and moves it up, down, left, right until
the shooter sees the perfect sight picture. A pen tip is put through the centre of the target to mark the backing sheet. The
exercise is repeated twice more, and what you end up with is a triangle that represents the tightest group you could shoot with
that sight combination. There is no pistol movement, no ammunition error -- just sighting error.
This is best done at the end of a shooting session, when your your eyes are tired.
Now, to the sight radius question. IF the rear sight has the correct amount of daylight on either side of the front blade for top
accuracy, you'll find no difference in sighting accuracy between the sight radius of a full-size air pistol and a standard pistol with
a sight radius of two or three inches shorter.
I chopped a Tau 7 barrel down to 5.5 inches for a young shooter, put it in our clamping device and did a sighting triangle test.
Tight triangle. Then used a Ransom Rest to adjust velocity for best accuracy with the pellets we use. Fine accuracy. And then
there's the added bonus to sighting and mechanical accuracy -- extremely short barrel time; less time to wander between trigger
release and pellet exit.
When Don Nygord chopped his old FWB 65 some years ago, He gained the same thing -- no loss of sighting accuracy and
some benefit through shorter barrel time.
In air pistols, longer ain't necessarily better.
Posted by Nicolas on November 15, 1999 at 17:36:14:
Roland,
I don't know if this will help or not, but I started shooting a long barreled FWB M-65 and C-20 and found I was trying to keep
the sights so stable that I was making serious mistakes, so I switched to a shorter barrel and had very positive results, also it is
lighter.
Nicolas
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