Aiming with Iron Sights

Aiming a gun is basically learning how to accurately point the gun at the target you want to hit. From the beginning of the age of firearms, it became clear that looking down the barrel was not an adequate solution. To improve accuracy, gun sights were developed. As technology has improved, so have gun sights. From simple sights designed to be used inside 25 yards, to optical sights accurate at 1000 yards.

To improve accuracy over the single bead sight, iron sights were developed. Iron sights have two parts. Typically, a vertical blade at the muzzle end of the barrel and the rear sight with an opening in the center mounted near the base of the barrel. By aligning the rear sight and front sight, the gun can be very accurately aimed out to the limit of the shooters vision. An aperture rear sight is a ring or a hole in the rear sight. The top of the front blade is centered in the circle formed by the rear sight.

Using iron sights requires the shooter to first obtain the proper sight alignment and then the correct sight picture. Sight alignment involves aligning the front blade in the opening of the rear sights. This involves both horizontal alignment and vertical alignment. While horizontal alignment is basically the same for most iron sights, vertical alignment depends on the shape of the rear sight. Notched rear sights use a notch in the blade mounted perpendicular to the barrel. The top of the front blade is aligned with the top on the notch in the rear sight.

The sight picture is formed by placing the aligned sights over the target. There are two common sight pictures the center hold and the six o’clock hold. With a center hold the top of the blade is placed in the center of the target. With a six o’clock hold the top blade is placed at the base of the center of the target. The six o’clock hold is normally used for target shooting at known distances with bulls-eye targets.

Iron sights used at longer distances or for target shooting are often adjustable for both windage (horizontal) and elevation (vertical) adjustment. Typically, the rear sight is adjustable. Elevation is especially important for distance shooting as bullets drop due to gravity as range increases. After a few hundred yards, the drop can be measured in feet for most cartridges. Being able to adjust the elevation of the sight for known ranges allows shooters to accurately hit distant targets.