TargetTalk

My son currently is switching to riser blocks for standing only and is looking at getting a new rear sight to set for just standing with the risers. (he doesn't use them in prone or kneeling). He currently uses the right handed Anschutz 7020 model. He doesn't want to pay the $425 for the new 7020 rear sight and saw the Centra Economy Rear Diopter sight. Will this work? Is it a good sight?


THANKS!

http://www.champchoice.com/prod-CENTRA_ ... -2995.aspx

Will it work - yes probably, but it will be different in terms of both the look and feel and perhaps also the sight adjustments. If he uses filters etc then they may not be able to be swapped across sights.

Rob.

if hes just using it for the standing it will be fine, he's already adjusting the rifle for that position so if he's using the sight all the time for standing he will soon be used to it and how it feels/sight picture etc.Same applies to the other positions. It's something he will get used to. He should have a set for each position with the iris/filters already on that sight, saves the hassle of adjusting for each position also helps to have different butt plates for each position, but starts to get costly.

obrientas,

A few more details might be helpful: Is your son shooting smallbore or 3P air? If smallbore is he shooting 50ft or 50 yds/50 meter?

As noted in the link you provided, these are for the 11mm dovetail. This is going to include your Anschutz, Walther, Feinwerkbau and a few others. Bottom line there if the 7020 sight fits the dovetail then this should too.

Assuming he has an adjustable rear iris, all the German and Swiss rear irises I have ever seen (about 40 years worth) use the same thread so that will swap over just fine. As pointed out by RobStubbs there are a few filters that attach to the front glare tube, those may or may not swap over. (Front filters are not terribly common anymore so I doubt this is an issue.)

If you dig into the MEC/Centra literature this rear sight is part of their "STARTLINE". They advertise 0.2mm per click at 10 meters. I will assume this is for the standard air rifle where the length of the apparent barrel and firing mechanism is 850mm. (No extension tubes allowed) This works out to 14.5 clicks per minute of angle so at 50 yards it will take 14 clicks to move the center of impact 1/2".

In all of these respects, to put them on top of the rifle and shoot standing these sights should be fine.

Now, clearly you get something for your money and these are less than 1/2 the price of the Anschutz sights. This next part is conjecture on my part because I do not have a set of these sights, nor do I have access to a set. I would bet that the carriage that holds the aperture/iris is mounted in dovetails rather then the linear bearings that have become almost ubiquitous on top end sights in the last 20 years. This is not necessarily a bad thing, plenty of fine scores have been shot with the old style system. Where you likely sacrifice is repeatability. The Anshutz 7020 has the reputation of being able to click 10 clicks right, 10 clinks up, 10 clicks left and 10 clicks down and you will be EXACTLY where you started. I would guess that with this CENTRA STARTLINE sight that repeatability will be close but not the same exactness you get with a more expensive sight. This could become an issue if you are shooting in a twitchy wind and have to do lots of clicking. If you are indoors, it is no big deal.

OK Bottom line, if your son is shooting indoors at 10M or 50ft this will likely be a fine sight. 14 clicks to the minute (standard length barrel) is plenty. If shooting outdoors in windy conditions where he is clicking alot then they might not be the best option but for standing likely still very adequate.

One other thing I will suggest with regard to the riser blocks. Have you considered a set of Eric Uptagrafft's riser blocks? http://shop.uptagrafftllc.com/Sight-Riser-Blocks_c2.htm Eric cuts the front and back blocks from the same stock so they end up the same height, this minimizes sight changes when you swap the risers in or out. This might be an option compared to another set of sights. Much cheaper certainly.

Good Luck

'Dude

Yes the Centra startline should work. A friend uses one for 50m prone. It will take the usual iris/filter sets.

'Dude, the startline model doesn't have dovetail moutings for the eyepiece. It's a tubesight. The eyepiece is spring-loaded, like the Steyr, or Gehmann Compact. The adjustments should be repeatable and relaible. The downside is that elevation adjustment is limited; fine if you are shooting at just one distance, say 10m air, or in this case 50m. However my Steyr ran out of elevetion adjustment the first time I shot it at 100 yards; this utterly confused the Steyr technicians.

thanks everyone! he would be shooting standing at 50 feet indoors throughout the winter and 50 yards - 50 meters outdoors in the spring/summer.

would a Hammerli 462 rear sight be better?

The Hammerli 460 series is an excellent sight. I have one of the original 460s on my prone rifle. I like it. The design is 20 years old now so it is tried and true but may also be dated.

Is the 462 better than the Centra START-LINE? Likely, but unless you happen to have one laying around it will likely also double the price of the Centra. Without lots of testing of the two on the same equipment it would be difficult to say with any certainty which was truely better.

For most rifles 50 ft and 50 yards have pretty close to the same zero (50 ft catches the bullet on the way up and 50 yards on the way down so to speak) so the limited vertical adjustment of the Centra should not be an issue.

'Dude

thanks guys!

Why does he need another set of sights? He just needs to keep track of the sight adjustments made going from prone to standing and standing to kneeling when adding/removing the riser from underneath his sights. After shooting 5 or 6 times he should have a pretty good idea how many clicks his sights are going to change by adding/removing the risers in between positions. If he is shooting competitively enough to worry about adjusting the height of his sights he should be sighting his gun in during practice shots in each position anyhow. Besides just because he has a set of sights just for standing doesn't mean they are going to be sighted in every time he puts it back on the rail. Either way he has to re-sight his gun every position, every time he shoots. Conditions are always changing even in the middle of a position so he should be constantly watching for necessary sight adjustments.

My thoughts exactly!

tenxpro wrote:Why does he need another set of sights? He just needs to keep track of the sight adjustments made going from prone to standing and standing to kneeling when adding/removing the riser from underneath his sights. After shooting 5 or 6 times he should have a pretty good idea how many clicks his sights are going to change by adding/removing the risers in between positions. If he is shooting competitively enough to worry about adjusting the height of his sights he should be sighting his gun in during practice shots in each position anyhow. Besides just because he has a set of sights just for standing doesn't mean they are going to be sighted in every time he puts it back on the rail. Either way he has to re-sight his gun every position, every time he shoots. Conditions are always changing even in the middle of a position so he should be constantly watching for necessary sight adjustments.