Posted: Sat May 19, 2012 11:58 pm
Is there a difference for rifle shooting (like the equations for distance to the rear sight because it is so much smaller)?
Maybe, but not by much, and any there is, is more physiological than optical.
In rifle, the rear sight is so close it is blurred, so aiming is really a front sight/target question.
In pistol, you also have to concentrate on the rear/front sight alignment, so there might be some justification in saying you want to bias your focus slightly more towards the sights than a pure 50/50 split between the front sight and target that a rifle shooter would want.
In trap shooting, where you need to pay attention to a moving target and judge its velocity and direction, you want your focus a little further out ...
So, you are correct. My experience is rifle. Pistol might want slightly closer focus, shotgun slightly further. However in all cases, the formulas and the logic I presented are valid in terms of calculating the optics, it is the shooter's preference for where they want to focus that is not fully determined. However there is a range. I'd bet that if you take my 50/50 formula for focus, you will find that pistol shooters to trap shooters will mostly end up within 0.25 diopters one way or the other.