Anschutz new Precise rear sight

[Shooterer]

Has anyone tried one and if so what are your thoughts?

I am looking to change my rear sight to something smaller.

[pdurben]

I got one of these sights last year while at the Munich World Cup. I was looking for a low profile sight for air rifle. And this works great for me. It has one potential big issue, which I will discuss later.

But it is very well made and pretty ingenious engineering. It's small. The base measures 45 mm in length, 34 mm in width (54 mm with knobs. Add an extra mm for the mounting screws), and 40 mm tall. For it's small size, it does have a little bit of heft due to it's stainless steel base. It weighs about 165 grams without an iris, but still 35 grams less than the Anschutz 7020 sight.

The main point of this sight is the elevation knob is nested inside the windage knob on the side. This takes a little getting used to, but it's pretty easy. One thing that threw me off initially is that when turning the windage knob, the elevation knob also turns. But the actual elevation setting does not. When turning the elevation knob, the windage knob does not turn. Anschutz said this is the correct function. So the only issue really is if you keep track of your sight zero while watching wind. There are indication marks to read the sight, so you can still do this for left/right windage adjustments, but you have to keep track of elevation. But this technique is pretty much a lost art in the international game. But you can still do this with this sight.

The one thing I'm not sure why they did it is the sight base is slightly offset to the right. So when the sight windage adjustment is in the middle of travel, the rear iris will be to the left. So unless you have a way to equally offset your front sight, you have to click way right to center up the sight. For my air rifle, I was able to get sighted in, but I didn't have much more room to move right. Not that big of a deal for air rifle, but I think you'd run into issues with smallbore.

But I prefer to center my windage. There were two ways I did this. The first was I have a set of off-set adjustable riser blocks. I set my rear sight windage in the middle of travel, then played with the rear and front riser offset settings. It was kind of tricky to get this set. What I ended up doing, though, is not using the offset risers, but rather rotating my MEC extension tube. I basically sighted in by rotating the tube rather than moving the sight. Once set, I clamped down the tube for good. I only did this that one initial set up time, and now I fine tune my sighting moving my sights. But now I'm in the middle of my windage travel. Once again, not that big of a deal for air rifle, and my extension tube allows me to do this. For me, I actually like this slight offset. But unless you have a way to equally offset your front sight, you will have windage issues.

One other thing to be aware is if you try spinning the elevation knob fast, the windage knob might turn a click. But I'm talking turning really fast. No issue if you click normally. But keep that in mind. These are very small clicks (24 per revolution). So if you have to move your elevation a lot, don't spin like crazy.

One final thing is the knob knurls are kind of sharp. They don't cut, but they are a little sharp. Keep in mind when I got mine, it literally came off the milling machine that morning and was rushed to Munich. So maybe they didn't buff down the cut edges. The rest of the sight's edges are nice and smooth.

All-in-all, this sight is exactly what I wanted for my air rifle. I wanted a low profile sight. There are other low profile sights out there. It looks like Centra has a couple. And all these sights are expensive. But like I said, the Anschutz sight is very well made, and I am very happy with it.

I have not tried it for smallbore. One of the selling points in the Anschutz literature is it's easier to stay in position in prone while moving your sights, and it's better to see wind flags. I don't recall a knob on top of a sight blocking wind flags, nor do I stay in position while loading for prone. So for me, having the knobs on the side are not that big of an advantage. But a low profile for standing would be. But I already have a bunch of Anschutz 7020 rear sights for smallbore, so I'm in no hurry to try the Precise sight outdoors yet.

That's all I have. Hope this helps.

Good shooting!
Pete Durben

[methosb]

I wonder if the offset centre was a manufacturing defect. If it is normal it is pretty much a deal-breaker for SB shooters.

[TenMetrePeter]

I must admit the size of the rear sight has never been a problem for me. Anschutz is in a country that prides itself that workers cannot just be laid off at will. That means to justify their existance the design team constantly renewing designs for the sake of it. It works with automobiles but niche sports maybe not. As a one time designer I like their stance but it costs money. I wish they would make their next design affordable by club shooters in the 100 to 200 euro range rather than 479 euros. They could do it if they tried.
Forgive me for criticising the shooting deity.

[Tim S]

Peter,

if you want a cheaper rearsight, then Anschutz make the 6805. This sight is deliberately intended to compliment their top-of the range models - you don't have to buy one. As for innovation, at a time when their sales are being hit by more radical designs from Walther, Bleiker, and Grunig, sitting still would be commercial suicide.

There is a trend towards smaller sights of late; in smallbore low-profile sights give a wider view down range so the shooter can see the wind flags better, and in the standing position orientate themself better.

[TenMetrePeter]

Tim. £240 for a 6805 is not cheap in my book. Had to wait for a Premium Bond win to get a Centra 157 at £150. I cant think of many fellow club members could afford even that. It means an old gun without sights is a write-off. Next choice is the ridiculous chinese Gamo sight.

[Tim S]

Peter,

yes, target rearsights are expensive, but think what these have to do; accurate adjustment back and forth over many years. Yes, you can buy Chinese made telescopic sights for a song, but many won't track accurately, and the volume of manufacture pushes down costs.

I've had good results buying used Anschutz rearsights from eBay.

[rmca]

Peter,

As Tim said, rear sights are not cheap.
And from my experience, don't go for the cheap stuff.
It's far better to get one second handed, from a good manufacturer, than a new cheap one, even if the second handed sight is more expensive.

Buy once, and cry only once...
You can always resell the sight or transfere it to another rifle. They hold their value pretty well.
Always consider the lack of sights in a rifle, as a very strong argument to drive the price down.

Hope this helps

[TenMetrePeter]

The Centra Pro 57 and its design cousins Gehmann Compact et al are well engineered and simple in design.
Backlash is taken care of in an obvious way. If the carrier ever did wear I can see a simple obvious operation to renovate it. I dont see that necessary for many years if ever.
Pdurben's comments dont suggest the Precise is worth 479 euro. Just my opinion.

[Tim S]

Peter,

I have a Steyr rearsight on my spare 1813, which is mechanically similar to the Centre Pro-57. It is indeed a remarkably simple, yet clever, design, however the simplicity is why it's so cheap, along with a lack of polish. The Precise rearsight requires a lot more machining to achieve smooth and accurate movement; naturally this comes at a cost. However whether that expense is cost effective for you is a different matter.

The downsides to the Centra are that it's quite bulky, and has a limited adjustment range. If these are not concerns, then it's amazing value. To me, eventually the cost of a new (actually nearly new) Centra 10-50 outweighed these disdvantages.

I would say that unlike the PDurben, a majority of prone shooters load from the shoulder, so his comments there are more personal than general.

[pdurben]

Just a little clarification to add to this thread. I sort of miswrote that I do not stay in position when I load for prone. What I meant was that I do not keep my right elbow on the mat when I load. I do keep the rifle in my shoulder while loading. So reaching the elevation knob when it's on top of the sight is not that big of a deal for me. For those who keep their right elbow on the mat while loading, I could see where having the elevation knob on the right, as the Anschutz Precise sight has, would be helpful.

Also, my Anschutz Precise sight I discussed was one of the very first ones made, so perhaps current ones are not offset like mine is. I just wanted to let people know to be aware of this.

[be3nnn]

I'm pretty sure I read that the precise could be offset? I'm not 100% sure though, it just may be an adjustment.
I'll see if I can find the link.

Edit: http://www.intershoot.co.uk/acatalog/An ... -1271.html
Seems to be to do with the fixing clamp.