TargetTalk

Howdy,
My pistol has the rear sight adjustments that allow me to make the notch both wider and deeper. What are the advantages (if any) to making the notch shallow?
I'm not looking for the answer "It's personal preference." I'm asking a scientific question. So far, the books I've read do not really have any answers to this, if they address it at all.
Thanks, drive carefully.

It depends on the existent daylight (more light: close the gaps). It also depends on your personal sight (bad eye: open the gaps). It might also depend on the thickness of your front sight (it doesn't make sense to have a very thin front sight and very large gaps).

zuckerman wrote:...What are the advantages (if any) to making the notch shallow?...

allows you to maintain a square (or other preferred ratio) of front sight if you change the blade width.

Howdy,
so a square sight picture is the preferred picture? In other words, I am trying to keep the front sight width and front sight height the same (square) when viewed through the rear sight notch? while adjusting the gaps of light between the front sight blade and the rear notch for various lighting and eye vision corrections? Yes?

I'm not looking for the answer "It's personal preference." I'm asking a scientific question. So far, the books I've read do not really have any answers to this, if they address it at all.

Oh, what a relief - someone else who's looking for the science in shooting! Let me know if you find any...

Unfortunately, I think that the answer to your question is that it really is about personal preference - perhaps not conscious, aesthetic preference, but what produces the best results for you.

The big problem here is that you have specifically excluded the main answer.

The fact of the matter, it is a matter of personal preference, just like with the way you stand, the length of time you hold, the way you alter the grips, weight of your pistol, etc. The way our eyes percieve or are affected by light around the sights causes us to have difference choices and opinions. There is no scientific answer. The only way to know what works for you is to shoot...alot. If you can see your sights well and call your shots, then that part of your system is working, so move on to other issues. A shooter's limitation or success are most often determined by head issues.

This is just a guess, but possibly the OP has heard statements about rifle peep sights that maintain it is a "scientific fact" that the eye instinctively centers concentric circles. I don't know if there is really any science behind these statements, but I can say I have never heard the same assertions made about open pistol sights. It really is a question of personal preference.

HTH,
FredB

Look for the notch width and depth, and post width that gives your eye the best sight picture. It will vary some with conditions, eyesight, light.

Oh and personal preference too.

FredB wrote:This is just a guess, but possibly the OP has heard statements about rifle peep sights that maintain it is a "scientific fact" that the eye instinctively centers concentric circles. I don't know if there is really any science behind these statements, but I can say I have never heard the same assertions made about open pistol sights. It really is a question of personal preference.

I suspect the human visual system tends to cue off of symmetry, in which case, the more symmetrical you can make the sight picture the better. This could include:

1) Sight blade the same width as the black

2) Sight height the same as the width

3) The white on each side the same as the width of the blade.

When aligned, this would produce an easily recognizable pattern of light & dark squares.

I suspect any possible advantage would be very small, but it might help.

You might want a wider notch on your rear sight for rapid fire stages or for events where you are rising to the target from a ready position and you need to get the first shot within a certain time frame (e.g. 1.2 seconds in 4 second series of rapid). You don't have time in those stages to adjust the gun to align the sights perfectly and that is the tendancy if your notch is too narrow in relation to the width of the front sight.

For slow fire events or stages, a narrow rear sight notch is fine.

I tended to use a wide front sight compared to others. My front sights were generally 4mm, rear sight notch 4mm (8.5" on standard pistol, 9 13/16" on rapid fire gun). Scientifically speaking, I can't give you ratios or specific examples. But the general rules above should help.

Good luck,
Retired