TargetTalk

ok,
needs some help w/ bloops. got the idea about sight picture enhancement. Any advice about length? or rational for certain length?? If it it helps thinking about putting one on a 1907 Anschutz. Not sure so give me some info. Thanks !!!

How old are you?
Barrel length?
Prone or three position?

14 yrs old
3p
26" barrel

If you search the site you will find loads of info about bloop tubes, but mainly they have two purposes.
1. When you extend the front sight farther away, it is easier to focus on.
2. When you extend the front sight farther away, you can perceve smaller degrees of sight alignment/sight picture changes.
The general rule of thumb is a 31-40 inch sight radius is about a perfect compromise. (at least that's the number that comes to mind)
I have a 19.6 inch barrel with a 12 inch bloop tube. for a total sight radius of 37 inches.
Sorry if that wasn't much help.
Matt

I've made and sold about 100 bloop tubes and tuner tubes. The vast majority of girls who buy my regular tube opt for the 10" version, with 8" being next most popular. For guys, it is more 12" than anything else. It really is personal preference. and how much extra weight you are comfortable with.

Hope this helps,
Eric U

I have one of Eric's tuner tubes. 12 inches in length. I really like it, but it is heavy and I may have to use a carbon fiber tube in standing because my rifle is currently muzzle heavy.
Matt

Eric U wrote:I've made and sold about 100 bloop tubes and tuner tubes. The vast majority of girls who buy my regular tube opt for the 10" version, with 8" being next most popular. For guys, it is more 12" than anything else. It really is personal preference. and how much extra weight you are comfortable with.

Hope this helps,
Eric U

Somewhere in there is great material for a joke about whether size matters...

I'm just going to add a little caveat to Eric's comment:

You're only 14. You're almost certainly still growing. It's important not to put more weight on, especially up front and especially standing, because you see other people doing it and you can manage just about.

melchloboo joked about "size matters" but that sort of peer pressure can be a factor - and it absolutely isn't a reason for a junior to struggle with a gun which is too heavy for them. You'll damage your back.

Before you get all worked up about a tube the first question I ask is how well are you shooting and is it really appropriate?

Tubes help the sight picture, especially for old eyes but they are not some kind of magic wand. If you are shooting say 1140+ on the 120 shot course then a tube might help you find a few points. If you are struggling to break 1040 then you likely would not see much benefit and should be concentrating more on the base fundamentals.

'Dude

I kinda have a question regarding this...

How is the sight line measured? From front sight to rear sight? sorry, Im kinda new to bloop tubes.

The sight line is the straight line from your eye through the rearsight through the foresight and to the target. It's a direction rather than a distance.

Did you mean the site base? That's the distance from the rearsight to the foresight (and obviously it will be different with and without a bloop tube on).

would the sight base have an affect on the sight line? ex. would moving the rearsight further from your eye decrease the sight line and magnify aiming errors?

Nothing decreases the sight line, it's just there.

However, you're partly correct. A longer sight base makes any wobble in your aim more noticeable than a shorter sight base does. This can help to reduce aiming error; say you misalign the foresight and target by 1mm (from your perspective), the effect on the target is reduced by using a longer sightbase as the angular error of that 1mm is smaller.

But the increase in visible wobble can affect your morale.

Eric was about to deploy and I was in a hurry to buy a tube so I purchase one from ESP. Can't remember how Eric's are made but you can get the 12" from ESP and place the sight anywhere along the tube. However, you have to consider the weight.
There is a carbon tube that someone sells that would be the lightest but I believe the front sight will only mount on the end.
Just keep in mind that if your hold isn't rock solid, you will actually shoot worse with a tube. My guess is that at 14, there will be no benefit for you to add a tube and the extra weight will be a problem. Especially in standing

What's the normal or average thickness of most tubes? It looks like a full length sight base groove would be helpful, but is it really a good idea?

Thanks

I have one of Eric U's tuner tubes. 12" version (I shoot prone only)

The tube has 0.125" walls and sight mounting grooves about 8" (measured from the front) along the top. There are also grooves about 3 1/4" along the bottom so you can mount the front sight underneath and shoot with a scope without changing the resonance of the tuner.

So long as the wall thickness is not so thin as to give the tube a tendency to crack along the sight mounting grooves there does not seem to be any downside to having full length mounting grooves.

Cheers,
'Dude

melchloboo wrote:

Eric U wrote:I've made and sold about 100 bloop tubes and tuner tubes. The vast majority of girls who buy my regular tube opt for the 10" version, with 8" being next most popular. For guys, it is more 12" than anything else. It really is personal preference. and how much extra weight you are comfortable with.

Hope this helps,
Eric U

Somewhere in there is great material for a joke about whether size matters...

i was just thinking the same thing