Replies

Say a quick prayer for me this week... I'll be teaching my wife how to use the peeps on her AR. I KNOW she's going to take one look and ask me WHO in the world designed them?! I'm sure that she's never seen anything like them before. I'll be drawing the little picture to help explain first so she'll understand. I think she'll pick it up pretty quick. She's a smart girl too!...an RN with a background in neuroscience. :-)

But I KNOW she's going to have "words" about those peep sights! I'm certain that we'll get past it.:-)

I've been telling everybody for the past 10 years that when they purchase a home defense weapon, budget for TWO additional items on the weapon.

1. An electronic sight.

2. A decent weapons light.

Far too many people don't invest in these items. But trying to wake up at "O-Dark-Thirty" at things that go bump in the night and find your gear is trouble enough only to be topped off by having a weapon that's virtually unusable in the dark, and with no light.

The people who want to argue about lights and sights get my standard "story". I simply ask if in the event of an armed encounter in the home at night, do they want to stop the perp, or potentially shoot a child or another loved one? They usually get mad at me at this point, and I tell them that identifying a target in the dark is very, very important.

Making them think about accidentally shooting family members in the dark usually causes them to SERIOUSLY consider the merits of a decent sight, and a light.

I agree with you. The enhanced ability to get a sight picture on a target in reduced, and low light is a TREMENDOUS advantage! But as you've said...basic marksmanship first! ...and that's what I'll be showing my wife this week. She's an experienced shooter already with the Colt Series 80, .45ACP, as well as several .22 rifles we have here, so I don't think she'll have a lot of problems....but I just KNOW she's going to hate the sights! I'm hoping that (as with a lot of people) that she learns to like them better with time. I'm one of those that really like peep sights, but I didn't start out that way. :-)

but I just KNOW she's going to hate the sights!

Is there an indoor range where you can rent something with ordinary open sights, like a .22? Explain to her how she would have to focus on THREE different objects at different distances. A peep sight eliminates half of that workload.

It's important to become an expert with iron sights, if just to gain confidence in yourself and your weapon. The Marines still emphasize that, but the Army dropped that concept ages ago, just going for pop-up silhouettes, rather than paper bulls eyes. You've got to learn confidence in your rifle and your basic skills. Once you know you can make certain shots with just the peep sights, you know you're going to clean up with some advanced sighting equipment. You'll also be able to fall back to iron sights if you ever have to with nothing more than a sense of annoyance.