I read that you get your eye as close to the peep sight as you can, just look at the front sight and the target and open both eyes. However, I cannot shoot good groups with both eyes open with my HW 30 or FWB 300. I do better with one eye closed but not super precise groups. If I just practice with one eye, can I get the same results as keeping both eyes open? I am aiming through my right eye which seems to be the dominate one. I have tri-focal glasses I am shooting with. Any hints?
HW/Weihrauch Using a peep sight
- Thread starter JDR
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I think it's not about the number of open eyes, buy yourself a Gehmann iris with an adjustable diopter for rear peep and buy a set of inserts for the front sight (they are sold with the HW-30).
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Shooting with both eyes open is better, for me. It takes practice, but you're practicing anyhow.You do not have to get your eyes close as possible. It would help if you read up on what the experts tell you. When using both eyes open, you experience less eye fatigue. In time, you won't think about it. Both eyes open all ways with a pistol or rifle ...Your brain will allow you to shoot better with practice; your brain has to be able to develop new pathways, and that takes time,but it is not a long time. It can be done in hours.....Both eyes open natural, Yes ,you focus on the front sight.Peep sights are great
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I hear one eye open lets in less light than two open, for some reason, but one can confirm it by looking at something in low light.
And one gets better peripheral vision or "situational awareness" with two eyes open. But I haven't heard that one open is more or less accurate than two open.
And one gets better peripheral vision or "situational awareness" with two eyes open. But I haven't heard that one open is more or less accurate than two open.
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As Boscoebrea mentioned, shooting with both eyes open can help reduce eye fatigue. A blinder that is solid white can help. I used to cut mine out of old milk jugs to allow a little light to pass through. A hat can also help.
My eye was about 2-3" from the peep. Once you have a good sight picture and it's comfortable place some painters tape on the comb as a reminder. When placing your face onto the cheekpiece don't move it horizontally from the side. Instead lower it down vertically like nodding to prevent side pressure which can throw off the shot. For 10m I used to slightly cant the rifle inward to help with posture while lining up my sight line.
A drill one of my coaches had me do for standing was to draw a vertical line to a dot on blank paper. Follow the line until you reach the dot and then shoot or dry fire.
Available light at the target is another factor. These days glasses are necessary. Even with a scope it's made a noticeable difference for me.
My eye was about 2-3" from the peep. Once you have a good sight picture and it's comfortable place some painters tape on the comb as a reminder. When placing your face onto the cheekpiece don't move it horizontally from the side. Instead lower it down vertically like nodding to prevent side pressure which can throw off the shot. For 10m I used to slightly cant the rifle inward to help with posture while lining up my sight line.
A drill one of my coaches had me do for standing was to draw a vertical line to a dot on blank paper. Follow the line until you reach the dot and then shoot or dry fire.
Available light at the target is another factor. These days glasses are necessary. Even with a scope it's made a noticeable difference for me.
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Key is to focus on the front sight. You need a solid consistant cheek weld first. Look through the peep, and forget about it, just focus on the front post. Sometimes you have to open the peep up a bit if the sight picture is too dark. I went up 2 drill bit sizes on my Crosman 362 from what it came with, it was just too hard to see through. I know the competition shooters like diopters front and rear and want them sized specific to the target, that works under ideal lighting conditions. Not so much plinking or pesting in the house and yard.
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I wouldn't expect great results from the Williams, it's not a standard peep sight for the HW 30 and was installed by Beeman for marketing purposes, although it may be suitable for initial training. The FWB peep sight should work great on a standard rifle, buy some front sight inserts on eBay to start with and follow Vincent10s. advice.
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Your two sights are somewhat different animals.
The Williams unit lengthens sight radius and improves precision of course, but that sort of small peep is also intended to give you a good view around the target - it's actually perfect for a sporter rifle like the R7, you don't need a "better" one. It wants to sit a bit forward (which you gotta do with the gun's safety location anyway). Use a small eye disk with a large aperture opening, for a good clear view.
The match diopter sight on the FWB sits closer to the eye. A large eye disk with a small aperture opening gives a well-focused depth of field. You may eventually want an adjustable iris so you can adjust the opening, as the OEM disks typically have a small aperture optimized for a well-lit target range. It's good to be able to vary it for different real-world lighting conditions.
All that being said, nothing is cast in stone! You can shoot a match with the Williams or hunt with a match sight if you want - and there is a world of accessories out there to optimize what you want to do. But mostly - just get out there, burn some pellets, and have fun! Don't overthink how many eyes are open which part of your glasses to look through, or other folks' opinions
- what works for you will come quickly with practice.
The Williams unit lengthens sight radius and improves precision of course, but that sort of small peep is also intended to give you a good view around the target - it's actually perfect for a sporter rifle like the R7, you don't need a "better" one. It wants to sit a bit forward (which you gotta do with the gun's safety location anyway). Use a small eye disk with a large aperture opening, for a good clear view.
The match diopter sight on the FWB sits closer to the eye. A large eye disk with a small aperture opening gives a well-focused depth of field. You may eventually want an adjustable iris so you can adjust the opening, as the OEM disks typically have a small aperture optimized for a well-lit target range. It's good to be able to vary it for different real-world lighting conditions.
All that being said, nothing is cast in stone! You can shoot a match with the Williams or hunt with a match sight if you want - and there is a world of accessories out there to optimize what you want to do. But mostly - just get out there, burn some pellets, and have fun! Don't overthink how many eyes are open which part of your glasses to look through, or other folks' opinions
- what works for you will come quickly with practice. Last edited:
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A Williams is great on the R7 for casual plinking. Keeps the gun light and easy. My wife has enjoyed shooting this one for over 35 years. She has destroyed countless cans with it. I like it too. We never intended it to be a target rifle. Informal fun. I don't think I ever even tried to shoot groups on paper with it.
BTW Why can't Weirdrock make a nice looking gun like this again?
BTW Why can't Weirdrock make a nice looking gun like this again?
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You wouldn't see a Williams sight at a world-class 10 meter match...but it is perfectly suited for most of us to go target shooting. Get one of their larger eye disks with a smaller opening, or an adjustable iris of some sort, and go at it.
If the R7 has Weihrauch's standard tunnel-type front sight, you must use Weihrauch inserts. No other brand will fit.
The FWB 300's sight will NOT fit any other brand of rifle in my experience. The rail spacing is wider than Weihrauch's, and the cross-bolt attachment is totally unsuited to anything else.
Typical Weihrauch front sight, with their standard insert set:
Williams sight on my old R7, with their target disk fitted. Next to the gun are a couple of their smaller sporting disks (they make other sizes and openings too), and a Merit adjustable-aperture iris:
FWB 300S with classic FWB sight. The iris is an old Gehmann unit that adds a focusing 1.5x lens to the adjustable aperture opening. A great unit for old eyeballs like mine - I can shoot this combo without my glasses on:
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I think it is best to have the "peep" close to your eye. For one thing it will give a longer sight radius which helps accuracy, consider tang sights and the radius that they contribute too. Having said that I do have a couple of old military rifles with aftermarket peep sights which simply replace the standard rear notch, so the peep is forward of the reciever and quite a distance from the eye. It still makes for a good setup, better than the notched leaf rear.
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I have a Willams on my FWB 124 and the factory diopter on my FWB 300s. In reality they are both about the same distance from my eye. For a sporter/hunting gun the Williams is a smaller more compact unit, and simply looks "cleaner" on the gun. As far as accuracy, there are no flies on the Williams, but then consider it is on a break barrel springer, vs a fixed barrel match grade gun, that would be comparing apples and oranges. I do have some old Anschutz match diopters on other spring barrel guns and I love them for their more precise build and repeatability of adjustments. Once zeroed I see no difference in accuracy. My Williams has the target knobs so it is easy to adjust, but compared to the othe makes it simply lacks the precision. Being older I do have a Gehmann diopter installed in it as well as my other more precise sights.
Yes you could shoot a match using a WIlliams sight, I would want to be competing against similar quality guns, and then have my sight zeroed and the elevation grub tightened so there could be no movement in the slide part holding the aperature.
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You are correct, and apologies if I was misleading above. Any aperture sight should be close enough to the eye that you CAN'T focus on it; the idea is to look THROUGH it, and center the front sight and target in the opening.
But again, typically a sporting peep sight is physically small and sits a bit farther forward; part of its remit is be unobtrusive, and help you locate a target that might be moving and/or in poor light. A match diopter sight is bigger, has more precise adjustments, and sits closer; it is designed to isolate a small fixed target and provide an optimal clear view of it.
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While I'm obsessing, lol...back to another point above.
The diameter and side alignment tabs of front sight inserts vary between brands, so you have to do some homework to get what fits your sight. (The "M" numbers refer to the diameter in mm of the threaded sleeve that clamps the inserts into the sight. Sleeves of a given size will interchange between brands, but as you can see the inserts do NOT.)
Some makes of inserts come with a variety of post and ring sizes and shapes, which you will want to play with to see what suits you best. Here is a random selection of Anschutz ones:
The diameter and side alignment tabs of front sight inserts vary between brands, so you have to do some homework to get what fits your sight. (The "M" numbers refer to the diameter in mm of the threaded sleeve that clamps the inserts into the sight. Sleeves of a given size will interchange between brands, but as you can see the inserts do NOT.)
Some makes of inserts come with a variety of post and ring sizes and shapes, which you will want to play with to see what suits you best. Here is a random selection of Anschutz ones:
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