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Pistol sights

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Re: Pistol sights

#82

Isn't this supposed to be a HACKERS NEWS blog? What in the hell does some article about pistol sights have to do with this? I literally only made an account to post about how absurd and out of place this article is. If I wanted some second amendment lovers blog (and I don't), I'd simply find one. Strike one, "hacker news". Strike one.

It's not news about hackers, it's news for hackers (in the older usage of the word). And clearly lots of us find it interesting. You've got an account now, so you can click "hide", flag it if you feel it's inappropriate, and move on. If enough people agree, the flagging system should take it down.

Re: Pistol sights

#83

If you're interested in the science behind this, you may be even more interested in learning how peephole style rear iron sights almost eliminate the dual sight alignment problem of goal-post style rear sights (as commonly found on pistols). The rear peep sight on rifles take advantage of actual "optical effects", without any glass -- much like a pinhole camera can actually magnify images without any lenses or mirror…

Another option is to use a red dot sight and leave the front iron sight up. This has the combination of fast target acquisition, better situational awareness and mitigating parallax. I just saw this demonstrated yesterday at Sig Sauer Academy and was pretty impressed.

This is called co-witnessing

Re: Pistol sights

#84
post #51

Anyone who is diehard anti-gun for personal use, I recommend taking a pistol class from a reputable organization, and keep an open mind. No one is telling you to get a license or buy a gun, just go take a class. They will teach you all about safety, how to shoot, gun cleaning and maintenance, and all of the basic skills needed to properly own a gun. Then if you are still diehard anti-gun, great! But if you have no ex…

Are there any organizations you would recommend for such a class?

I know lots of people aren't going to like this answer, but the NRA probably has the information you're looking for.

There's a search page to help you find a course near you (by zip code)[0]. If you scroll down to the bottom of the table, there's the "NRA Home Firearm Safety Course" which goes over basic handling procedures for various types of firearm. It also goes over some topics more specific to storing firearms in the home, but is mostly a general safety course as far as I understand.

[0]: http://www.nrainstructors.org/search.aspx

Re: Pistol sights

#85
post #51

Anyone who is diehard anti-gun for personal use, I recommend taking a pistol class from a reputable organization, and keep an open mind. No one is telling you to get a license or buy a gun, just go take a class. They will teach you all about safety, how to shoot, gun cleaning and maintenance, and all of the basic skills needed to properly own a gun. Then if you are still diehard anti-gun, great! But if you have no ex…

I used to shoot rifles when I was a kid, I even won prizes. Winning a beer mug as an 11yo kid is the height of country living, and I still use it proudly to this day. Guns definitely have their uses, for instance hunting. Target shooting is also quite fun, but these guns are rather different from the ones most gun enthusiasts like to own. I think personal ownership of guns should be restricted, thought I will not mak…

>I think it's much more important to manage the access to ammunition. After all, a gun is only actually dangerous when it's loaded. Sure, a gun that isn't loaded can still be used to threaten people (because even then it demands attention and the utmost respect) or even pistol-whip them. But it is very unlikely to be used to kill anyone or anything.

This isn't really workable. One of the primary ways criminal gangs acquire firearms here in the US is through "straw purchases", where they have someone with a clean record go purchase a gun for them.

This works fairly well for them, but has its limits: if guns you've purchased later turn up in crimes, you're likely to face pointed questions. You can't do this too often without putting yourself at serious risk.

But straw purchases of ammunition are almost impossible to track. If the buyer is asked to account for their ammunition, they can simply claim to have shot it all already.

Meanwhile, it adds great expense to ammunition (My local stores mark up their ammo nearly 100% already, and it will become worse next January once it's illegal for me to order ammunition online). And because criminals actually use very little ammunition, this cost falls almost entirely on legitimate target shooters and hunters, who are the ones shooting tens of thousands of rounds a year.

Re: Pistol sights

#86

If you're interested in the science behind this, you may be even more interested in learning how peephole style rear iron sights almost eliminate the dual sight alignment problem of goal-post style rear sights (as commonly found on pistols). The rear peep sight on rifles take advantage of actual "optical effects", without any glass -- much like a pinhole camera can actually magnify images without any lenses or mirror…

You can have peep sights on a bow too - it mounts on the string

Re: Pistol sights

#87
post #2

Near the end of the article, he mentions that some people say that it's more difficult to aim a weapon that has a shorter sight radius. Actually, I think it's more accurate to say that having your sights out of alignment with shorter sight radius will have a more dramatic effect on your accuracy.

Or put another way, a shorter sight radius by a factor of X makes it X times harder to visually confirm your iron sights are correctly aligned. This makes the visual-mental-physical feedback loop of keeping them aligned as precisely as you possibly can, much more difficult. Shooting accurately is much more than just physically holding the barrel steady; it's a whole "symphony" of coordination, involving physical, vis…

That's a great way to explain it.

Re: Pistol sights

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe this pure split you refer to is the fault of the gun control advocates. In the mind of the 2nd amendment folks every compromise they have made has led to that being the new normal to build the next compromise, thus sliding down the slope. Both political parties would do well to soften their purity tests.

> In the mind of the 2nd amendment folks every compromise they have made has led to that being the new normal to build the next compromise, thus sliding down the slope. Given that this is exactly the strategy of the opposing actors, I can see why 2nd amendment advocates take this stance. If you look at basically any other country where there's still a debate open on this topic, you'll note that it is indeed a slipper…

So are gun ownership rates and the types of weapons owned in California similar to that in Canada as well then? If they are, ok you might have a point, although I'm not quite sure what you think the reason for the difference in outcome in Canada and California might be.

Re: Pistol sights

#89
post #51

Anyone who is diehard anti-gun for personal use, I recommend taking a pistol class from a reputable organization, and keep an open mind. No one is telling you to get a license or buy a gun, just go take a class. They will teach you all about safety, how to shoot, gun cleaning and maintenance, and all of the basic skills needed to properly own a gun. Then if you are still diehard anti-gun, great! But if you have no ex…

Out of interest, do high schools in the US teach this kind of stuff? The reason I ask is that my son was taught to shoot, gun maintenance etc. at his high school in the UK and we're usually regarded as "anti-gun" as a country!

Re: Pistol sights

#90
post #51

Anyone who is diehard anti-gun for personal use, I recommend taking a pistol class from a reputable organization, and keep an open mind. No one is telling you to get a license or buy a gun, just go take a class. They will teach you all about safety, how to shoot, gun cleaning and maintenance, and all of the basic skills needed to properly own a gun. Then if you are still diehard anti-gun, great! But if you have no ex…

(a die hard anti gun brit) As a Scout we were taught to shoot various things (rifle's, bow and arrow etc). I dont see what it does anything to help introduce sane gun laws?

I think the idea is people who use guns will love them and think how great they are. I'm a Brit and we have next to no gun ownership culture here, but I was in the TA for 4 years and got extensive firearms experience. I don't want a gun ownership culture anywhere near me or my family. I just don't see how it could ever be worth the human and social cost.
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