diopter sights

[Philip W]

Can anyone tell me how to "set up" and use diopter sights and how do you choose which front element to use - is it just personal preference or has each one got its own use ?? Many thanks.

[stevew71]

Assuming you are going to be shooting standard targets.......
The foresight element should be of the ring type, the size of which is dependent on the target you are shooting. Ideally you should see a thin white border around the target when the foresight is aimed. The size of the white border is down to personal preference but should allow you to judge that it is equal thickness all the way around the target. The rear sight will usually have an adjustable iris either by use of a rotating disk with preset apertures or a camera iris type which are fully adjustable. Again this comes down to personal preference and ambient light conditions, you don't want to small an aperture or the image will be too dark, to large an aperture and you may have eye alignment problems. Then there are coloured lenses that you add for contrast.

[Philip W]

Thanks for the reply .The rear sight I have does not appear to be adjustable only by sliding it along the rail so I assume I move it to gain a relevant sight picture ????

[stevew71]

That will have a similar affect as the aperture will appear to grow/shrink as you move it. The iris is usually built onto the eyepiece at the rear, the true iris usually has a small lever to open/close it, the preset aperture type are altered on a thumbwheel that is usually just proud.

[Philip W]

Thanks I will have a play tonight .In my ignorance I thought these were very "basic" sights but there is more to them than first appears

[manxteddy]

I have Diopters fitted on my HW99S.
I have had transparent ring foresight elements made bu Niel uk as the HW has a specific diameter.For general target shooting I use a blade element.
Graham

[Rodd]

I used to use a 4.6mm "Owls eye" foresight, sound a bit like manxteddy's sort.
Found it was good for 10m and 6yd rifle targets.
Basically a round perspex disc, 4.6mm hole and chamfered nearly the full depth of the material, came from Accuracy International, don't know if they still exist.

Rod

PS the Diopter sight fitted to my Original 75HV had a non-adjustable 1.2mm hole.

[Rustam Bana]

If you want to use it for ISSF 10 metre shooting, a 4.00mm or 4.20mm front insert is recommended. 3.8mm and smaller will reduce the gap between the target and insert, resulting in more 'bounce' which tends to makes you hold longer on target than is desired for good accuracy.

If you aren't using a post front insert, you are looking at ensuring that all three circles (rear aperture, front sight insert and the bull) are concentric.

If you are using this to shoot targets at a fixed distance, then it is better to keep your head upright and cant the rifle. In other words, bring the rifle to the head rather than the other way around.

Triangular front sight inserts are also available.

Rustam

[manxteddy]

I am using an HW Diopter rear sight but have fitted an Anshultz variable aperture diopter with coloured filters.
At least the diopters have the same thread.
Use it in FT targets as well.OK if they are not too shot up or target area becomes difficult to see.
Graham

[5teve]

Hi guys,
This is a topic that I have been pondering over for a while. I have only recently decided to try my hand at air rifle shooting having not owned one since I was about 12, I am now 63. Anyway, I bought myself a Feinwerkbau 300S with diopter sights but I'm struggling to use them correctly. There are 2 reasons for this. The first is that I had a parachuting accident while in the Army which badly damaged my spine and neck. This means that I have difficulty getting my head lined up behind the rear sight. I'm hoping that this will get better with use and practice. The second problem is that I only have one reticle thing that fits in the foresight. Using the targets that my club uses this means that the ring in the foresight is exactly the same size as the black bit of the target which in turn means that I can't see a white bit all round the inner edge of the reticle to get myself a good POA.
As I see it, there are 3 ways to fix this issue .....
1 ... Buy a telescopic sight. (I've done that but it hasn't got here yet.)
2 ... Buy a new set of reticles. (I have ordered some from an Airgun shop in Blackpool but it hasn't got here yet.)
3 ... Buy a set of my own targets that have different coloured circles within the target to let the reticle work. (as above)

But then I have another problem. These are the first 4 targets that I fired at after an absence of 51 years ......
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5d401f3e.jpg
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4e839725.jpg
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/...ps25341ac1.jpg
http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8fae6c51.jpg

For some reason target 3 only has 4 shots fired at it. The snag is that nobody knows the correct way to adjust the elevation and windage jobbies to bring the groupings more into the middle of the target. The confusion seems to be around the idea that Feinwerkbau is a German company and the method of adjusting may or may not be opposite to the normal method of adjusting the elevation by turning the knob clockwise to go up. The other problems shown above may help to explain why I can't just shoot a group, adjust the sight, shoot another group and see where they went.
Thank you for any help.
Steve

[airtech]

you could put raser blocks under your sights so you dont need to lower your head as much

[Nikkormat]

The snag is that nobody knows the correct way to adjust the elevation and windage jobbies to bring the groupings more into the middle of the target. The confusion seems to be around the idea that Feinwerkbau is a German company and the method of adjusting may or may not be opposite to the normal method of adjusting the elevation by turning the knob clockwise to go up.

Hi Steve, click on this link and download the Model 300 manual. Instructions as to how to adjust the sights are on page 5, section 6.

Matt

[18 Wheeler]

... the method of adjusting may or may not be opposite to the normal method of adjusting the elevation by turning the knob clockwise to go up.

This is indeed a cunning trick played by zee jermans. For example if shots are striking High, you turn the adjuster towards the H to correct.

Clockwise adjustments should move the point of impact Down and Left (down and towards if you are really oldschool).
Easily confirmed by winding both 30 clicks and checking POI.

Each click is 0.5mm at 10m.

You can download the mod.300 manual from Feinwerkbau's website.

The rifle would have been supplied with a fixed rear iris, if you struggle with the size then an basic adjustable one can be bought new for around £45. May be worth considering with restricted neck mobility as it gives you more freedom on the fore/aft positioning of the diopter. Make the rifle fit you, not the other way around, likewise canting the rifle may help with head positioning. HTH

[5teve]

Thanks for the info, guys.
I'm due at the range tonight so I'll try a few things out to try and make life easier.
I've bought myself a front end rest so that I can try to keep my POA exactly the same for each shot and then I can be sure that any change to the knobs is shown by the movement of the groupings.
This shooting lark is more complicated that I thought, lol.