Sight Radius

I was at our CLA match last weekend and the question came up about what "sight radius" was all about.  And why do you hear CLA shooters talking about it so often when considering gun options?

It seemed like an innocent enough question.  So here is the short and simple answer.  Sight radius is the distance between the front sight and the rear sight.  Pistols have short sight radius and rifles have a long sight radius.  Sight radius only applies to gun using iron sights and does not apply to scoped guns.

In concept, the "greater" this distance, the easier it is for the shooter to visually align the gun sights on the target.  So, in CLA, the general rule of thumb, more sight radius is better than less sight radius.  This has meaning when you are selecting your gun and sight system.  But how much meaning?

Much to do about nothing?  Academically, the rule of thumb is true.  Look at a smallbore prone shooter and they will have a "bloop tube" extending the barrel to the maximum length to give greater sight radius.  They don't want more weight or more barrel.  They just want the front sight as far away from the rear sight as possible to afford a greater sight radius.  But do we need this with clowboy?

Since cowboy shooters cannot add something off the front of the rifle, they move the rear sight back.  Many shooters seek out a tang sight to get 3 more inches of sight radius.  I myself got sucked into this pursuit but the tang sight is in the way and, I ride up on my gun.  Maybe not the best idea for CF guns.  My point, does the 3 inches of increased sight radius out weigh the lost "comfort" of a head forward position or a thumb wrapped around the tang?

I think we tend to over emphasis these issues.  Sure, if given a 20" barrel vs a 24" barrel, you'd pick the longer barrel.  That does not mean you are at a significant disadvantage with something shorter than 24".  Favorable results are the aggregation of many variables.  Accuracy of load and shooting ability are top priority.  The other stuff is secondary. Helpful but secondary.  Maybe when you are working on that 10 in a row ram for a few years it cold be time to seek out more sight radius.  Until that time, have fun.

Of course I have a 24" barrel and tang sight and I still missed a pig last weekend.  You can't blame that on sight radius!  Bottom line, new shooters should shoot what they own.  If you don't own anything, longer barrels are better than short barrels but come with a price due to scarcity.  More sight radius typically costs more and although it helps, the greatest variable is the person pulling the trigger.  Remember, this is a shooter's sport, not an equipment sport.  Maybe after you clean your chickens and pigs, can you begin to wonder if your equipment is the weak link.  Until that time, I would propose that the importance of "sight radius" is tertiary.