Yesterday, I was reading "The Delightfully Weird Walther SP22" at The Shooting Wire when I came across these odd comments about the sights:
The front sight can be rotated to three different positions. It’s triangular, and rotating it allowed to change its size. Although even the smaller-sized front sight is quite massive. I’m not a sports shooter, or Olympic shooter, or bull’s eye, so I’m not sure if this sight was desirable.
It tends to obscure the target a fair bit, and I like a smaller sight for shooting small targets and tight groups. The rear sights are fully adjustable for windage and elevation.
It made me wonder if the author was ignorant of sight pictures or holds other than the combat hold. And as I thought about it, it seems that I do occasionally read or hear people complain about perfectly good sights because the sight completely covers the target with the hold they are using. The following illustration from the NRA Women article "Understanding the 4 Types of Sight Pictures" shows four common sight pictures when using iron sights:
The combat hold would more properly be termed the "pistol combat hold" because that is the only place it becomes useful. It is intended for quick shots at short ranges where the target is going to quite plainly be larger than the front sight post, and the idea is to put the dot over what you are going to shoot--you need it to get your flash sight picture.
But most iron sights on rifles and handguns have historically been designed with a Six O'Clock or Center Hold in mind. That's why the shooters could achieve high accuracy using sight blades wider than the target at which they were shooting--the sight post never wholly obscured their target.
But it seems in this world of optical sights and high visibility dots on pistols sights, the knowledge of these other holds is dying out.
More:
- "Sight Picture Holds and Concealed Carry Factors"--USA Carry.
- "How Does the 6 O'Clock Hold Work?"--NRA Family.
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