Which front sight - 4.5mm or 5mm

[Olly]

I am in a quandary about what advantage the 5mm front sight has over a conventional 4.5mm front sight in air pistols such as the Steyr LP10 or Morini.

Competition shooters may please throw more light on this confusing topic. Google has little to offer...

[lazybones]

Olly: i believe the Morini offers 4, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0 as options. I think the intent is to offer all possible ranges in elevation. The vertical limit on the rear sight sometimes get's maxed out when shooting at 6 o'clock.
BTW I don't own any of the pistols mentioned

Ashok

Oops My mistake - I meant adjustment in windage not elevation. The numbers refer to the width of the sights - I really must get my brain rewired
I guess it depends on the amount of "white" a shooter wants on see either side of the foresight. On .22LR pistols I prefer a thick front post whereas on Air Rifles I prefer a skinny one with a wide rear notch.

Ashok

[lazybones]

Olly:
Once I was done cringing in embarrassment at the boo-boo on my last post (since edited) I remembered the first time I encountered the advantage of different sizes of front sights.Once upon a time, in college, I was using a friends .22 LR pistol - we both owned the identical make and model - my shots started stringing horizontally (parallel error). The only difference I could spot was that his front sight was thinner than mine. Once I replaced the front sight, with a thicker post, the error disappeared. Hope this helps.

Ashok

[Prabhath]

Olly,

Not sure if this link helps. But a good read anyways. Has a whole lot of info about sights. Mods., could you please move the link to the appropriate section so that other members could benefit from the info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_sights

[Mack The Knife]

Ashok: The width of the LP10 rear sight is adjustable.

Anupam: Either width will do. The thicker width is for beginners or people with poor eyesight. The 4.5mm front sight was the standard width and probably still is.

[Olly]

I hope the 5mm is allowed as per ISSF rules... it would be sheer wastage otherwise.