In 2024, there is no shortage of different aiming devices for your firearm. Rifle scopes have been around for more than 150 years, while lasers and red dots have only grown in popularity over the last few decades. We have also seen more firearms that come optics-ready from the factory, inviting you to install the device of your choice. However, iron sights remain the near-universal sighting system, even on firearms that are cut or railed for an optic.
Iron sights have been the default aiming system since the very first firearms, and as we have started getting away from them, they’ve become more intimidating to master. But when all else fails, iron sights will be there, and the lion’s share of old and new firearms come equipped with iron sights of some sort. It pays to learn to use them, and it’s high time we discuss the why and how of using iron sights.
Why use iron sights?
Iron sights have their advantages over more modern sight setups. The first is durability and reliability. Iron sights are dovetailed or clamped onto the barrel and don’t require batteries or glass in order to operate. Iron sights can fail. A blow in the right place can knock iron sights out of alignment, but in general, irons are more tolerant of abuse. Although micro red dot sights have closed the gap in this department, iron sights are generally more compact and lightweight than conventional rifle scopes. They, along with 1x red dots, excel at picking up short-range targets quickly, whereas higher magnification optics require dialing back and hunting in the tube for the target.
Drawbacks and Disadvantages
Iron sights lack magnification and are often not fine enough to pick up on targets at longer ranges. In fact, the front post of the iron sights can cover up your target, depending on what and how far you are shooting. In addition, iron sights can be tricky to use in very low and very bright light. Tritium and fiber optic sights are easier to see in these situations, but traditional all-metal sights appear in blackness as a slightly blacker object that is harder to orient quickly on a target. Likewise, sun glare can make the front sight disappear from view.
How To Use Iron Sights: General Practices
The setup of iron sights can vary from platform to platform, but what is most typical is a rear sight notch and a front sight post. Sometimes, these sights are fixed in place on the barrel or slide. Most are dovetailed and can be drifted with a punch. Some feature adjustable rear sights that can be moved left/right and up/down with the help of a screwdriver. But this general sight setup is true on most handguns and traditional rifles out there.
The key components of using iron sights are sight alignment and sight picture. The front sight should fill or center in the notch or groove in the rear sight. If you get the front sight in the groove but too high over the groove, your rounds can strike high. Too low, and the rounds will strike too low.
When level, the rounds may not strike at the point of aim, but that can generally be adjusted by moving the sights. If your rounds are hitting to the left of your aiming point, move the rear sight to the right or the front sight to the left. If you are hitting to the right, move the front sight right and the rear sight left.
With the sights aligned and zeroed correctly, the sight picture comes into play. Ideally, the shooter will focus on the front sight and index the top of the front sight where she wants the bullet to go. If the rounds strike too high, the front sight can be replaced or filed down. Alternatively, the rear sight groove can be deepened. With rounds shooting low, a taller front sight is needed.
Having an adjustable rear sight takes some of this bench work off the table. Alternatively, you might play with different ammunition to change the point of impact or simply remember where your particular firearm hits at a given distance.
Special Iron Sight Cases
Muzzleloaders and Shotguns
Most muzzleloading guns have primitive iron sights that are vaguely modern with a front blade or post sight and a rear notch. Some smoothbore guns, both original and replica, do not have sights at all. Military handguns were intended as point-shoot, fire-and-forget weapons. Military muskets, like the Brown Bess and Charleville, do not have sights either, but a bayonet lug that can act as a front sight. Most civilian smoothbore guns wore a post or bead front sight but no rear sight.
The concept of having only a front sight translates over to the modern smoothbore: the shotgun. Depending on how your shotgun patterns, you might simply sight down the barrel and look at the bead in full view. You may also have to bury the bead lower in your line of sight to get a finer sight picture. Shooting slugs is a bit less nuanced.
You may have to bury the bead or have it in full view, but the rainbow trajectory of the slug between 0-100 yards will mean you should aim a bit low for effective hits. Regardless of how you view the bead, having a proper cheek weld on the smoothbore’s stock is vital to repeatable accuracy. If your head does not engage the stock in the same place, you are liable to view the bead a bit differently and throw your round off to some degree.
Military Rifles
Military rifles are their own animal in the alchemy of iron sight pedagogy. Some military rifles come equipped with an aperture or peep rear sight and a front post. But the lion’s share of older military rifles and their modern variants come equipped with tangent rear sights. These rifles range from the late black powder era, like the Trapdoor Springfield, to the Mauser. Today, the AK platform is the latest that use this system, but it occasionally shows up on some civilian arms.
Lining up these sights falls in line with general practices. The rear sight is adjustable on the fly for ballistic drop by sliding the tangent back and forth to raise and lower the sight. It is also common for military rifles to shoot high. It is often useful to use a six o’clock hold to put the rounds in the desired spot. This is helpful as the front sight is aimed below the intended point of impact, so the sight itself does not hide the target. The disadvantage is that you have to remember this hold.
Peep Sighted Rifles and Shotguns
Peep sights, also known as aperture sights, came along to address the issue of the standard notch and post arrangement. These “peep” sights allow for a quicker sight picture, as one only has to look through the rear peep to find the front sight. They also eliminated the blocky notch, which can cover up part of the target. This setup dates to later plains rifles in the mid-19th century but became popular after World War II thanks to the influence of rifles like the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine.
Peep sights are usually mounted to the receiver or drilled and tapped into the receiver tang. Tang rear sights are set up like a ladder and are adjustable for elevation by raising and lowering the peep along the ladder. For a finer or larger sight picture, the peep can be switched for another. Most modern peep sights, however, are receiver-mounted and tool-adjustable. The AR platform is the most common type to use peep sights, whether it is through the use of a carry handle or backup sights. These types are adjustable for windage by moving a hand screw, which drifts the peep from left to right. Adjusting for elevation is usually done by moving the front sight.
Mastering Iron Sights: Part Art, Part Science
It is sometimes joked that iron sights are the manual transmission of gun sights. As someone who learned and continues to drive a manual but sometimes dabbles with an automatic transmission, I get the joke. Iron sights have been around for a long time and require more conscious thought to be used accurately. But whether you start out with iron sights and go to optics or vice versa, the concept of sight alignment and sight picture remain the main hurdle that you have to deal with no matter what sighting device you choose.
It can be frustrating to start off with irons because you have to learn these concepts, learn the different ways different iron sights can work, and how to manually zero them. The same challenges apply with optics, but overcoming them is easier, allowing you to focus more quickly on other shooting fundamentals like developing follow-through and a proper trigger press. While optics are easy to use, they also more easily fail in interesting ways. In the absence of a well-regulated optic, the universal iron sight remains useful and a must-know system.
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