The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

skdtac · January 23, 2000, 12:30 PM

hi jake,
with all due respect, you are mistaken. the reason for two different aperture planes on the military rear sight has nothing to do with proper alignment of a tritium insert as you suggest. furthermore, your commentary runs with an implicit assumption that the tritium lamps on a trijicon or mepro ar15 front sight are flush with the top of the post. they are not.

this puts both the trijicon and mepro systems at a marked disadvantage when compared to the ashley system. keep in mind that the tritium sight posts from trijicon and mepro are not meant to function as anything but standard front sight posts. when you are in low light, you will in effect "raise your muzzle" because your eyes will naturally center the tritium within the ghost ring when firing under stress.

the ashley sights work with the understanding that when you put a round front sight within a ghost ring, your eyes will naturally center the dot w/in the ring. that is why the correct sight picture for close in targets is centering the dot on what you aim to hit. when you shoot in low light, only the ashley sight will afford you the same sight picture, b/c the tritium insert will be centered in the ghost ring- the same way it was during the day. you cannot achieve this with the mepro or trijicon sights. as far as more precise shots are concerned, the trijicon and mepro sights will force you to "estimate" the top of the post just as the ashley would. so that would mean that during night shooting, the trijicon/mepro setups aren't better at anything, and worse in the area of close range shots.

getting back to the rear sight, again, the principle behind the split planes on the issue rear sight had nothing to do with tritium sight use. the different planes were designed to work in conjunction with the different aperture sizes. the switch to the smaller aperture was expected to occur with more difficult shots beyond 200 meters, which is why the plane shift was integrated. to say that the ashley rear sight is causing the muzzle to rise is mistaken. in low light, you should be using the large rear aperture to allow more light to pass- the difference between an issue large aperture and an ashley large aperture is minute, and as far as plane shifting issues go, the difference is zero because they shouldn't come into play.

the ashley sights are designed for optimum performance at ranges up to 250 yds (whether or not engaging targets beyond 250 yds at night using your tritium insert is smart is a discussion that should be saved for a different thread). the small aperture is for zeroing the sight and for precision shooting, and is not intended as the primary aperture when used with the ashley express front sight. hope this clears things up.

best regards,
joe

------------------
www.skdtac.com
tactical accessories for self-defense and le

January 23, 2000, 12:30 PM	#12
skdtac Senior Member Join Date: December 22, 1999 Posts: 113	hi jake, with all due respect, you are mistaken. the reason for two different aperture planes on the military rear sight has nothing to do with proper alignment of a tritium insert as you suggest. furthermore, your commentary runs with an implicit assumption that the tritium lamps on a trijicon or mepro ar15 front sight are flush with the top of the post. they are not. this puts both the trijicon and mepro systems at a marked disadvantage when compared to the ashley system. keep in mind that the tritium sight posts from trijicon and mepro are not meant to function as anything but standard front sight posts. when you are in low light, you will in effect "raise your muzzle" because your eyes will naturally center the tritium within the ghost ring when firing under stress. the ashley sights work with the understanding that when you put a round front sight within a ghost ring, your eyes will naturally center the dot w/in the ring. that is why the correct sight picture for close in targets is centering the dot on what you aim to hit. when you shoot in low light, only the ashley sight will afford you the same sight picture, b/c the tritium insert will be centered in the ghost ring- the same way it was during the day. you cannot achieve this with the mepro or trijicon sights. as far as more precise shots are concerned, the trijicon and mepro sights will force you to "estimate" the top of the post just as the ashley would. so that would mean that during night shooting, the trijicon/mepro setups aren't better at anything, and worse in the area of close range shots. getting back to the rear sight, again, the principle behind the split planes on the issue rear sight had nothing to do with tritium sight use. the different planes were designed to work in conjunction with the different aperture sizes. the switch to the smaller aperture was expected to occur with more difficult shots beyond 200 meters, which is why the plane shift was integrated. to say that the ashley rear sight is causing the muzzle to rise is mistaken. in low light, you should be using the large rear aperture to allow more light to pass- the difference between an issue large aperture and an ashley large aperture is minute, and as far as plane shifting issues go, the difference is zero because they shouldn't come into play. the ashley sights are designed for optimum performance at ranges up to 250 yds (whether or not engaging targets beyond 250 yds at night using your tritium insert is smart is a discussion that should be saved for a different thread). the small aperture is for zeroing the sight and for precision shooting, and is not intended as the primary aperture when used with the ashley express front sight. hope this clears things up. best regards, joe ------------------ www.skdtac.com tactical accessories for self-defense and le