Why & How To Center Your Peep

The accuracy make or break! An absolutely critical component to accuracy is the front sight/peep sight alignment. Without it you are screwed! The video and image above shows you just how easy it is to mess up. Each of these RED gaps indicates what would be equivalent to several yards variations or nearly a half of a turn in windage adjustment.

Think about it, if your peep visual is only but a few millimeters off is it any different than you adjusting your pin several millimeters? If you have your pin set at 100 yards but then adjust it a few millimeters off what does that relate to? At 100 yards, it’s several yards, and it’s a complete miss. The same is true on the iron sights of a gun. As a coach, John Dudley teaches his students to “check in” with your peep alignment AFTER the anchor position is secured. Then, slightly adjust your head so that you get a perfect eclipse of the front sight with your rear sight (the peep). Since both are circles you really don’t need to be looking all over the 360 degree radius. Instead pick two points to check in. For Dudley, he checks in at 6 o’clock and then looks over to 3 o’clock. If the alignment is proper there then the rest of the radius is also correct. You can then focus on the pin, the target, the level, check in one more time and then have the pin on target with full commitment to the shot.

Now listen, the further you shoot the harder this is because the front sight starts getting much lower to the arrow. BUT, you must pay attention even more the further you go! Here’s your homework: Focus on this all week and you will improve big time. Likewise, try doing it wrong a few times and see how much it affects you. This also shows the importance of peep size ratio to the front sight. For Dudley, he uses a 3/16 inch for hunting situations which perfectly matches his front aperture. Good luck!