Arthur P

This should be a fun topic.[8D]

The current rage now is round pin guards and the theory that you should center your pin guard in your peep sight before aiming. I do not buy into the theory and believe it was dreamed up by someone who was making sights with round pin guards and had to make up SOME story so that people would buy them.

Unless you use a single pin that is perfectly centered in that round pin guard, I believe you should center your pin in the peep and completely forget about the pin guard. When you are aiming, your eye is going to naturally center the pin anyway because it's unnatural for it to do anything else.

Your eye likes concentric circles. Concentric circles practically force you to focus your concentration. Check it out...

http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/mot_enigma/index.html

Scopes with circle aim points are really popular with spot shooters for this very reason. Center the housing in the peep. The aiming circle is centered in the housing. The X ring is circled in the aiming circle. It makes it seem like you're shooting down a tunnel, so you can't possible miss.

This doesn't work with multiple-pin sights though, since only one - if any - of the pins can be centered in the guard. They will be non-concentric circles within a circle. Your eye doesn't do so well with non-concentric circles and will allow your concentration jump around. If you really try to force your eye to do what it doesn't want to do, it'll freak out. Like this...

http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/mot_ske/index.html

Your eye wants circles to be concentric, so it is going to naturally disregard the pin guard - since that is not one of your primary objects of attention - and will automatically center the pin in the peep. You probably won't even notice it, might even swear on a stack of Bibles that the pin guard is centered, but it is NOT centered when you finally release that arrow.

So, I say avoid the middleman. Disregard the pin guard and go straight to centering your pin in the peep.

peakrut

I will continue to center in the peep. I currently do not own one these sights and do not plan on buying one.
I am kicking around changing to a drop away rest.

jsasker

For anyone using a single pin--if you center the housing in the peep,you could probably just take the pin OUT all together?You will center housing within peep,then use the center of the housing,so why even have a pin?

GMMAT

I don't center any of my pins in the peep. I center the housing and put my pin on my target (whichever pin it calls for).

I shoot 3D the same way I hunt. it's helped my scores TREMENDOUSLY.....and the advantage of low-light peep situations outweigh ......well....I honestly can't think of a "negative" to this practice.

I sight my bow in in this fashion. I could care less about "centering my pin" in my peep. It's unnecessary.

rybohunter

I played around experimenting last year with this very thing. For the most part I just shot and didn't pay attention. But I then noticed on the very bottom pin, that my housing was no where close to centered. I took shots both ways and there was about a 6" difference.

all that being said, I shoot much better windage with a circle housing compared to another type.

Arthur P

I've been waitin' on you, GMMAT.

It's unnecessary because your eye does it for you.

In the other thread, you said:

By your own admission, you never check back to see if the guard is still centered. Instead, you quite properly concentrate on the target and pin, in that order. So, after you've centered that pin guard and gone on to the pin you want to use, you have no idea what happens.

Unless you've gone to extremes and trained your eye to do something totally unnatural, that pin is centered in the peep when you aim.

GMMAT

Arthur.....if the pin was centered in the peep....I wouldn't hit what I was aiming at.

More often than not, I DO.

Just because your eyes won't do something....doesn't mean mine won't. I'm actually getting to where I have to do the little "squint" less an less. That may mean I'm gaining more confidence in my anchoring points, also. I don't know, for sure.

What I do know for sure is.....my pins aren't centered in my peep.

Arthur P

I was operating under the assumption that you are human, and thus are bound by the physiological and psychological attributes of our species. [8D] This is a known phenomenon which has been studied in depth by all kinds of psychologists and vision scientists. It's the way our brains are wired. It's why optical illusions work.

You are shooting better probably because you are gaining confidence. You think centering the pin guard is helping you and it gives you a psychological boost. If so, that's fine. 99% of archery is mental.

But your pin IS centered. Again, assuming you're human.

jsasker, if the housing is small enough, you could do that. The size of the aiming circle is important. Too big and you won't focus in on a small enough spot. Too small and you might as well be shooting a pin. If you take the pin out of a lens and just use the hole, then you've discovered how they came up with the aiming circle reticle for scopes.

chucker34

I am going to try hard to ignore this post because I'm not sure what I do. What I do know is that I've been looking through the peep, centering the pin on my target and releasing - nailing nice groups the past few nights that are right on. But thanks to you guys I am sure I will start thinking about this too much and be a complete wreck by weekend. JK. Interesting post. I will follow with great interest as I had never even though about this in the past three years I have been shooting.

Arthur P

chucker, don't worry about it. Just go on as you're doing. You'll be fine. I started this thread specifically to mess with folks who believe in the pin guard theory.