Blammer - Gun Blog

Shooting buddy Seuss and I have been debating whether it’s possible to sight in the Ruger .22 with ADCO Optical Sight so the sights work the same for both of us. I contend that the pistol has a single point of aim through the sights, and any tendency for the pistol to shoot non-zero is due to the shooter. Seuss contends that each shooter may need to adjust the point-of-aim depending on their vision, or adapt to their shooting style. On that latter point, I didn’t think it was a good idea to adjust the sights to compensate for a probably lack of precise technique. However, I did think his former point (point-of-aim varying depending on vision) might have some credence, as he’s cross-eye dominant and with the large diameter of the sight’s optics: was it possible that a multi-element lens system did not correct for off-axis viewing?

The parallax effect I’m thinking of is the optical kind, like when you’re looking through a thick pane of glass at an angle, or when you see a straw in a glass of water. The pane of glass will offset the apparent position of something behind it when viewed at an angle, and the glass of water will apparently bend the straw. This is due to light refraction; though light travels in a straight line, when it enters a material of different density it will be deflected by a particular amount. This happens when light enters and exits a pane of glass. If you’ve ever put a coin under a thick piece of glass and noticed it appeared in a different place than you thought, that’s what I’m talking about.

This article about parallax explains that parallax in a low-power scope at close ranges is not that significant. As a test, I took the scope and placed it on a table so it wouldn’t move. I aimed it at a small leaf about 50 feet away, then moved my head side-to-side to see if the dot moved. It didn’t move significantly for me if at all, staying smack dab in the center of a small leaf. In any case, if I was aiming such that the red dot was centered approximately in the sight, the amount of deviation was imperceptable. It was certainly below the difference in “center of group” between Seuss’ and my targets. After reading this article that Seuss found, I’m thinking it’s probably trigger and hold that’s the root cause; since we’re both new shooters, we have little technical consistency from shot-to-shot.

There’s another kind of parallax that is related to the offset of the optical sight relative to the axis of the gun barrel. Seuss had sighted it in already to compensate for this, but since I’ve cleaned the gun it may have shifted again.

Spied via Gizmodo

Scientists at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) were awarded $1.1 million by the US Department of Justice to continue testing a safer personalized weapon

From a tech perspective, interesting. But then I read on that NJ passed legislation to ban ALL guns that don’t have smart technology, once such technology is available. Sheesh!