Why are sights so tall?

[carbinemike]

This may be a dumb questions but why are shotgun sights like the Mossberg ghost rings so tall? I have been thinking about this some while working in the garage this weekend. I thought they might be located higher for the eye location with a comfortable, natural cheek weld but the same model will have a bead sight that barely sticks up. I always thought it was best to keeps sights lower when possible.

 

[oli700]

38 looks and nothing …. The front sight height is directly related to the rear sight height. The bead is real low profile because you use the top of the receiver for the “rear sight”. As the height of the rear sight increases so must the height of the front sight. This is also related to the height of the receiver on different model guns…..factory GR uses a lower front sight than the LPA because the LPA rear sets a little higher…look at an AR with a carry handle as opposed to a flat top. The carry handle demands the use of a front sight on a tower.

 

[Rossignol]

Agreed, Oli is right. The height of the front is dictated by the height of the rear from the receiver. The lower the profile the better for a cheek weld. Shootin full power slugs for example can be downright uncomfortable without a good cheek weld.

In fact, due to the height, especially in the case of an AR (and it may be true with other guns as well) when an AR is sighted close like we did at 25 yards, because of how high the sights are above the barrel;

sights here --------------->
barrel here --------------->

youre actually aiming with the barrel pointing up somewhat so that the planes will actually intersect, so that when you are shooting say to 50 yards, point of impact will actually be higher than point of aim so that your hold has to be lower than the target. However, its possible for the gun to be sighted at 25 yards and be on target at 100 yards too due to bullet drop at that point. Rainbow trajectory.

I've not used a taller sight plane on shotguns much with slugs, only just a little but didnt care for the cheek weld. I spent very little time tryin to get better with it before removing the sight. I imagine the rainbow trajectory could be similar however with taller sights and shotguns too.

I personally just work on my holds with a bead.

 

[carbinemike]

Thanks Oli and Rossignol. I had thought about this some and had come to the same conclusion for the bead sight. It has to be low to have any kind of sighting possible.

I know that as one sight gains or lowers in general height the other must to. I guess then my question should have been why don't they make shorter rear sights? To answer that question, I am guessing that to have it be adjustable, mount it and be strong enough for the real world (as opposed to a range) it ends up height "X" and the front is then made accordingly. Some sights just look so high that in close quarters or heavy brush that they'd snag more easily if the gun needed to be brought on target quickly.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond!