Perfect your aiming accuracy with a peep sight for your compound bow. This small accessory may seem inconspicuous, but it can have a huge impact on your aim and should be part of every compound shooter's standard equipment. At archery-shop.co.uk, you can find peeps from well-known manufacturers in various designs - simply choose the perfect aiming aid for your needs. Do you need help choosing? Then talk to us, we'll give you expert advice from archer to archer!
The basics: What is a peep sight?
Have you just started shooting with a compound bow and are a little overwhelmed by all the accessories? In addition to the arrow rest, Bow sling, stabiliser, release and other parts, there is also the peep sight. We explain what it is and what it does for you:
The peep sight is initially just an aluminium ring that you look through when aiming - so at first glance, it's quite simple. You weave it into your bowstring and align it so that it is in line with your eye and the sight at full Draw length and anchor. This is because it is directly related to the latter: the sight and peep sight form a single unit on your compound bow, which makes aiming much easier. You look through the peep sight at the pin of the sight, which you in turn align with the gold. You can compare the two aiming aids with the rear sight and front sight of a rifle. The sight is the front sight, the peep sight is the rear sight, so to speak.
The advantages: 5 good reasons to use a peep sight with a compound rifle
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Improved accuracy: If your peep sight is correctly aligned, you will notice that it makes your aim more precise.
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Improved focus: The view through the peep sight can help your eyes to focus more effectively on the target.
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Consistency: An important aspect of archery - a peep helps you to perform every release with absolute consistency.
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Stability: To a certain extent, the peep sight protects you from distractions all around you by ‘wrapping’ your field of vision.
- Versatility: Whether you are hunting, shooting in competitions or practising on different targets - peep sights are suitable for all conceivable archery situations where maximum accuracy is required.
Small but subtle differences: Overview of different peeps
Peep sight characteristics without thread and lens simple model with simple hole, cannot be adapted to long distances and different lighting conditions with thread various inserts reduce/enlarge the hole, thus adaptable to the lighting conditions, available in a practical set with lens brings the target optically closer, useful for longer shooting distances, less suitable for short distances
Our recommendation: Simple peep sights may be cheaper and of course do their job. But models with a thread, whose hole diameter you can easily adjust, offer you significantly more comfort. After all, it makes a big difference whether you are shooting on the field in the sunshine, indoors in the hall or even in the woods at dusk. If the peep is too small, you won't see enough in poor light conditions. This is an important point, especially for bowhunting.
Compound: Attaching the peep sight
The most important thing when mounting your peep sight is to position it correctly in the string. It must also not twist.
A brief summary:
- First mount the sight as intended.
- Attachcoloured adhesive tape to the string as a visual aid.
- Draw the bow, anchor it and check the position of the adhesive tape in relation to the sight. If necessary, move it up or down until it exactly covers the sight in the normal anchoring position.
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Weave the peep sight into the string.
- Insert the sight.
To insert the sight, you usually use a bow press to take some tension off the string. Divide the string and clamp the peep sight between the strands. Now there are different ways of tying it - it's up to you and your preferences. For beginners, we recommend having the peep sight woven into the compound at our specialist shop. That way you're on the safe side!
Adjust the position correctly
Very important: your peep is orientated towards you and not the other way round. If you have to crouch down or raise your head to bring it into line with the sight, it is not exactly aligned with your anchor point. Then you should urgently readjust it.
What you can do: Close your eyes when undressing and anchoring until you have assumed your natural posture. This way you won't unconsciously try to align yourself with the peep sight in your compound bow.
You need to pay attention to this
The size of the peep depends on the diameter of your sight, your draw length, brightness and other factors. It should look
- look round and not elliptical
- under no circumstances be smaller than the sight, i.e. not restrict it
- depending on personal taste and the ambient brightness, either overlap the ring of the sight exactly or even let a little light through around the sight
It is not absolutely necessary, but we recommend it for Compound bows. It helps you to shoot even better with the sight and polish up your hit pattern.
You clamp it between the strands of your bowstring and tie it tight. The exact height varies from archer to archer and bow to bow. It must be exactly in line with your eye and sight when you have found your natural anchor point.
The bow press is the easiest way to remove tension from the string. However, you can also use a string divider, for example - but you should be very careful not to damage the string. You can have your peep sight fitted professionally and safely at our specialised dealers.
