Iron sight

Background


The iron sight is a open, unmagnified system used to assist the aiming of a variety of devices, usually those intended to launch projectiles, typically firearms. Several weapons, such as the M7 and M90, utilizes an iron sight, however other UNSC weapons, e.g. the Assault Rifle, the Machine Gun Turret, and some M6 handguns do not seem to use them for reasons unknown.

Operation and Adjustment
Iron sights work by providing horizontal and vertical reference points that allow the shooter to align the gun parallel to the shooter's line of sight. Once the sights are aligned with each other, they are placed in correct relation to the target. This places the gun at a precise angle to the line of sight to the target. With appropriate compensation for range to the target, parallax between the iron sights and the gun's bore, and the trajectory of the projectile, a shot fired will hit the target.

Since the eye is only capable of focusing on one plane, and the rear sight, front sight, and target are all in separate planes, only one of those three planes can be in focus. Which plane is in focus depends on the type of sight, and one of the challenges to a shooter is to keep the focus on the correct plane to allow for best sight alignment. A tiny error in sight alignment can be multiplied hundreds or thousands of times by the time the projectile reaches the target.

Examples of Weapons Featuring the Iron Sights

 * M7 Caseless SMG
 * M7S Caseless SMG
 * M90 Shotgun Series
 * DTM/Law Enforcement (Possibly)
 * M6C Magnum