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How to Measure the Sight Height

Measuring the sight height of the sights on your gun is incredibly important to the accuracy of your aim. If both of your sights aren't completely level with one another, your aim when looking through the sights will be off. You can measure the height of the sights on any kind of gun, whether it be a rifle, shotgun or pistol, then use the information you gather from your measurements to make any necessary adjustments.

Things You'll Need

Caliper or micrometer
Calculator

Instructions

- 1
  Take the measurement of the outside barrel diameter at the exact point of the gun's rear sight using a caliper. Do not include the rear sight in your measurement. For example, you might get a diameter measurement of .721. Enter your measurement into your calculator and divide it in half (to reflect what your measurement would be from the centerline of the bore to the top of the barrel). Following our example, we would get .360.
- 2
  Use the caliper to measure the rear sight. Measure from the where the sight meets the barrel up to the top of the sight. You may get a measurement like .363.
- 3
  Add the final number that you arrived at in Step 1 (e.g., .360) to the number that your measured in Step 2 (e.g., .360). This number is your rear sight height measurement. Following our example, the rear sight height measurement would be .723.
- 4
  Take a measurement of the outside barrel diameter at the exact point of the gun's front sight using a caliper. Do not include the front sight in your measurement. For example, you may get a measurement similar to .583.
- 5
  Subtract the number you got in Step 4 (e.g., .583) from the number in Step 3 (e.g., .723). This will give you the measurement of your front sight height. Following our example, you would arrive at a front sight height measurement of .432.

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