# NEWBIE QUESTION ON SIGHT PIN SIZE



## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

I am new to compound/sight/release shooting. About 3 months. I have a sight with the small .019" sight pins, and sometimes have trouble seeing them. My question is what do you use? .019" or .029". Pete Shepley recommends the larger ones. When I got mine I was subscribing to the "aim small, miss small" theory.

I would appreciate your opinions on this.

THE JAMMER


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## SleeperLah (Jul 27, 2011)

I personally like the bigger pins. I put a new truglow 5 pin site with a led light on 15 yr old bow for 35 bucks or so. It is awesome. my buddy got all fancy with 120 dollar sight with micro pins and he hates it and so do I. Go to academy and get the truglow carbon 3 or 5 pin. 3 is enough for me


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## NitroNX898 (Apr 7, 2009)

You can go at it two ways. I use a one pin adjustable sight in .29 size and this is why. Today's bows shoot so flat and the difference between a 10 yard pin then 20 yard and 30 yard is not that much so when I would hunt especially at first light in the morning the sight pins would light up and run altogether. The .19 did not do it that bad but at a very low light the .19 was harder to see than the .29. A good sight with alot of fiber optic in it can be seen just fine in a .19 but a .29 with the same windings could get to much light and be to bright. I know that me shots will be no futher that 30 yards so my one pin adjustable works great with the .19. I hope that I did not confuse you. But bottom is that both pins have there good and there bad you just need to see what works best for you.


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## cpthook (Jan 16, 2008)

*Spot Hog*

I using the Spot Hog "Real Deal" and they come with 5 pins, kinda small pins but I like them. The larger pins make it hard for me to pin-point a small target. Just removed them from my Mathews Lx and put them on a new Mathews Extreme Tactical.


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## cpthook (Jan 16, 2008)

On the LX I had the pins set for 20, 25,30, 35, and 40 yards. May not need the 5 yard increments on new bow, need to shoot for a while and determine proper yardage for pins.


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## cpthook (Jan 16, 2008)

Nitro did you say you use one pin for out to 30 yards???


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## brazman (Aug 22, 2006)

Are they the fiber optic kind that collect light and glow? When I picked out mine at a pro shop here in Lufkin, I just looked through several and picked the one I thought looked best. The guy who ran the shop warned against getting the biggest brightest one, can give you one of those temporary burns in the retina like when you stare into a light and then try to look around, especially in early and late low light conditions. It would suck to have a biggun walk in at first light and you can't really see him from your big ole bright pin blinding you. Made sense to me. To answer your question, though, I think I have the .019" and I haven't had any trouble seeing them but haven't shot in low light setting yet.


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## NitroNX898 (Apr 7, 2009)

cpthook said:


> Nitro did you say you use one pin for out to 30 yards???


I have Easy Slide sight that has one pin that I can adjust to whatever yard I want. Mine is set from 10-100 yards. When practice starts getting boring or my son starts whooping up on me I step back a little. Bad thing is, he is beating me at 100 now.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

Mine is a fiber optic, 5 pin, toxonic sight. This was the one the guys at Bow Zone recommended when I bought my bow. It does have a light which illuminates the pins pretty good in low light, but sometimes during the day, especially if the sun is from behind me, it's hard to pick out those small pins.


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## wet dreams (May 21, 2004)

cpthook said:


> Nitro did you say you use one pin for out to 30 yards???


I do, your talking an inch or so differance between 15-30 with the newer faster bows, I use 'Kentucky windage'. Jammer unles they have changed the law the 'site lite' is a no-no for whitetail but NOT for hogs, a friend of mine from Miss uses a laser site, if I could find one like he had I would get it >>for the pigs, BTW I use the smaller pins but I shoot with both eyes open making it easier to focus in low lite situtations....WW


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## cpthook (Jan 16, 2008)

Do you compensate for 20 and 30 yard shots or do you aim for the same spot regardless of distance??


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## cpthook (Jan 16, 2008)

Just picked up an Extreme Tactical and plan on shooting out to 45 yards this weekend. I have Spot Hog Real Deal 5 pin sites and curious as to what I can get away with.


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## Bearkat2004 (Jan 31, 2011)

I use both .19 and .10, no problem seing them at all, in fact my .10 (on an HHA) is twice as bright as my .19


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

wet dreams said:


> I do, your talking an inch or so differance between 15-30 with the newer faster bows, I use 'Kentucky windage'. Jammer unles they have changed the *law the 'site lite' is a no-no for* *whitetail* but NOT for hogs, a friend of mine from Miss uses a laser site, if I could find one like he had I would get it >>for the pigs, BTW I use the smaller pins but I shoot with both eyes open making it easier to focus in low lite situtations....WW


I just checked the regs on sight pin lights. Quote:"Artificial light of any form that casts or reflects a bem of light onto or otherwise illuminates a game animal or bird *may not* be used as an aid to hunt,* EXCEPT* battery powered scoping devices that project a light or dot only inside the scope, pin sight lights on archery equipment, or laser sighting devicese used by legally blind huners,........"

So it looks like pin lights are ok.

What you are thinking of is probably Pope and Young. You cannot enter a trophy into Pope and Young if "there is any electronic or battery powered device attached to the bow." Battery powered sight light.

Another interesting fact I found out when I went to the Pope and Young site, is that you cannot have any battery powered/electronics attached to your arrow either. So if you're sitting in your stand with a luminoc arrow on your string, and that 170 buck steps out, you'd better switch arrows real quick.


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

I forgot to add this on my post above. Also in the P&Y regs is that a bow must be at least 30" long. Is that axle to axle, or length overall?? If it's length overall , all of you with Z7 extremes and Crazes are out of luck for Pope and Young.

Veeeeeeeeeeeery EEEnteresting!!


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## TooShallow (May 21, 2004)

Lighted pins are OK for Whitetail. Not P&Y eligible but perfectly legal. Red dot sights are fine also just don't use them outside legal shooting hours; 30 minutes before of after sunset; that is definitely illegal.


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## wet dreams (May 21, 2004)

cpthook said:


> Do you compensate for 20 and 30 yard shots or do you aim for the same spot regardless of distance??


I don't think there is enough diff in 20-30 to worry about, now at 35 I would hold over but everything would have to be just right for me to shoot a whitetail at 35, then I'll probabally still pass on the shot...bad exper at 35 yrds yrs back...WW


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## NitroNX898 (Apr 7, 2009)

They are talking about ATA


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## cpthook (Jan 16, 2008)

*Z7 Extreme Tactical*

I feel comfortable shooting out to 45 and even 50 yards but I have 5 pins and my 5th pin is set for 45 to 50 yards. I do allot of practicing at 40 and 45 which is key. Not interested in Pope and Young but is the 30 inch minimum bow length a requirement for B&C??? I just upgraded to a Z7 Tactical and it is 28 inches long, not sure where on the bow they take the measurements, wheel to wheel???


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

cpthook said:


> I feel comfortable shooting out to 45 and even 50 yards but I have 5 pins and my 5th pin is set for 45 to 50 yards. I do allot of practicing at 40 and 45 which is key. Not interested in Pope and Young but is the 30 inch minimum bow length a requirement for B&C??? I just upgraded to a Z7 Tactical and it is 28 inches long, not sure where on the bow they take the measurements, wheel to wheel???


That was my question as well. I have an email into matthews right now. You would certainly think they would have taken than into consideration before making a bow, which at the outset, would be illegal for Pope and Young. Just don't forget that if the animal you're shooting at 50 yards decides to eat another piece of grass at the moment you release, either you'll miss or gut shot the animal.

360 fps is pretty amazing, but not quite as amaxing as 1170 fps.

Not lecturing just putting out my philsophy on long archery shots. That 3d we shoot every weekend at 50 yards with consistency can't "drop at the shot," "jump the string," etc. whatever you want to call it.

I watched a show last night on bow hunting impala- wow are those things fast. Perfect broadside shot, upon release the animal turns, and by the time the arrow gets there (and this was only a 25 yard shot), the impala's body had turned 90 degrees, and the arrow passed by parallel to the impala on the right side of it.


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## berto (Oct 14, 2004)

cpthook said:


> I feel comfortable shooting out to 45 and even 50 yards but I have 5 pins and my 5th pin is set for 45 to 50 yards. I do allot of practicing at 40 and 45 which is key. Not interested in Pope and Young but is the 30 inch minimum bow length a requirement for B&C??? I just upgraded to a Z7 Tactical and it is 28 inches long, not sure where on the bow they take the measurements, wheel to wheel???


The tactical is a sweet shooting bow. I stuck with a 3 pin. Didnt want it cluttered up with a 5 or 7 pin. Shoots fast enough for me to shoot out to 40 yards. Im 90% sure I will not take a 40 yard shot though. Not that im not confident but like jammer said to many things could happen and I do not want to wound an animal.

Ive thought about adding a light to my site but them fibers are bright on the spot hogg sights


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

set one on 20 and one on 40 and get rid of the rest


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## wet dreams (May 21, 2004)

THE JAMMER said:


> Just don't forget that if the animal you're shooting at 50 yards decides to eat another piece of grass at the moment you release, either you'll miss or gut shot the animal.
> 
> 360 fps is pretty amazing, but not quite as amaxing as 1170 fps.
> 
> Not lecturing just putting out my philsophy on long archery shots. That 3d we shoot every weekend at 50 yards with consistency can't "drop at the shot," "jump the string," etc. whatever you want to call it


It happened to me at 35yrds, nice buck eating, relaxed and very comfortable under a WhiteOak tree, when I released the XX75 he never knew it was on the way. He took a half a step, my arrow hit deadcenter >> rite in the stomach, never saw him again. This was YRS back and the bows then wern't as fast as they are today BUT I had the fastest on the market, a Hoyt FPS. I would take another shot at that distance but NOT at a deer. BTW your shooting at known distances, even with todays flat shooting bows, they don't shoot that FLAT at distance and guessing the yardage is critical, at 35 or 40 and beyond you guess wrong by 5yrds its probabally gonna be a clean miss >>>>if your lucky...WW


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## THE JAMMER (Aug 1, 2005)

THE JAMMER said:


> I forgot to add this on my post above. Also in the P&Y regs is that a bow must be at least 30" long. Is that axle to axle, or length overall?? If it's length overall , all of you with Z7 extremes and Crazes are out of luck for Pope and Young.
> 
> Veeeeeeeeeeeery EEEnteresting!!


Believe it or not I got a response from Matthews regarding the Pope and Young minimum bow length of 30" and how that relates to the Craze and the Z7. They did confirm that it is overall length- not axle to axle. So we are ok.


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