By: Chris Woodburn
If you are an archer, as I suspect you are because you chose to read this article, you’ll continue to look for ways to improve your craft and look for any advantages you may see fit to try. If you shoot with a peep sight and a front sight on your bow you have more than likely tried to improve your shooting by switching out the front sights! However, if you are like a lot of other archery hunters out there, you depended on the local bow shop to put in any old peep sight they had in the shop.
Thus, you didn’t put much thought into the other major component of your archery equipment, such as your peep sight.
Well, I was in your shoes and I depended on my local bow shop to install a peep for me. Today, as I’ve gotten into tournament shooting and hunting, I am always looking to improve my accuracy at the range. As a hunter I also understand the importance of shot accuracy, for a good clean kill. Let’s change how we look at and through a peep!
After watching a lot of amazing archers at the Lancaster Archery Classic and The Vegas Shoot this year I wondered how the heck they hit the small 10 ring more often than not and in some cases the new 12 ring! Yes, I know they have a God given talent, but they also have certain tools in their shooting arsenal system. Major components of their system includes the front sight and peep sight. One thing I noticed for most of those shooters was they used the Hamskea peep sight. So, I ordered one and this is how I broke it down.
The Hamskea InSight Peep System:
- High light transmission
- Low light performance
- Dual string groves: 37.5° and 45°
- Light Baffle anti-glare design
- Lightweight magnesium housing
- 6 Aperture Sizes (1/32″, 3/64″, 1/16″, 3/32″, 1/8″, 5/32″)
All these features of the the peep are important, for both hunting and target archery. These features have been designed to improve your performance. I gave an example earlier in that I hunt, and often hunt in the middle of the day. The glare can be a challenge in the middle of the day, but the design of the housing reduces the impact of glare on my shot. The design also continues to allow light transmission, for the early morning or late evening hunts. You maybe also wondering about the weight and the effect the large looking Hamskea will have on the speed of your arrow. My old peep was right at 12 gn, and the Hamskea peep sits right around 15 gn with an aperture. The additional 3 gns little to no affect on my shot, other than improving my accuracy.
Installation of this peep is as simple as any other peep install. The basics is that you need to uninstall your previous peep, ensure you select to install at the right location on your string, separate the strands of you string using a specific string separation tool, install using the correct angle grove, which is explained in the Hamskea package, then tie in the peep. The only challenge I noticed during installation was determining the correct grove, as it was not called out in a picture, or explained well in the packaging material.
At this point you may be wondering what sets the Hamskea peep above the competitors, or why should we spend the money on a new peep? Answer: Yes! There are a few noticeable reasons I’ve chosen to give the “best peep sight” a shot.
- If you are shooting with a magnification lens on the front sight, you should also add a clarifying lens to your peep, which is made simple to do with the Hamskea peep.
- Adjusting the peep aperture for different shooting situations, or different front sight housings. The Hamskea allows you to easily change the aperture without having to untie and retie in a peep.
- The anti-glare baffle system. During hunting season you may end up stalking a big bull during the noon hour while he’s comfortably basking in the sun… Hamskea has done a great job in designing the peep to reduce the glare, but allows light collection for those low light shooting situations.
- Accuracy and affect. I’ve been able to improve my ability to hit the x ring during testing. In turn this has increased my confidence to ensure a quick and clean kill during hunting season, as well as moving from 3rd to first place in the tournaments.
The bottom line for me is that I will do just about anything to pick up an advantage during an archery tournament, or improve my ability to stack meat in my freezer! The Hamskea peep is what I would consider a “Top Shelf” peep sight and the best peep sight on the market!
My final comment to you. Do what you can to make a clean quick kill, and win those tournaments! Get a Hamskea and never look back!!!
Where to buy: Hamskea Peep InSight System
Where to buy only the housing: Hamskea Peep InSight housing
