Before being briefed by the marshall during operation Sandbox, Tiger was instructing us on how to approximate distances visually. Here's a little technique our Soviet rifle using friends can use to find an approximate distance using the rifle's iron sights.
I am still looking for the carbine version of this approximation method. Will post it up when i find it.
This is from http://forums.second-amendment.org/index.php?topic=2602.0
"Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of Soviet iron sights and the thought and intent behind them.
If you are into milsurp weapons and have couple of Soviet rifles, you might notice that the iron sights are the same between, say, AK, SKS, Mosin. This was not done to simplify the production (well maybe that is too), but also because there is a standard rangefinder built into those sights, which you can use when there is nothing else left. I mean - it is nice to have Leica rangefinder, but it is not always an optioin to carry it with you. With standard Soviet iron sights, you still will be able to make a fair estimate of the distance if you really need it.
First let me give you some general info you need to know to be able to use that rangefinder.
Split the 360 degrees of the horizon in 6000 equal parts (I guess starting point is a 60 minutes of a wris****ch). Each part called naturally "one six thousand's" which in the mil slang is "one thousand's" or simply "a thousand's". Same idea as MOA with the same implications. At the distance of 100 meters one thousand's would cover exactly 0.1 meter, on 200 meters - 0.2 meter, 300 - 0.3 meter and so on. (sounds familiar, does it?). Nothing difficult so far. To calculate the distance to an object you can use a very simple formula:
D=(Bx1000)/Y
where: D- distance to your object. Y- size of the object measured IN Thousand's B- actual size of the object IN METERS.
Please note that in order to calculate the distance, you need to have general understanding of the size of the object - same as with mildot. As with the mildot, it is not the most precise method anyway, so approximations are good enough.
Lets consider an example.
You are wondering on a white sand beach and see a beautiful girl at some distance. You might want to know how far is she from you, so when the time comes for you to run and save her from an evil baby-seal attack (things happen, eh?), you take a proper pace and do not show up there huffing and puffing.
You know that average person height is 1.7 meters and you can approximate shoulder width as 0.5 meters and head size as about 0.25 Meters.
Now all you need is to measure the size of the girl as she stands there in thousand's and you can calculate the distance.
And this is where you can use the sights of your trusty AK. Every single Soviet rifle with standard sights has the following dimensions:
A= 2 thousand's B= 6 thousand's c= 3 thousand's
So if you look at the girl and see that her head takes exactly the width of the front pole, then the distance is (0.25*1000)/2=125Meters.
If she is standing tall and she is as tall as 1/3d of the front sight pole (with proper aim of course), then you know that she is at appr. (1.7*1000)/1~1700 Meters from you.
Or if her shoulders take approximately half of your front post, then you can quickly calculate that the D=(0.5x1000)/1=500Meters.
Of course needless to say that any object of known size can be used, not just a human body.
