How is a peep sight superior to a notch sight?
I’m glad you asked! Lol
It’s widely understood that peep sights are superior notch sights for several reasons, most of which don’t translate well to video games but are critical in real life for achieving accurate and precise shooting.
1. Sight radius. Peeps are generally farther back on the rifle and closer to the eye. Sight radius is the distance from the front sight to the rear sight. Longer sight radius is better for precision.
2. Ease of use. It’s a whole lot easier to look through a hole that’s right up to your eye and tell if the front sight is directly in the middle of that hole vs trying to tell if the front sight is in the middle of a “V”. This is especially true on German style “barleycorn” sights where the front post is a triangle in a V. It’s not as bad if you have a square post and a square notch. Also, you can get closer to a peep sight and give yourself a better view of your target by pressing your cheek closer to the sight. This simply doesn’t work on notch sights that are farther forward on the rifle.
A great comparison of the two (or three if you distinguish between barleycorn and square posts) can be seen on the early WWI vintage M1903 Springfield rifle’s vs the WWII updated M1903A3 rifles. The A3 has a peep sight that is infinitely better than the old style.
This distinction on type of sighting system is often overlooked when discussing a rifles accuracy. In practical matters the M1 Garand was (and still is lol) a more accurate rifle than the K98k, just because it had better sights. While the K98k is an inheritor more accurate system, it suffered from the sights on it and the mass production numbers it was needed in. The same is true for the M1 Garand. Both rifles are only about 3-4 moa rifles, which means about a 3-4 inch group at 100 yards/meters and about a 9-12 inch group at 300 yards/meters. This is plenty accurate for combat as the average man is about 19 inches wide at the chest.
Long story short, peeps are better because they are easier to learn and more precise once you learn them and faster once you learn them too. Accuracy is in the shooters ability to shoot and read the sights more than the inherit accuracy of the rifle.