I’ve shot several different sights and have shot archery for about a decade. I shoot a 5 pin currently and still every time I draw back on a target or animal count my pins from top to bottom until I get to the pin I want for the shot. This eliminates choosing the wrong pin in the heat of the moment.
I will say, I think a good 5 pin sight is about the most well rounded type of sight for any style of hunting or target/3D archery shooting, as well as being great for practicing in your Backyard. You may not shoot an animal at 60 yards, but having that pin to shoot on the range will make you a better archer.
The way I set up a bow site is pretty simple, (I assume you aren’t worrying about setting 2nd and 3rd axis). The first thing I do is decide what ranges I want my pins at. I always go in 10 yard increments because it’s easy to count down your pins and minimizes confusion. Then decide what your top pin will be. My opinion is this should be either 10, 15, or 20 yards. 20 is most common because like you said there isn’t much difference between 10/20. If you have a very slow bow (like my wife) there is a significant gap between 10/20, you should shoot your bow at those ranges and check.
The 15 yard starting point was recently repopularized on youtube by a very enthusiastic gentleman out of texas. You’ll use the same 10 yard gaps but starting at 15, so your pins will be 15,25,35,45… the theory behind doing this is that your pins will fall in a more even spacing across the whole sight. It works pretty well, especially if you aren’t used to having pins set at multiples of 10 yet. The downsides are if you ever shoot at a public range or someone else’s range, you’re pretty unlikely to run across a target that’s 25 yards away.
After I know what I want my gaps to be, I go sight in my top pin and 2nd pin. It’s doesn’t matter where in the housing it is at this point. Once I get this distance, you can assume that the rest of the gaps will be a similar distance. On slow bows the further gaps will get considerably larger. Spread your pins out with these gaps so everything looks pretty even. Then move the whole housing up or down until the 20 pin is dead on. From there, you’ll have to fine tune each pin but they should be close.
There are plenty of other less common ways to set up your sight and I encourage you to try them all out as sighting your bow in all the time is great practice. Welcome to the sport!
