Anyone else like buckhorn sights?

James1873

James1873

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
110   0   0
Location
McLennan, Alberta
It's kind of funny. I think for most people, the first thing they do is throw out the buckhorns and put on peeps or a scope. Here I am getting rid of the factory semibickhorn, for marbles full buckhorn lol. I really love them. Also got a new marbles front sight with a large gold bead in the mail coming my way.

Why? Someone may wonder. I think they look great, but as far as I understand, there's three sight pictures with buckhorns. The traditional notch what I think everyone knows, the center of the horns acts like a peep, and the spot where the two horns come together. I guess I'll need some range time to figure out those ranges with the load I'm using. But I think there the best looking, and practical sight there is

View attachment 81560
 
My father had thirteen siblings... I have no idea how many hundreds of deer and moose fell to Model 94 buckhorns... they couldn't afford to eat their own beef, as it represented a good portion of the family income... the next generation, myself and cousins did our best to keep the legacy up, for the most part with M94's wearing original buckhorns.
 
I suppose a large part of it is nostalgia, another is that these marbles sights in particular are nice as far as buckhorns go. Lots of elevation notches, and the sight has a small adjustable blade for fine tuning. And the 45-70 isn't the most practical long range caliber. But if you shoot it within your skill and at iron sights range, it works well.

I plan on getting a model 70 or a Remington 700 with a scope for extended ranges if I ever feel the need. Most people in my area I talk to seem to favor the 300 win mag, so I think it would be that caliber.
 
They are fine for big game animal harvest and at distances such as 100 yards for my cap lock rifle, and somewhat longer ranges for a 30-30 or a 38-55, if your eyes are up to it.
I know with my Browning and patched .50 caliber RB, if I use the top of the horns and line up the top of the front blade exactly between them, I can strike an eight inch ShootNSee, three for three shots, with my best deer hunting load at 100.
Certainly by no means are they the best and my 30-30 wears a Williams FP peep, but I refuse to change the buckhorns on my Browning Mountain Rifle. I also tend not too I push the outer limits for reasonable big game harvest, with my muzzle loading firearms.

YMMV
 
Last edited:
Regarding range... most of my own shots have been under 100 yards and most of those under 50 yards. I have shot a few whitetails between 150 and 200 yards... but all would have to be perfect for me to shoot at 200... however my father shot a cow moose at 300 yards, paced by his partner... she was across a muskeg swamp and he knelt down and rested the M94 .32 Spl on a cut stump, he fired four rounds, the cow did not seem to react to the shots, but slowly walked 50 feet and bedded down... my dad didn’t know if she was hit or just bedded down naturally, so he reloaded and slowly walked toward her, fully expecting her to jump up and run, but when he got to her she was dead... two of the four bullets took her through the lungs, and two were clean misses. The bullets did not deform much and were recovered in the offside ribs, they did not make it through to the hide. One cousin of mine shot a whitetail buck at 350 yards with an M94 .30/30... he got a good tongue lashing from the group that night as we had blood trailed it for 300 yards before darkness fell... I recovered the buck the next morning from the swamp about 500 yards from where it had been shot... the bullet had hit the liver and was found in the paunch and had almost no deformation. All this to say that inside 150 yards I have always been positive of a well placed shot, between 150 and 200 yards, the circumstances would have to be ideal, and for me, shots beyond 200 yards are just too risky, both for shot placement and for terminal bullet performance.
 
Not that I'd ever consider a 350 yard shot with a 30-30, but I wonder how an ftx bullet would expand at extended ranges? It's advertised to drop about 12" at 300 yards with leverevolution cartridges. So it wouldn't be an impossible shot with an optic I imagine. Though I think a liver shot could and up same as you described being a 30-30 or whatever the caliber.
 
Brutus said:
They are fine for big game animal harvest and at distances such as 100 yards for my cap lock rifle, and somewhat longer ranges for a 30-30 or a 38-55, if your eyes are up to it.
I know with my Browning and patched .50 caliber RB, if I use the top of the horns and line up the top of the front blade exactly between them, I can strike an eight inch ShootNSee, three for three shots, with my best deer hunting load at 100.
Certainly by no means are they the best and my 30-30 wears a Williams FP peep, but I refuse to change the buckhorns on my Browning Mountain Rifle. I also tend not too I push the outer limits for reasonable big game harvest, with my muzzle loading firearms.

YMMV
Click to expand...

I've always wanted to try a front stuffer, may buy one someday. What kind of bullets are you using? Lead balls or minie balls? I think the minie is the best for period projectiles?
 
James1873 said:
... I wonder how an ftx bullet would expand at extended ranges? It's advertised to drop about 12" at 300 yards... So it wouldn't be an impossible shot with an (OPTIC) I imagine.
Click to expand...

I thought we were talking about buckhorns...
 
Buckhorn sights are pretty good, provided you first cut off the horns, leaving them flat across the top.
 
I prefer the semi-buckhorn rear sight, of the style used on the Marlin 336.

Simple, rugged, and has a decent notch and sight picture. (The front sight is unfortunately excrement)

That said, on a really traditional replica or antique lever gun or muzzleloader, I would be perfectly happy with full buckhorns.
 
Lonesome Donkey said:
I prefer the semi-buckhorn rear sight, of the style used on the Marlin 336.

Simple, rugged, and has a decent notch and sight picture. (The front sight is unfortunately excrement)

That said, on a really traditional replica or antique lever gun or muzzleloader, I would be perfectly happy with full buckhorns.
Click to expand...

The ones that came with my Marlin are ok, they seem kind of flimsy though at the hinge where it folds down. Maybe mine got knocked around or something.
 
I have tried them in the past, personally didn't like them due to obscuring too much, I respect that some may like or prefer them
 
I have used the Buckhorn as a Cowboy action sight and in the Cowboy Silhouette game ant it works very well...both are stationary targets, If I was using the rifle for a hunting gun & there was a chance of having to make a running shot then H's idea is the way to go...a full buckhorn has a chance to hide the animal you are trying to lead . Some say that the flat sight is better as a main match cowboy sight as well, as you can see the target coming into sight plain as you are swinging the gun to the next target. However I have found that in conjuction with a big a$$'d brass front bead that when I see the target & front bead anywhere between the buckhorns I will get a hit but remember , in this game we shoot big targets that are close so pin-point accuracy isn't needed.

Bringing up pin-point accuracy and the big a$$'d front bead...for your application I don't think you will like it, those big brass beads work awesome for close big targets that you are trying to shoot quickly but for pin-point shooting at any distance over 25 yrds, they cover way to much target too even think of boiler-rooming a moose farther than that.
 
James1873 said:
The ones that came with my Marlin are ok, they seem kind of flimsy though at the hinge where it folds down. Maybe mine got knocked around or something.
Click to expand...

If the spring portion of the sight is weak, maybe.

All that I have used are very sturdy. The elevator notches lock the sight blade into a vertical position quite well.

I even installed one on a 94 Winchester in place of the crappy factory rear sight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom