Bring back open sights

First off, thanks Ted for the kind words, I always enjoy your (and Boomer's and Dogleg's) posts as they're the 'real deal'. I personally find 20 yard and under shots very difficult with a scope in brush, and find them very easy with irons. Even tried to do it with my 1-4x Leupold, just plain prefer iron sights. I don't shoot big game past 200-250 yards, and irons do swell for me on deer sized and up game out to there so I leave well enough alone and just shoot the irons. :) Good hunting!
 
The manufacturers make what sells,and obviously, most buyers want the raised comb and don't want open sights on their rifles.Lucky for me,I am one of those people,and the manufacturers offer what I prefer to use.
 
Ardent said:
First off, thanks Ted for the kind words, I always enjoy your (and Boomer's and Dogleg's) posts as they're the 'real deal'. I personally find 20 yard and under shots very difficult with a scope in brush, and find them very easy with irons. Even tried to do it with my 1-4x Leupold, just plain prefer iron sights. I don't shoot big game past 200-250 yards, and irons do swell for me on deer sized and up game out to there so I leave well enough alone and just shoot the irons. :) Good hunting!
Click to expand...
Personally I LOVE irons, but then, my taste in all things "gun"' different from most others somewhat!:D
Cat
DSCF0330.jpg

DSCF0339.jpg
 
There are plenty of old guns with sights..6.5 power is the lowest setting on any of my scopes.
I have no problems shooting 25 yards in the bush, I have a zeiss 6.5-20 on my 22 for chickens, just practice.
 
Both types of sight have their niche (from a performance perspective ) given the various conditions/scenarios that have already been cited.

Today, the challenge is that very few firearms manufacturers offer irons as standard production (more specifically on bolt action rifles) and even fewer companies provide such that reflect quality.

IMHO, folks with healthy eyes (could be any age group), new to RF or CF rifles should first take the time to become well oriented with the use of a good set of iron sights at least out to 100/200m respectively. In general, that would greatly assist to become better marksmen :). I certainly do not view that as an issue if someone were to move to optics afterwards if that is what his/her shooting/hunting condition demands.
 
A good number of years ago, I owned a nice Browning Stainless Stalker, in 338WM, and I moose hunted, from blinds built along the edges of a long swamp, accessible only by canoe.
The rifle had no sights, scope only, and I had enjoyed the ability to walk through the bush without the front sight snagging stuff now and then, but then, that rifle was not a bush rifle, and so it rarely got to see the need.
On that frosty morning, as I sat in the blind, an ice fog came down. I had see through scope covers on, they were fogged, so I took them off, lenses were fogged, damn. I wiped them off, the fog reformed on one lens as fast as I could wipe it off the other.
I was screwed until the sun burned off the fog. Good thing no moose showed up.

I decided I'd take some pics of the fog on spider webs and such, and got my 35mm out of the camera bag.... fogged, and it was in the case.
I no longer have that rifle, and have only one scoped rifle at present. It has a Lyman tip off mount.
I'll always have rifles with irons as at least backup.
 
Sorry i been missing guys, this thread updates never showed up in my usercp >.> But it's nice to see some people who still preffer open sights over scopes, I'll use a scope on a 22 or somethin just to tinker with but not my cup of tea :p
 
I like good iron sights on some, not all rifles.

Many of the iron sights that come installed on factory rifles suck.

If I will primarily shoot a rifle with irons, I will likely have a good quality brand installed. Both RUger Alaskan and RUger #1 have decent iron sights, although I would likely upgrade if I was to use irons exclusively.
 
Why not? said:
Ardent,

Always enjoy your posts, but would beg to differ with you on this one.

I use both, but it has always seemed easier to me to "thread the needle" through those holes using a low power scope, than with iron sights. Have several Leupold 3X that are just the ticket fore this situation.

Ted
Click to expand...

I had a big dog baboon come running in. At 5 yards I couldn't see #### through the 3x scope. I wish I'd had irons...old boy would have gotten flattened!
 
I'm personally very happy all the rifles I like come without sights, so the rifle is nice and clean when I mount my scope. It sucks if you like iron sights, but older rifles usually have the irons. Irons are useless to me in low light, when a lot of the deer are showing themselves. It didn't take long for me to ditch my garand for a scoped bolt after missing an opportunity at my first buck 12 years ago.(couldn't see the sights)
 
Suppose I wanted to have quality iron sights installed on a modern "clean" barrelled rifle. Can the average gunsmith do that without butchering the rifle? Or do I look for a specialist? Recommendations would be appreciated.
 
Its all about the market, and people want scopes. I've always loved open sight shooting, but old eyes make it more and more difficult to shoot without a scope.
 
It's also cheaper to produce a rifle without iron sights. Adds to the manufacturers margin and then market it is as the Modelo Americano and increase the price by $50.

Brilliant!
 
Vimy Ridge said:
No sights, no buy.
Click to expand...

Then again, a rifle that comes from the factory without irons is a plain canvas, on which you can install any sight that will suit your purposes. This is a better approach then attempting to use the cheap, shallow V, flip up style rear sight with a bead front which was the common solution on North American guns for far too long. While it doesn't hurt me to tweak a new rifle, there was a time where I wanted to go shooting on the way home from the gun store, after a spur of the moment purchase, and not have to wait hours, never mind weeks or months, to shoot it. I guess patience comes with age.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom