Winchester Featherweight: Would you put aftermarket iron sights on it?

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philthygeezer

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I think the NECG Masterpiece rear sight and Universal Screw-on front ramp will fit OK.

But will it screw up the accuracy of a featherweight barrel?
Should I worry about the barrel thickness when drilling and tapping a .30-06?
 
The Win FW barrels aren't exactly a pencil barrel. I'd put sights on there without fear if that's what you want. It might change your POI a little, but I doubt it would change the accuracy much.
 
I'd have the front ramp silver soldered (or banded) on and the rear drilled & tapped - all by a competent gunsmith, of whom there are tragically few.

I cannot bear to have a rifle without iron sights. They feel unfinished, or 'cheaped out'. Scopes are all well and good, but betting your entire hunt on a conglomeration of parts assembled by Oompa Loompas in a rat infested third world machine shed just doesn't keep my confidence. When you shoulder your rifle and see....oops,nothing!....it's pretty nice to be able to spin off the quick detach mounts and make the shot anyway.

Now if you'll just give me a second to get my ProBans on while you kids load your flame throwers...;)
 
If you're worried about having a backup, I think you would be further ahead having a second scope pre-zeroed in quick-detach rings, given the cost of the sights and labour to install them. If you absolutely have to have iron sights, I would go with one of the receiver-mounted aperture sights.
 
Measured mine the barrel is .568" in diameter. Not much at the muzzle to work with

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I've almost always got a spare scope in my truck, or at camp...but I never have one with me on my person. I want the back-up sights right there on the gun. It's a confidence-builder knowing they are there, plus I just think that a hunting rifle without sights looks...and is...incomplete. I have a couple of guns with front sights, and an aperture sight hidden under the buttpad for quick installation as a scope backup. It works great, but you have to deal with the wise-asses who need to tell you that your front sight is useless without a rear sight!:)
 
jjohnwm said:
I've almost always got a spare scope in my truck, or at camp...but I never have one with me on my person. I want the back-up sights right there on the gun. It's a confidence-builder knowing they are there, plus I just think that a hunting rifle without sights looks...and is...incomplete. I have a couple of guns with front sights, and an aperture sight hidden under the buttpad for quick installation as a scope backup. It works great, but you have to deal with the wise-asses who need to tell you that your front sight is useless without a rear sight!:)
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If you want back up sights, thats fine and dandy with me... but I keep hearing recommendations as though back up sights are a necessity... I have never had a scope break-down on me when I needed it in 40+ years of hunting... and back forty years the scopes were not built like they are today... they were strong but the weather sealing abilities were far more questionable... personally I like the clean lines and "limb avoiding" abilities of a smooth barrel... I do shoot peep and aperture sights on some rifles... namely .44 Mag and .45/70, but I don't try and do both... there is always a compromise somewhere that way.
 
I've been hunting about that long as well, and I admit that I can't remember ever having a bad scope ruin a hunt for me. That just means that I'm about due!:)

I guess I'm just a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy. I'll admit, though, that my stance is based largely on cosmetics. I just like the look of a gun with sights.
 
You know, it is kinda cheezy that iron sights on a rifle have become rare. I mean most 22's have em. So do lever actions. But what nitwit figured we don't need em on bolt action centerfire hunters?
 
I kind of think a bolt gun with iron sights can double as a handy woods rifle with no glass when the fog is heavy or the snow keeps covering the glass, or if the gun keeps getting knocked around. Also, I think a rugged utility rifle might be better off with a good set of irons than a scope. Aimpoints are nice but the same concerns about glass are there.

How does the military handle it?
 
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