A viable alternative to a Vernier long range sight

[fingers284]

This is my "convertible" Marlin 1895 Cowboy with a long range peep sight arrangement of my own design....and its like nothing you haver ever seen before I'm betting. but it works...and much better than any center mounted Vernier I have ever used.



Yah that's a bow sight mounted to the side of the bore. The pin ends line up perfect with the home made peep sight cantilevered off-center from the tang (can be seen in first photo). the removable cheek weld stock support can also be seen in the first photo.
The idea of the thing is to be able to shoot at any distance you have a pin set for without ever adjusting the peep sight, once the peep is set for parallels to the gun bore & the pin line-up, your line of sight through the peep never changes from one distance to another...your cheek weld & shoulder stock anchor remain the same from 50 yrds to as far as your eyes will work for you. Once the pins are set for a certain distance, With my aging eyes I can center punch a Sillywet chicken target at 50 yrds or shoot a 5" group center punched into a 4x4 sheet of plywood at 400 yrds.

I know it looks awkward and like a "contraption" and It certainly wont be every bodies cop-o-tea but it "works" and very comfortable to shoot.

 

[mooncoon]

reminiscent of the volley sights on early Lee Enfields

cheers mooncoon

 

[vagrantviking]

Some old school light machine guns and anti tank rifles had something similar.
I like the novel solution. Interested to see how it works for different purposes.

 

[fingers284]

Some old school light machine guns and anti tank rifles had something similar.
I like the novel solution. Interested to see how it works for different purposes.

I have used the sight at Cowboy Silhouette matches but would work equally as well at any buffalo rifle gong shoot...would be a doable conversion to any Buffalo rifle with tangs.

I didn't want to butcher the original stock for the Marlin so I cobbled together a workable alternate from shop scraps I had available.

this is version 4, not commercial pretty but very solid & usable. The wrist piece is hardwood and the two cheek pieces are just spruce shaped from a piece of old corral plank.
The same butt stock is used for scope use or peep sight, shoulder anchor is same for both .
The cheek piece for the offset peep is removable/replaceable in 30 seconds with 2 wing nuts.
If i were to make another or do a Buffalo rifle up I would use a single piece of hard wood for the replacement stock, commercially, an injected plastic stock would be the trick I think.

The bow sight( the only purchase in the whole affair, $28 from LGS) is just mounted with a couple clamps & 2 hardware screws I made from some scrap aluminum. The whole thing weights not more than 3 or 4 ounces and is virtually un-noticeable hanging off the side of the barrel while shooting.

 

[shotgun12G]

I was fortunate enough to get to try this set-up when Fingers284 brought it to a match a couple of years ago. It works extremely well!