Back up iron sights: carry another scope instead?

Boomer said:
What a guy can do is index his sighted in scopes with a bore-sighter, then it only takes a minute to verify the switched scope's zero without shooting. Once my scopes are sighted in, I check them against a bore-sighter and record the position of the reticle against the grid. This is cheap insurance if I want to: change loads, switch to irons, swap out scopes, or if the rifle takes a hit, I can check to ensure nothing is amiss.
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I do the exact same thing. I made up a print sheet, with a grid identical to the one on the bore sighter, that I use to record all the relevent data.

I played around with switching four different scopes between three different rifles and never had my POI stray any further than a two inch circle around the original sighting in point.
 
Good suggestions.
Im one of the two-gun to camp. Drove over one, one year during elk fever (please dont ask).
Every year I seem to bail but good, usually right on top of the damn scope. Doesnt matter if it was made on Mars, it goes straight to hell. Irons, and not some BS flip-up rotating on some 1.5mm base pin, are sure fine in the middle of the woods.
Oh yeah, because Im a consumer of nasty proportions, Ill have a back-up scope next year as well. Ha
 
chuck nelson said:
So when you discover this mysteriously broken scope while lining up on your quarry what does this "broken" look like?
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That depends on the nature of the damage to your scope. I'm sure you are thinking of a scope that just suddenly stops tracking, and will no longer hold zero, with no apparent external damage. Until you shoot with this scope you will not be aware of a problem. Another failure that may appear with or without any external damage to the scope is a broken reticle, and would be immediately obvious to the hunter probably just as he sights on a once in a lifetime . . . (fill in the blank - bear, elk, moose, buffalo, elephant, etc).

The scope represents the achilles heal of the modern hunting rifle. A bolt action rifle stocked in fiberglass, is a pretty tough instrument, but that aluminum tube clamped on top is less so, and even a steel tube scope can meet with a severe mishap. When you are hunting in difficult country the rifle could be dropped and fall 10 feet onto a rock or you could take a fall and land on top of it. On pack trip hunts, more than one rifle has been stepped on by a horse, but a rifle can also fall off a quad or snowmobile. When we flew into Dar es Salaam, there was a very unhappy looking American hunter at the baggage claim looking at his hard shell gun case with the barrel of his rifle protruding through one end. Although I had believed them to be a species indigenous only to Northern Canada it appears that the careless ramp rat is found globally. I wonder how this fellow's scope made out? In most cases where one's equipment is damaged, the rifle will have made out better than the scope that was attached to it.
 
My primary hunting rifle is a 35 Whelen. It is fitted with Leupold quick detach rings and iron sights. I have two scopes for the rifle. One is low power regulated to a 200gr RN load I used for close cover deer hunting. The other is regulated for a cranked up 225gr partition load I use for moose hunting.

Several times last deer season I removed the scope mid hunt and used the irons while still hunting in close cover. I also removed it mid hunt during a heavy rainfall while still hunting my way back to camp.

This setup is extremely comforting and vesitile. I know that when I fly in moose camp, I have the irons to rely on if I have scope problems. My old cave diving days taught me that redundancy is comforting.


However, doing the following will minimize scope failures to an acceptable risk.

1. Use quality equipment such as Leupold, Zeiss, Khales, Swarovski, etc.

2. Use quality solid mounts such as Leupold, Millet (steel), Talley, etc.

3. This one is the most important. Fire a minimum of 200 rounds from your rifle before you trust it.
 
chuck nelson said:
So when you discover this mysteriously broken scope while lining up on your quarry what does this "broken" look like?
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If you read my first post you would see that I am not as concerned with a broken scope as simply knocking it on a tree and losing zero, but I am thinking broken reticle, would be the most likely. Not like the thing is gonna snap in two pieces. Regardless if there is a deer in front of me and I either take a shot and miss cuz my zero is pooched, or if I see that the scope is broken, I would like to be able to quickly as possible get a shot off. Quickly removing your scope would be my choice. Like I said if you have see through rings you are even better off.
 
ive never broken or even significantly damaged a scope.... yet theres something reassuring about having a good set of irons on the rifle JIC i ever do.

i like the idea of the irons better than carrying around a second scope - not because im worried the second scope will also fail (the odds of two quality scopes failing at the same time through normal use are probably up there with getting hit by a meteorite while in your tree stand), but simply because im usually lugging around far too much crap already.
 
I've asked one question about installing irons on naked barrels before. There's some interesting peep sights out there that fit on Weaver/picatinny mounts. Add a front globe sight and you are in like Flynn.

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But you still have to sight in if you have to remove the rear sight from the base to mount the scope. Same issue as just carrying another scope with you.
 
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being a belt and suspenders kind of guy, as well as being someone who is hard on rigging, I'm a firm beleiver in secondary sighting systems.

Good QD mounts are available and inexpensive.

I prefer a peep sight, but do not like anything that you have to remove/re-install on a base, as I am as least as good at losing things as I am at breaking them.

Here's what I am switching to, Guntech mounted a Redfield flip-up peep on a Leupold QD base. It is adjustable in elevation and windage, and once sighted and locked in place with post-assembly lock-tite, it is pretty much indestructible, being mostly protected by the scope.
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FWIW, I have had three Leupolds go south on me, all on larger calibers. The erector assembly breaks loose inside and slides back and forth, creating a blurred sight picture. It did not lose POI, but you had to bump the rifle on its butt to 'settle' the guts to the rearward position. There were absolutley no external indications that the scope had internal damage.
 
I like your flip up peep sight RGV! I have backup irons on all rifles used in wilderness settings. I have had good scopes fail due to impact/accidents, and I have had the seals on scopes fail allowing them to fog. A real serious hunting rifle looks undressed to me if it has a "clean" barrel. I have shot very few animals with backup irons, but it is a comfort to know they are there if needed.
One thing that mystifies me in the marketplace: nearly all the serious "bad weather" bolt action rifles currently made come without irons. You can have synthetic stocks, stainless or plated steel, but only with plain barrels? A couple of "alaskan" models are the only exception that I know of. I'd like to see someone market a stainless steel front sight ramp for after market addition to a stainless/synthetic rifle. All I can find are regular blued steel.
 
All my hunting rifles, with the exception of my coyote gun have iron sights on them. Not all of them wear scopes because I like iron sights better but the ones that have scopes also have irons. Seems to me that bringing a second scope is more of a hassle than taking the broke one off and shooting irons. But to each his own i suppose.
 
philthygeezer said:
I've asked one question about installing irons on naked barrels before. There's some interesting peep sights out there that fit on Weaver/picatinny mounts. Add a front globe sight and you are in like Flynn.

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Man I have a Swedish Mauser sporter that I have given up trying to scope, and I would love to know who in Canada sells these weaver aperture sights...Then I just have to mount a front sight and I can use this gun again. It just has to be adjustable, and able to mount on the rear weaver base still on my rifle.

So someone PM me more details please! :)
 
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