Can you drive stick?

[Kayser Sose]

I prefer iron sights, target type.

On my Remington 514T the redfield set of target sights help me pish off the silhouetters once in a while, and the improved irons on my M14type rifle i like also.

The heavy barreled 1022 however does have a scope on it.

And i drive stick. Old ways, true ways lol

 

[jjohnwm]

I learned to drive on a stick shift...and I learned to shoot with open iron sights. I still enjoy both, but a few extra decades of wear on my eyeballs have taken their toll. Open sights are really tough for me now, and even aperture sights are more difficult to use now than they once were. I can still do some respectable shooting with target grade aperture sights on a long sight radius, but I need good light and perfect conditions to do it. Hunting is pretty much out of the question at much over 100 yards unless I use a scope.

I'm surprised how many people understand the differences between various sights, but seem to have no idea of how important the choice of target is to successful shooting. I can still shoot a 2-3 inch group at 100 yards with my target-sighted Sharps .45-70...but I need a safety-orange target a foot or more across to do it. And shooting 1MOA can absolutely be done with a red-dot sight that covers 3MOA of your target, or 5, 7, 9, etc. It just calls for a target appropriate to the size of the dot.

 

[supernova]

Great post, I love shooting irons! I enjoy my long range optics but nothing is more satisfying than shooting iron sighted rifles. I used to be pretty good with my M1 and M305 with front and rear bags but the past few years I've been working more on my precision rifles. So I've filled my safes with a number of new to me iron sighted rifles for this season. My 10/22 lost it's scope for an NDS front and techsight rear. Picked up a Cooey 750 with a Williams FP rear sight, I'm desporterizing a P14, picked up an Israeli 7.62 K98 and even a Chiappa Little Badger. The Mini 14 was also descoped in favour of irons. It's going to be a good year.

 

[Can-down]

My eyesight has been pretty good all my life but in the last year the close vision is getting blurry.... love shooting irons and specially peeps.
One of my better groups offhand was maybe 4 years ago with a new to me old 30-30 Marlin and stock sights , cheap Federal blue box power shok, 100 yards.... emptied the tube into a group under 2 inches outside to outside.... might be time to dust her off and see what she will do in front of the camera and with slightly older eyes....

I prefer irons shooting off hand or very low magnification as watching the wiggle through a scope really throws me off mentally.

I like driving stick, drove a 66 ford econoline for a few years with a three on the tree.....

 

[Meroh]

Well, I learned to drive on a 641 Ford Workmaster tractor; stick with no syncro.
I learned to shoot with a Cooey with open sights.
I'm 62 and the eyes are not as sharp as they used to be (wear tri-focals) but lately, I have been shooting my AR with open sights; and can put my shots on an 8 1/2 x 11 at 100 yards. My cousin is not a shooter, but I had him out a few months ago, explained the peep and post sights, and from a bench rest, he to put them on Paper. It is not hard; but people seem to always be looking for an edge, and like to have gadgets.

I'm thinking about dumping my cheap back-up sights, and buying something of better quality to put on my NEA based home built. 6"? I'm happy with a piece of note paper; much smaller, I would have trouble seeing it. LOL.

BTW, federal bulk ammo is crap; my home loads are much better, and Tula hollow point are almost as good accuracy wise through my $99.00 dominion 20" barrel.

 

[ThrowBack]

Lol 1979 GMC Sierra stick....with a really touchy clutch.

I'm with Travis. I hate scopes and red dots. I have lots of black and red rifles. I have only a cheap bushnell red dot on one of them but for the most part I hate fussing with zeroing them, changing batteries, scope caps, remembering to turn them off, fogging up, etc.
I get a lot of satisfaction shooting decent groups with irons, hearing the noise of the gong at 200 and 300 yards hitting them with irons and such. I shoot only factory. Mostly bulk 55 grain.
Besides, with the cost of a QUALITY red dot, that's a whole other gun or a lot of ammo.
Just my opinion.

 

[thatmikeguy]

If I get the chance I'll give it a go with my red dot. My eyes aren't good enough for irons anymore otherwise I wouldn't have a red dot. Sad. I haven't tried 10 rounds yet. I did put 5 in to 2.5" last year. The OP's targets are impressive.

 

[redshooter]

Went out yesterday to see if I could improve things, and drew a few additional conclusions. 6" bulls don't cut it, I had a hell of a time resolving it. The other, I need to find some effective anti fog for my glasses. Also grabbed a pair of 1.75 readers, part of the problem with seeing the 6" bull, but I could see the sights like I was 20 again. At least 8" bulls for a target going forward though.

One last thing, don't look at the target after 5, I've done that a few times and it's made me , strong start, next 5, group's three times larger.

Regardless it was a successful day, shrunk the group by a whopping 0.025" for 3.302"

 

[njohnson]

Okay I’ll bite. If this is for black rifles only then this entry might be dis allowed: M1A that I picked up and needed some TLC ( still needs more it had a rough life) First target fired prone, with sling and iron sights last summer.



Photo of firing point set up



More recently I did some work on it including re bedding it into a new McM stock and fired again at 100 but from a rest:



If it’s gotta be a black rifle then I might get out today to try again with an AR, iron sights again and I will get proper photos of the firing point set up as used.



I had the AR out last week, with irons from a rest but not 10 shot groups, I fired 3 x 5 rounds first on zero, then dialed 3 MOA left and then right for the other 5 round groups. I’m 53 and the eyes are getting a little tired so I’m using a Bob Jones -5 lens in the rear aperture of both guns. Using 6 o’clock hold but going to try a centre hold and see if it’s better as the post is getting a little harder to focus on in overcast dark days we’re having.

I will re do this with the required 10 shot group as well, this was before I read this post.

 

[Daver_II]

Going to try this today.... mostly because I just built an M16 A4-ish Clone.

- Update.... Groups were nice, but due to a trigger issue, (not reseting properly) I didn't do the challenge.
I had to keep manually reseting the trigger, and got a few stoppages, so I didnt want to screw up groups.

I also neglected to bring my Canada ammo targets which would be a nice aiming point....

ll that to say is... new trigger, and I will try again.

 

[AlexisCreek]

In late middle age (putting it kindly) I mainly shoot aperture sights. I find it more satisfying. Proper target sights are very accurate and they don't care if you have myopia and astigmatism (as I do -- I have special glasses for shooting). It's easy to pick up a CIL/Anschutz 190 in 22LR, or a CG63 in 6.5.55, for well under $1K. They'll give you 1 moa at 100 meters, and potentially better. And yes to the stick shift analogy. As I said to my adult son last week, in 40 years you're going to be saying how glad you are that you came up in the last days of the manually operated, gasoline powered, naturally aspirated motor vehicle. He took his final drivers test in 20 year old, full frame, manual 4x4 SUV. They said they'd never seen that before, and pretty much passed him just for showing up in it. (My wife drives standard too, taught by her dad back in the day.)

 

[Junction]

I prefer to shoot handguns with iron sights.

But my rifles all have optics.

Amen!

 

[Dietz]

Yup

 

[redshooter]

Okay I’ll bite. If this is for black rifles only then this entry might be dis allowed: M1A that I picked up and needed some TLC ( still needs more it had a rough life) First target fired prone, with sling and iron sights last summer.

Outstanding shooting! I'm guessing you shoot Iron Sights a fair bit. I've shot a few 5 shot groups a little under, and a little over MOA. Just enough to give me a bug, and I thought I might see if I can drag a few along with me. It looks like you are shooting at a consistency I'm striving for. As for what can you shoot, since it's about the Iron Sights, anything, some guys only have an optic, I say let them play if they only have a Cooey with Irons. It's safe to say you are currently top shot.

 

[njohnson]

Thanks a lot. I’ve pretty much only shot irons most of my life, so I’m kind of stuck on it for as long as the old dude eyes will continue to allow. With a good gun you get pretty clear feedback and it makes calling bad shots easier as it’s always me the shooter who wrecks things!

Obviously both rifles are dedicated target rigs, but for me anyway that just ensures that I know every wide shot is on me.

And 5 shots groups always look better so your choice of 10 shot groups is a more realistic indicator of the gun/shooters true potential. Like that smaller 5 shot group on the right side I would be hard pressed to duplicate I just got lucky, and sure as heck firing another 5 would have opened it up. The other 2 groups at roughly 1-1.5 MOA are more representative of what the gun can produce when shot with open sights. Fire enough 5 shot groups and there is often one of those planets all aligned sort of results.

 

[redryder]

Thanks a lot. I’ve pretty much only shot irons most of my life, so I’m kind of stuck on it for as long as the old dude eyes will continue to allow. With a good gun you get pretty clear feedback and it makes calling bad shots easier as it’s always me the shooter who wrecks things!

Obviously both rifles are dedicated target rigs, but for me anyway that just ensures that I know every wide shot is on me.

And 5 shots groups always look better so your choice of 10 shot groups is a more realistic indicator of the gun/shooters true potential. Like that smaller 5 shot group on the right side I would be hard pressed to duplicate I just got lucky, and sure as heck firing another 5 would have opened it up. The other 2 groups at roughly 1-1.5 MOA are more representative of what the gun can produce when shot with open sights. Fire enough 5 shot groups and there is often one of those planets all aligned sort of results.

How about a little more info on that AR target type rifle?

 

[zupermann]

This is a great challenge !!
I learned stick shifting years ago,but haven't done it in years....would probably grind some gears nowadays.☺

I still shoot irons, especially if I have scope or mount issues--if the iron sight group is noticeably smaller than I know something is wrong with scope or mount.
(at my prime, my iron sight groups were just a tad worse than my optic sight groups).
Things still work this way at 100, but glasses have made it harder past this distance

I will try this challenge in future !

 

[njohnson]

How about a little more info on that AR target type rifle?

I’m not prone to being very practical, so in keeping with that I built a gun like an American across the course rifle because we shoot that style up here so much!

The upper is a flat top with a Compass Lake NM style hidden float tube, and a second hand White Oak Armament heavy barrel, Wylde chamber and 1-8”. I gutted the heat shields out of the KAC rails to fit over it. The front sight base has the set screws so it can be zeroed for windage and the carry handle has the dual pinned 1/4 min CLE rear sight with apertures that can be swapped out. With my old dude eyes I run a lens in the rear hooded aperture that helps get the front sight in focus a little easier and the front sight post is a stock .074”.

The lower is a Colt HBAR with a Gieselle trigger and one of those 3.5 lb lead slugs in the stock to balance out the barrel. The whole thing weighs like 15 lbs and recoil is akin to loud dry firing.

 

[redryder]

I’m not prone to being very practical, so in keeping with that I built a gun like an American across the course rifle because we shoot that style up here so much!

The upper is a flat top with a Compass Lake NM style hidden float tube, and a second hand White Oak Armament heavy barrel, Wylde chamber and 1-8”. I gutted the heat shields out of the KAC rails to fit over it. The front sight base has the set screws so it can be zeroed for windage and the carry handle has the dual pinned 1/4 min CLE rear sight with apertures that can be swapped out. With my old dude eyes I run a lens in the rear hooded aperture that helps get the front sight in focus a little easier and the front sight post is a stock .074”.

The lower is a Colt HBAR with a Gieselle trigger and one of those 3.5 lb lead slugs in the stock to balance out the barrel. The whole thing weighs like 15 lbs and recoil is akin to loud dry firing.

Sounds like a very cool rifle. If I lived anywhere that this cof was even thought about, I would be building one. Nice.

 

[C.308]

I regularly shoot my 8" plate @ 100m. Lately ive been shooting more rimfire @ 50m. i bring the plate and hang it at 50 to shoot when i want a break from .22/ shooting paper. When I shoot my VZ58. @ 50m i rarely miss. At 100m some days are better than others. When im "on" i can hit it fairly consistently. This is a good challenge i'd like to attempt on my next visit to the range. Conveniently, i was already planning on stretching my .22s to 100m next time anyway so ill be at the right set of benches.