How many of you prefer rifles with back up irons as well as optics?

I kinda didn't tell the whole truth before, now that I think about it............all my mediums and heavies from 375 up wear sights as well as glass.........never used them but never removed them either.
 
I love iron sights and yes not all my rifles have them, but I love things that work when nothing else will.
It might sound funny but it’s the same reason I like the pull start on my quad or reading a book. These ways usually work when other things fail.
I like old school things that may be a little more work to use but never the less they work. ( I might have an inner prepper in me )
 
I like the idea of back up irons but have yet to need them, my scoped no.4 has the peep sight accesable. I always bring enough ammo with me to re zero when out hunting if something happens and I drop it etc.
 
I will always choose a scope or even a red dot over iron sights. I've had a scope fail on a hunt but didn't know it until I shot it at an animal, saw where the bullet was hitting and corrected. Stopping, removing the scope and then going wiht irons woouldn't have worked anyways. The whole "iron sights in case your scope fails" thing is pretty moot as long as you use good optics. Many of my rifles and scopes have taken a real beating and I've never felt the need for "back up" irons.

If a rifle comes with actually GOOD irons, there isn't any reason to remove them. Like on my 375 Ruger, they are good iron sights. I've replaced lots of poor iron sights on rifles I choose to use irons on (like most lever rifles, thier sights suck)

Bottom line- If a rifle came with good irons, I won't take them off, but I sure won't add them to a rifle I intend to use with a scope.
 
My big bore rifles 458wm and 45/70 double wear back up irons. When I had a fixed 4x32 on my 458 I'd take it off when in really thick cover looking for a wounded bear. Now I have a 2-7x32 and at 2x I can still see the front bead thru the scope.
I also do backpack hunts. It's a nice feature to have on guns that are meant to be used at closer ranges.
I think they'd be pointless on my 300wm or 25/06 for instance
My eyes aren't that great and I find I'm scoping more and more of my guns

Some of My rimfires and my jrc wear both optics and irons as well

Often when I hunt I bring several or 5 rifles with me. Some stay in camp or the truck but its common for me to carry 2 rifles in the bush with me. I carry a closer range gun and pack a longer range gun on my back.
When your 12 hours from home and 3-4 hours from a gun shop its easier to be properly prepared. I can lend a scope off my rifle and still hunt.
Some guns look great with both scopes and irons others look downright bad
 
I've had 3 scopes fail. All 3 were vortex. All failed during sighting in not during a hunt.
I've had my rifle flip off my quad and yes I ran over it. The Bushnell legend ultra hd didn't loose zero. The scratches got buffed out and I replaced the cracked plastic stock after the hunt. It is still usable for the rest of the hunt though
 
emerson said:
Like many, I can't see irons like I could 25 years ago. I have passed on animals I couldn't see properly because I didn't have optics. As you approach 50, irons on a hunting rifle become a cool accessory, like a 20yr old girlfriend. Nice to look at, but mostly just in the way.
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If you're 50 and your 20 yo gf is just mostly in your way... you're doing it wrong lol
 
Being a scope shooter only, due to older eyes, I only have one rifle (Marlin lever with a Lyman peep sight) without a scope. This I will take to the range on occasion just because I can. Sitting still on the bench, and composing each shot carefully (and slowly), I can have them touching at 50 yards. This fall during deer season I decided on a whim to take said Marlin for the end of day watch only to discover that well before the end of legal light I could not see anything in the iron sights at all (even in ghost ring configuration). Thereafter I reverted to a scoped rifle for end of day watch and was quite surprised at how much longer/later things were easily seen in fading light through said scope. Having said this, and based on one's vision capabilities, I think it's an either/or thing for scope vs open sights. Both would be handy, with tip-off or QR rings in an emergency I imagine, but, as posted above, how often does such a situation arise?
 
I do have one rifle with iron sights, but I have hunted with scopes for over 40 years, and I have never had a scope fail in the field. I choose quality scopes, solid mounts, and I trust my scope.
 
IMHO, most people don't spend sufficient time afield with one rifle to appreciate the benefit of back-up sights. When I was carrying a rifle in excess of 200 days of the year, my opinion was that iron sights were essential, and I've broken scopes in nasty falls, or when I've inadvertently dropped the rifle. In real life it happens. But the rifle must be chosen with care if iron sights are going to be used effectively, because its uncommon to find a rifle that can be fired with equal ease with both irons and scopes. When I first got my custom Brno 602 in .375 Ultra, it wore the Brno factory stock, and it was a natural for shooting with iron sights. After that stock failed, I put it in a McMillan Express stock, and the shooting characteristics changed significantly. Due to the McMillan's higher comb, the rifle was a bit more intuitive to shoot with the scout scope, but with irons, it rattled the fillings in my teeth, and gave me a headache. It occurred to me that a second optic in QD rings was preferable to shooting with the irons, but I could do it if I had to. My .30/06 Brno ZG-47 has a comb that makes shooting with the NECG ghost ring and post seem very natural, but I almost have to balance the point of my chin on the comb in order to see through the scope, making a repeatable cheek weld challenging, and its certainly not as quick for snap shooting as it should be. Interestingly, today the .375 wears the NECG sights and the '06 a 6X Khales.
 
guntech said:
In 60 years of hunting I never have had an occasion where my scope failed. So for me iron sights on a hunting rifle are as useless as tits on a boar. I have removed them for the last 35 years...
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As I am the "same vintage" as guntech I have done the same..........I now dislike barrels cluttered up with irons......always snagging on inside of gun cases etc. Like guntech, I have never had a scope fail during 60 years of hunting.
 
I never could get my head around the idea of keeping irons on a rifle "in case the scope failed"
Never made sense to me, as the main instances I have seen over the years are in a wreck of some sort be it on a sled or horse, etc.
Then the scope is the least of your worries.


Cat
 
I find that scopes can be a hindrance in the tight sticks from an optics perspective and they catch branches more than irons. In those instances, 9 times out of 10, I pop the scope off the QD mount or I grab my back-up carbine with irons. My new love affair, a sweet Norwegian K98 in 30-06, hits everything I point it at within 75 metres.
 
guntech said:
In 60 years of hunting I never have had an occasion where my scope failed. So for me iron sights on a hunting rifle are as useless as tits on a boar. I have removed them for the last 35 years...
Click to expand...

I reflect this exactly. Never felt a need, since I have never had a scope "failure" in the field.
I do have one rifle with aperture sights, a Model 94 Winchester in 38-55. Eagleye.
 
Can't imagine owning a rifle without iron sights, just looks like something is missing, no about scope failure it just looks wrong to my eyes.

JJ
 
I had see through scope mounts on my 243 when it was the only rifle I owned and used regularly for black bear and deer and never once used the iron sights.
 
In my playground it varies from 'Must have glass' distances to tight *ssed 'fuggetaboutit' bush. I've 2 '98's with a Mauser SSR on them; that's the answer for me, if the bush gets tight...spin a thumbscrew and slide the glass off. I keep telling myself to sew up a nice leather case for optic protection whilst dismounted...Road to hell is paved with good intentions, lol
 
If there's a choice, I'll buy the gun with iron sights even if I intend to use a scope, and if I buy secondhand gun that was made with them but has lost them somewhere along the way, I'll try to get replacements to install. I have some guns that never had them and I live with just the scope. Though I'd like to have iron sights, too, it doesn't quite matter enough to get a gunsmith to install them and I'm not confident about doing drilling and tapping myself.
 
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