Iron Sights - worth their weight?

many (most?) factory supplied iron sights are pretty crappy and hardly even worth having. Good iron sights can be great though.

I wouldn't put irons on a bolt action hunting rifle, but if they come with them and they are good, I will leave them on. (Like the sights on my 375 Ruger) I'll replace the crappy "buckhorn" iron sights on a lever rifle or other rifle that works best with irons with a peep sight, and get rid of the poor notch sights.

I've been on lots of remote hunts with rifles without iron sights, never had a scope go kaput on me so I would have wanted iron backups, but I wouldn't go on such a hunt without a quality scope anyway. The one time I had an issue was about 1995 when a horse rolled on my bushnell scope and knocked it out of zero, but a rezero fixed that, so irons wouldn't have mattered. And I stopped using Bushnells :)
 
does anyone know who carries this type of sights in Canada ? I imagine these are to be silver soldered onto the barrel.
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9.3mauser said:
...In heavy rain or snow it can be a pain trying to keep the glass clear...
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sharp shooter said:
...if its raining like hell all week I can take my scope off and hunt without any optic issues.
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Bushnell has a solution to this problem -

"RainGuard HD is a patented, permanent, hydrophobic, oleophobic lens coating that causes moisture from rain, snow, sleet and your breath to instantly bead-up into smaller droplets and scatter..."

http://bushnell.com/rainguard
 
A rifle with peeps sight is lot better handling
Yes I have had scope fail on me
rain and snow cost me a shot way to many times I guess if your in a pickup you don't need to worry about things like that
 
I have a Marlin 30-30 and a rifled barrel 870 with fibre optic iron sights. Love them for in the woods. Hunted deer for years in shotgun only area and always used irons. The others have 1-4, 1.5-5 scopes.
 
Buckmastr said:
How many guys have had complete scope damage or failure on a hunt and have had the hunt saved by iron sights?
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Never have and don't see it as likely. If I think there's a risk of this happening I would take a rifle with QD mounts like a Ruger and pack a spare scope in rings already sighted in. Or just run back to the truck and get my spare rifle. ;)

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Ruger No.1-S 9.3x74R with Leupold VX-3 1.5-5x20mm scope
 
Sights are also useful in thicker parts of the woods where it might be more difficult to get a good sight picture though the scope. Really depends on where you hunt. I think it is better to have the option and not need than need and not have.
 
Dmitri said:
Sights are also useful in thicker parts of the woods where it might be more difficult to get a good sight picture though the scope. Really depends on where you hunt. I think it is better to have the option and not need than need and not have.
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If I was hunting open farm land I would want a scope
Hunting for fur a scope is nice to have but in the bush it all Iron sights
 
Worth their weight? It weights what, 1 oz? It makes carrying a rifle easier since normally the center of balance is on the receiver and you can't wrap your hand around a scoped receiver. I love a good peep sights but can't stand V notch sight. Buckhorn are fine not semi-buckhorn tho.
 
Gatehouse said:
. The one time I had an issue was about 1995 when a horse rolled on my bushnell scope and knocked it out of zero, but a rezero fixed that, so irons wouldn't have mattered. And I stopped using Bushnells :)
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And thats your reason not to use a brand of scope. A 1000lb animal rolled on it and it F^%$ed it's zero. Im thinking if it was any scope you got away lucky
 
Irons are useful..... quite simply put, it's an easy way to make sure you can continue your hunt if your scope soils the sheets......

The weight is very nominal, and they should be practiced with and accurized prior to going afield.....
 
I have a Skinner sight with an NECG barrel band that I put on a Tikka in 338, I have a Henry 45/70 with XS sights, a Brno 9.3x62 with both the standard sights and a NECG peep that mounts on the ring base, I also have the low style XS peep that clamps on a Weaver base, I am trying to decide what rifle will have the last one as an option. I am good to at least hundred yards with a peep, I enjoy shooting with a peep.
 
Few of my scope mounted rifles have irons, with muzzleloaders and DGRs coming to mind. I go as far as sighting in the irons in the unlikely event they will be needed, cheap insurance for expensive hunts.

I've yet to have a scope failure ruin a hunt; but some of those unused irons have been damaged. A front sight cover torn off and lost, a front sight that had one screw fall out and the sight flopping around on the hidden screw, and at least two rear sights broken. A couple beads broken off shotguns too. That's just the ones I remember.

It sort of makes you wonder which is tougher than which.
 
Years ago when we had real winters I ran into conditions in the field in which scopes gathered a glop of snow, ice or freezing rain at the most inconvenient times. Having learned to shoot during the mezolithic period with peep sights I made sure I had one as a backup on anything with a glass. My 7X57 Ackley wears a 1.5 to 5 Leupold which has never let me down, but it also has an old Redfield steel peep screwed to the side. Before the scope was mounted I sighted the peep in, set the depth screw in place with a dot of Locktite, then used the quick release button to slip the slide out. That goes with me in a pocket so that if the scope is damaged or goes on strike during a hunt it's easy and quick to pull the glass off and slip the slide back where it lives, assured that it will be sighted. I'd love to find a couple more of those ancient Redfields with the convenience of that magic quick release button but they're as scarce as honest politicians.
My Martini .22 K hornet is fine with it's orig. BSA tang peep and I've never really missed a glass on that, or on my short range .44 Marlin carbine. That has an old Lyman 56 which works very well out to any range appropriate for the .44. Open sights are beyond me at 68, but peeps work well for me, and scopes just don't seem right on some shooters. Tried a glass on the Marlin for a while, but it really wasn't needed at dense bush ranges and it make that slick little utility carbine a tad less handy.
I like good scopes, but being a belt-and-braces kind of guy I'd hate to have a hunt ruined by a sudden fall or other form of damage. It's not much trouble mounting a peep, and worth the effort.
 
c.t.smith said:
And thats your reason not to use a brand of scope. A 1000lb animal rolled on it and it F^%$ed it's zero. Im thinking if it was any scope you got away lucky
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The :) generally indicates someone is making a bit of a joke.

But I've had other scopes take more of a beating, and have actual physical damage to the scope without losing their zero, so maybe my idea has some merit. ;)

Ultimately it was my own fault, as I know very well not to leave a rifle in a scabbard in an unattended horse, but the excuse was we were stopping for "just a moment" and I was negligent.
 
Gatehouse said:
The :) generally indicates someone is making a bit of a joke.

But I've had other scopes take more of a beating, and have actual physical damage to the scope without losing their zero, so maybe my idea has some merit. ;)

Ultimately it was my own fault, as I know very well not to leave a rifle in a scabbard in an unattended horse, but the excuse was we were stopping for "just a moment" and I was negligent.
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Ha yea NEVER say Never with horses they will prove you wrong every time :)
 
Buckmastr said:
Most of my rifles that came with iron sights have had them removed. I cannot think of use for them in a hunting situation where a low powered scope is an alternative. Guys running these quick detach rings- have you had to detach and continue hunting with irons?

Are irons even worth installing on a custom rifle build?
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I use express sights on my custom built hunting gun, and have QD mounts for my scope as well if I have a shot over 200 meters.
The scope stays in my packsack unless I need it.
I have changed the scope and irons back and forth while testing POI changes and never had a problem with it.

Cat
 
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If I can find sumone to put peep sight on my Kimber adirondack
the Kimber 308 with peep sight would be the perfect hunting rifle
 
I like to have them and hotycannon is right, if a gun has them try them, know how that gun shoots with iron sights. I haven't bothered installing any on guns that didn't come from the factory with them, but when I get a used gun, if a previous owner removed the iron sights, I'll put them back on. Weight isn't an issue for me.
 
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