Winchester 94 Top Eject

Just a question for those of you,myself included,with vision not quite as good as it it once was.Do you still hunt with the original irons or change them out to a different type of sight or go with those kinda odd looking side mounts for a scope? Looking for alternative suggestions to make my 94 set up a little better as a deer gun for some of the longer shots or should I just get another rifle that is already factory set up for a top mount
 
Peep sight is the way to go. You can remove the eye piece and have a ghost ring that is super fast and accurate when shooting gets fast and close in the dirty stuff. Look through the rear sight, (that is why they are called peep sights) put your front sight on target and you are good to go.
 
The peep sight, if your eyes are not too bad, really helps, as the aperture close to your eye, improves your vision, making seeing the front sight easier.
It's also faster than the standard sight, and the longer sighting plane of the receiver mounted sight makes accuracy better.

This is not true of so called aperture sights that mount in the original sight location on the barrel. They are too far ahead to have the desired improvement to your vision, and have the original short sighting plane. IMO they are little better than the old buckhorn sight arrangement.

For a top eject, (I hate scopes on levers they destroy the aesthetics, and ruin the fast handling characteristics IMO) there are two options. One, as you already pointed out, is the side mount.
The other, is the scout mount scope. This places a long eye relief scope out on the barrel ahead of the receiver. I've never used one, however I've held one. The long eye relief makes for fast target acquisition.

Another option is the Bushnell Holosight type rear sight, or the aimpoint type.
Both require batteries of course, and have issues in bright sunlight, however, they are about as fast as you can get.
 
I like factory irons and personally would never put on a peep sight, I simply do not like them.

We recently purchased a 94 that came with sidemount and rings. I put a scope on it and surprisingly it's very simple to use either the scope, or the iron sights. It looks like heck, but seems to work well.
 
I'm not sure if I should bring this up, but I guess every bit of information helps right. I was looking at the new model 94's, you know, the ones for $1000+:eek:
and they are pre-drilled and taped for scope mounting on the top of the receiver. Now, I'm not even sure if Winchester has bases yet, as I have not been
able to find any on their website, but the ability to top mount a scope on the new 94's would seem to be their intention. As these rifles are new as of 2010/2011,
it will probably be a while before after market accessories, like ghost ring sets, are readily available for the new Winchesters, but eventually these things should
make it into the marketplace. At least I hope so, since I've started to take an interest in the new Winchester lever action products.
 
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Actually, couldn't you mount a scope on the top of the AE 94's? I've never owned one so I don't know. - dan
On the AE yes, but on a top eject the scope will block the spent shell and wont clear the ejection port properly.Another problem is getting access to the hammer with the rear of the scope practically resting on top of it.So far the peep sight might seem like the best option.Thanks for the suggestions and if you have any more ideas keep them coming.:)
 
I tried a sidemount scope and HATED it! It was horridly awkward. I went back to a peep sight and if I ever really needed a scope on a top-eject Winchester, the scout system is how I would go.
A tang peep is great too; it increases the sighting plane from about 16 inches to about 26 inches.
 
Actually, couldn't you mount a scope on the top of the AE 94's? I've never owned one so I don't know. - dan
Yes, the late model '94's had a notch in the side of the receiver, and changed the ejection to an angle allowing a low scope mount over the receiver.

Angle eject pic:
MVC-016F.jpg






Standard receiver
006_edited-2.jpg_thumbnail1.jpg







Side mount on a '92 Winchester (Ok, it might be a Browning)
B-SquareView1-1.jpg




standard pic with scout mount

Win94.jpg





A model 64 with scout mounts, and receiver sight

Model_64_resized.jpg
 
Yeah, they do look sort of ugly with a scope.It also seems to be like quite a long and uncomfortable stretch to the eyepiece though. Maybe I should just consider getting laser eye surgery to correct my vision.:)



Win94.jpg
Not a long stretch to the eye piece at all, the scope has a long eye relief like a pistol scope,(it's designed to be that far from your eye) you look through it from the standard check weld position.
 
Short range guns and long range sights are not for me.
I have 2 30 30's and a 1909 vintage octogon 32 special with an original tang peep. I prefer the tang peep.
Pete
 
I have all bases covered with a 94 top eject wearing Williams peed, a 94 top eject with a side mount scope, and a Ranger AE with the scope mounted on top of the receiver (and a hammer extension). I find the side mount scope throws everything out of whack and needs a substantial cheek pad to take up the offset for proper handling. The AE, however, in it's standard scoped configuration, is like any other scoped gun. The peep sight offers by far the quickest target acquisition of the three arrangements and is very easy to shoot well with. Same problem here with the old eyes. :)
 
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