I've never paid a lot of attention to the iron sights on most of my rifles, since I rely on scopes for the most part to hunt hogs in low light. Deer hunting, lately, has been a lot more with a revolver than rifles.

Lately I've decided to go ahead and check the zero for the iron sights on most of them - never hurts to have backup.

I'd like to hear how people sight them in, sight picture, zero range, etc.

Basically my centerfire rifles with iron sights fall into two classes of cartridges, 'high velocity' (relatively speaking) that I'd ordinarily zero to 200 yards if a scope was used (6.5x55, .250 Savage, 8mm Mauser with spitzer bullets, .30-06) or 'low velocity' that I'd normally zero to 150 yards or so if a scope was used (8mm Mauser with 'slow' factory ammo, .35 Rem, .45 Colt, .458 Win).

The 8mm mauser is in the list twice because I have a Yugo 48A that'll take any modern load, and a 1895 Turk (not 1898) that's going to stay with U.S. factory loads that are normally about 2,100-2,200fps.

There are several types of sights on these guns. On my Swede, it's the 'usual' patridge-type sight, with a square front post and a rear notch with vertical sides. I shoot this pretty well, probably because I'm used to that sight picture for handguns.

One of the mausers (the turk) has the v-notch rear and inverted-v front. Surprisingly, I can shoot it fairly well, in good light, if I paint the front sight black with a marker. Still, I'm probably going to change that to a square front post and file out the v-notch rear to straight sides.

Several rifles have buckhorn rear sights or some slight variation, with a round front bead. I basically can't hit crap with that combination.

Two rifles have peeps on the rear and round front beads. That's somewhat better for me than the buckhorns... most people say that a peep sight is most accurate but I really do better with the Swede. Maybe I'd do better with a square front post, honestly don't know.

My .458 has a fixed rear v-notch that's pretty wide, and several fold-up leaves. Honestly, I'm probably NOT going to mess with it much.... bench testing isn't fun! Maybe shoot it once at 25 yards, off-hand, to see if I could hit a paper plate. It's very accurate with a scope, though.

So.... what say ye, gentlemen? Do you prefer a round front bead, or square? Would that answer depend on the rear sight configuration or not? How do you sight the guns in? My swede, remarkably, will put a couple of different loads in a 6" bull at 100 yards with a 6 o'clock hold, just as it came. I'm thinking that's not a bad general sight-in range and sight picture for hunting. What size target do you use to sight in, and have you checked to see where the bullets land at shorter and longer ranges once the gun is sighted in?

I believe that if I'm going to shoot pigs with open sights, I'll have to use a 6 o'clock hold, because they're normally a dark colored animal, and I don't think I could pick out the front sight against that.

I saw a guy at the range today with one of the 'mojo' sights. It looks pretty good although I didn't have a chance to shoot it. By the way, almost every gun in the list above is something I bought for $200 or less.... 2 for less than $100 each..... some of them have been through wars, literally.... I have no qualms about modifying them in any fashion.

If I were to mess around with open sights on any of my rifles, think I'd visit the Hi-Viz, Star Dot, Tru-Glo or whatever high visibility sights they make these days. My T/C Blackdiamond muzzle stuffer came with them and I was really impressed on how well they could be picked up with the contrasts provided. My old eyes don't take kindly to open sights anymore, so all my rifles sport scopes with no thought to secondary sighting systems. Even as well as the T/C sights seemed to work, the in-line got a scope too!

Hello MikeG,

I have several of the Yugo Mausers which I am sighting in. Usually I have found them to shoot very high at 100 yards with the sights they come with. LOW 6 o'clock hold. So I am in the process of trying to improve these sights.
How does your M48A shoot? I have only found one Yugo that shoots well with the sights that came on it, but they are hard to see in low light.
I have used the "mojo" sights and they seem to work well. It is a double ring setup that allows you to look directly at the target. No front post to get in the way. I also have put a Williams peep sight on the receiver of another Yugo and plan to check it out Sunday.
On my Yugo's there is a front sight hood. I like to have my target just above the post and under the hood. On my other open sight rifles and hand guns, I like the optic fiber sights that have the three balls that you line up. Green - Red - Green. The Red ball stays at or just below the target. Good in low light.

i believe the HiViz front coupled with a peep rear would be almost ideal for hunting, but i'm not sure how many options are available for a peep rear that would not interfer with the scope used as primary system.

monty

Mike,
I used the standard bead and u-slot sight on my Rem 870 slug barrel for every deer I shot until age 27. I've also practiced a lot with a 30-30 with a peep rear and bead front sight. The biggest thing I've learned from them is to sight in on a cardboard deer cutout, because if I sight in on a bullseye (with six o'clock hold, like I was taught) I invariably shoot high on game. I just can't bring myself to hold that bead down low off the animal.

For target shooting with the .223, I've been using a post sight I made from a Remington bead front sight. I filed the sides and top flat, and squared the face of it, then painted it with model paint - I have a reputation for being cheap (I mean frugal!). I've attached a picture of this sight. From a bench, in good light, I can group about an inch with this sight if I use a black bullseye and six o'clock hold witha small aperture rear sight.

Mostly, I've found in recent years that I don't much care for open sights in the field. Maybe I'm spoiled by the scope - certainly the eyes aren't as good as they once were - but I consider them now as back-up only. I carried the 30-30 a lot a couple of years ago, and I had several instances where there was plenty of light to see by, but not enough to see the sights. And this happened well before the end of legal shooting light. I was also dissapointed that, with a reasonably large rear aperture, I don't shoot any better with a peep than with open sights. By the time I get the rear aperture small enough to shoot well, I need perfect light to see through it! And then only with the modified front sight! The only advandage of the peep for me is seeing more of the target.

Well, that's all from me. Here's a couple pics of the filed front sight...

Interesting, thanks a bunch for the replies. Sighting in on a deer silhouette is probably a real good idea!

I like the idea of the hi-viz front sight - a LOT! I guess this is sort of along the lines of the Ashley system with a white circle around the rear ring and a white stripe up the front post.

Not all of these guns have scopes. The mausers may never. The Marlins, you can trim back the scope base a bit and put a Williams peep on it, no problem, just like Marshall did in his .444 articles. On those guns, I may try the hi-viz front sight.

One of the rifles, an old Savage 110, doesn't have any rear sight, but I believe that the back of the receiver is drilled & tapped for one. Will have to figure out which one, if any, will fit and whether it can us a scope without removing the bead, al la the Marlins.

May just try some different colored paint on some of the front beads and see what that does.

Thanks for the ideas. Now I just need to figure out what sort of sight-in and trajectory will work best.

Here's one of the Marlins with a peep mounted under the scope. Not a lot of detail in this picture but it works pretty slick.

336 / .35 Rem

Like your choice of scope, mike!

Can't hit what you can't see... LOL.... sometimes people forget that.

I've got a 2x7 on it now, after I discovered it was pretty accurate, for the occasional brain-ectomy on a pig at long range.

Keep some rifles iron sighted...some apature sighted...and some scope sighted. Iron just fits some uses better than the others, and if you've a good set of iron, can be a good choice for short range hunting. Not quite rocket science, but no too far off... they have to be is easy to pick up fast, bold and well defined, and offer a repeatable sight picture. Not an easy combination, and one that tends to change with eyesight over time.

Can't shoot the "v" rear and barley corn front worth a rat's rump...can't keep it consistant and end up with a vertical string. Bead sights really do shoot away from side lights...eye finds the bright part of the bead (the side towards the light sourse) and centers that, so the shot goes wide. Flat faced bead is better..and if you have to, a needle file will flatten an existing bead just fine.

This is ugly...but if I'm going in the deep dark close cover areas, will simply paint the front sight with white-out...it's dead flat white and easily removable....and if need be, paint a triangle of white just under the rear notch oif the rear sight. (Not to hard to do...mask it off with tape, fill in triangle, peel tape). IF you don't like white, try the canary yellow.

If the target is going to be popping up at 10-30FEET, big bold iron works fine.

I have a Marlin with a Williams peep, one without, a Win with iron sights and a bolt with iron that I took the scope off of.

The Marlin with the peep is my favorite set-up, bead center of apperture, cheek locked, bead on target, apperture fades to nothing. If you understand the visual I am trying to give you - that is what works best for me for open sights. THe best iron I have, is the newer Marlin semi-buckhorn. THe 40 year old Win iron sights are terrible, usable at the range, but too slow with difficult aquisition. The bolt has good leaf sights, but I would not want to limit the rifle to my eyesight. The scope will go back on.

When I get a new levergun the first thing I do is to take a file to the sights. I remove the bead from the front leaving a flat top post. Then I remove the 'ears' from the semi-buckhorn rear leaving it, too, flattoped and I file the 'V' until I have a neat parallel sided 'U', in effect a patridge style just like on my handguns. My old eyes just won't balance that ball on that 'V' anymore.

Hi fellers..For those cheapskates out there ,like me, I found something ,years before Hi-Viz etc, that has given me back the fun I used to have shooting w/out scopes. Yes, it's a colored paint, but you never saw fingernail polish like this. Wal-Mart, in the craft section, has many types of paints. They have Fluorescent colors that are outstanding. They dont dry brittle, are easy to apply and are surprisingly tuff. Nearly as tuff as nail polish. Now realize, this is for hunting, not bullseye. When a buck kicks mud in your face getting out of there, you want those sights to respond. I also use this stuff on my action pistol guns. I just cant afford Hi-tek hardware, and this paint satisfies. Question; Where is 6 o'clock on a deer?

When shooting police competition pistol matches, I used to paint my sights with flat yellow modeler's paint. Matter of fact, my Mod 66 sights still has the paint on them after all these years. This is the early model that is all stainless, even the sights. I could pick up the targets much faster with the contrast. 'Course, my eyes were about 30 years younger, too! :D