Iron sights .375HH

[Forrest Halley]

The flip up Ruger sights are useless. Tiny and not a care given to cheek weld and alignment. The express sights are much better. One could truly have a cottage industry making the exact height front and rear for each caliber. I like the Safari Express Winchester sights. I wish XS sights would make an express setup for the Ruger. With the dot and a rear sight like that a man would truly be ready for anything.

 

[WAB]

Verney's have that feature, I think most built doubles do these days, it is a real boon. Like with suits, the off-the-shelf doubles seem to be built to 'Mr Typical', and it pains me to say but I fit the mould. I am a gun shop addict and have hefted Chapuis, Verney's, Heyms and the sight picture is right on every time, just cheek weld and there it is. So I would say for me when the target is coming, or swinging, or running, i am really just pointing. I am shocked at how effective it seems to be.

You are shooting it like a shotgun on a tight quartering bird. Very effective if the stock fits you. With a properly fit stock your eye can be the rear sight. Honestly, in shotgunning, even the front bead is superfluous. Some of the best shots in history have proven this time and again.

 

[Alistair]

My .375 has irons sights and a true 1x bottom end scope with a red dot.

I practice with both regularly. I shoot better with the scope both in speed and accuracy. Nice to have a back up in case the scope gets damaged though.

If the stock is set up for a scope (most are) it'll mount perfectly with a low power, low mounted optic. I can use mine like a shotgun, both eyes open and just cover the target with the dot and bang. No front/rear sight picture to align, nothing blocking the view of the target, just a dot floating in your field of view on whatever needs to be dead.

Works for me.

Al.

 

[Bonk]

I don't have express sights on my 375H&H because I have dreams of following up on DG. I have them so I can hone my shooting skills by shooting without a scope. When I hunt I use scopes because I want to give myself the best chance to humanely kill game but I practice with iron sights. I do that with all my rifles that have iron sights and given the option I'll always buy a rifle with sights over one without. Big or small caliber.

I shoot an iron sighted rifle almost every day. Some have regular iron sights, some have express sights and some have aperture sights. I shoot offhand and usually at distances over 100 yards. Sometimes I use sticks because I plan to hunt Africa some day and I guess in Africa that's how it's done. When in Rome....

I challenge my fellow hunters to be proficient with iron sights at reasonable game distances because if you're even moderately proficient with iron sights shooting with a scope is a piece of cake and if you ever do have to remove your scope to follow up in close cover or because of a scope malfunction you won't miss a beat. YMMV

 

[BigSteve57]

My .375 H&H rifle came with iron sights and my eyes could deal OK with them when I got it.
The front and rear sights are fixed and zeroed at about 100 yards.

However, I can't focus on the irons anymore without specialized glasses that focus on distance for my left eye and on the front sights with my right (shooting) eye.
The irons are there in case the scope craps out but without those corrective lenses the irons are useless to me.
This is how I have to shoot a handgun that has iron sights, btw.

With that said, I *DO* take those glasses with me on hunts and it gives me some peace of mind.

 

[Longwalker]

For my aging eyes, a ghost ring rear is far better than a barrel mounted rear sight. I like the ones made by Recknagel and sold by NECG in the USA. I have them on several rifles. But one exception is the factory sights on my Sako Kodiak .375. Its wide vee with vertical line matched with a dish faced large diameter white front sight has been good, at least in practise sessions. The concave shape of the front "bead" is far better at giving a precise sight picture with no reflected highlights compared to a convex bead but still is easily visible. It is more rugged than a fibre optic front bead. I enhanced mine with fluorescent yellow paint. The combination is quick to use, highly visible, and precise enough to be useful at all iron sight ranges.

 

[Nhoro]

I recently picked up a sako 75 .375HH, the rifle doesn’t have iron sights, I do intend on hunting buffalo with the rifle, I have a 1-6x24 scope with QD mounts. I understand the advantage of Iron sights in thick bush where a close encounters is possible. My question before I send the rifle off to have express style iron sights installed.do any of you actually remove your scope before heading into the thick stuff? If a scope has a 1 power and red dot isn’t easier to line up a target with scope than iron sights? I was looking to get some real world advice, I am not sure if this question has come up before.

I only use iron sights on my DG rifle because I carry it for guiding/kids camps etc. In that situation, I will not be called upon for shots further than around 10 m (that is where Zim National Parks reckon lives are in imminent danger). With that in mind, I have had a 3 mm brass front bead fitted in place of the 2mm steel sight with a vaguely whiteish dot that came from CZ. Shooting with both eyes open, the brass bead is easier to see and if the gun comes to my eye slightly awkwardly, it is easier to centre. That said, I am more accurate with a scope as is everyone else.The big bead is not very good beyond about 50m-it works but there is some estimation involved. So what we are really talking about is speed and also situational awareness. A scope with one eye shut really narrows down your field of view. So try your scope on 1x with both eyes open and see if it works for you. Both eyes open allows you to judge distance and also pick up the target as well as reading the animals behaviour. Remember the whole elephant is grey (buffalo is all one color too) and finding reference points ie ears/ear holes- is pretty hard with a narrow field of view. My personal favorite is a Trijicon RMR with the optic fibre/tritium for under 100m and I will probably fit one of those when I can afford it. Leupold/vortex etc do similar sights with batteries. A true 1 x scope is pretty close. Express sights are also pretty close but only if you practice with them. I would go to your local gun range. Guys are usually friendly and will let you look through scopes/red dot sights/ express/peep sights sights and often let you take a shot or two. What I like most about express sites and the RMR type sights is that you don't have a lot of stuff in front of you. Both eyes are open and you know what is going on in front of you.

So to summarise- If I were you, I would put iron sights on with a quick detach mount on the scope and practice with open sights OR get an RMR with the triangle reticle and you should be good to about 150-200 m- maybe even add the iron sights to that.