Making my way to irons

[Pheroze]

I have decided that 2024 will be the year of open sights for me. I have very limited experience with them, and none while hunting. So, this is the start of a journey.

I will see how comfortable I get at the range before heading to the field. However, I am inspired by articles like the one below. And, I find carrying my rifle without a scope is a joy. My 308 Norma Mag has a pop-up peep. For hunting up north I don't get many really long shots anyway. And, getting familiar with irons will allow me to get the most out of the express sights on my 400 H&H.

Precision With A Peep: Using an Aperture Sight - A Tale of Two Thirties

It is universally believed that you must use a good telescopic sight when you want to get the most in accuracy from your rifle. Precision shooting from the bench requires the minimization of aiming error, which will make differences in group sizes due only to differences in the load or the gun...

ataleoftwothirties.com

I would be interested to hear from folks about how they practice with open sights and how successful hunting is.

 

[Randy F]

Last year was my year to do the same. Loved it. Sort of bought me back down to earth so-to-speak.

1936 Winchester 71 in this pic. Also have a Savage 99 with a peep that's a hoot to hunt with. My eyes aren't what they used to be, but they're still good enough.

 

[Boyd Brooks]

Started my hunting career with a Cooey Ace 22 single shot with open sites, got good enough to do head shots on rabbits and partridge.

Still have this rifle today.
Shot police pistol for a few years as well which really helped get a good site picture with iron sights. Still shoot my 44 Ruger carbine with a rear peep site as seen in the ugly and bubba rifle thread. However approaching 60 my arms are getting to short to read, so a scoped rifle brings a little more clarity to the hunt than iron sites.

 

[Scanos]

I grew up shooting with irons. I was trained in the military to shoot irons. I would recommend shooting a .22 with irons on a regular basis to practice. Then transition to practicing with your hunting rifles. But you will have limitations while hunting. Target identification is going to be more difficult with irons and you have to understand your range limitations. Heavy cover can make identifying an animals vitals to establish aiming point very difficult or impossible which can cause you to have to pass up shots. However I find hunting with irons more rewarding than using a scope. I dropped the Eland below at 107 yards with one shot from my .500 NE double with irons.

 

[IvW]

Start with a rear ghost ring sight....not a peep sight or 140 shallow v.....a ghost ring with minimum 6mm diameter preferably 8mm....fitted as far back(close to the eye as possible) use with both eyes open when sighting in....fastest open sight availible...

 

[deewayne2003]

As IvW said - get the rear sight as close to your eye as possible.

Switching this 30-30 from standard rear V sight to Williams peep sight greatly increased the sight radius and thus accuracy and greatly increased target acquisition.

Removing the screw in aperture of the sight makes it a ghost ring.

 

[IvW]

That is the way to go.....
Peep sights are for long range target shooting not hunting with open sites.

 

[BeeMaa]

I used iron sights to qualify “expert” with a rifle in the Navy about a million years ago. I say a million because that’s how my eyes feel about it…as I type this through a set of reading glasses. The age of your eyes will make a big difference.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found magnified optics much more effective and easy to use. Where they are not practical, I’ve started to substitute a red dot over pure irons with good success.

That’s not to say that you can’t (or shouldn’t try) to get good with iron sights, but make sure you have realistic expectations.

I know a red dot messes up the lines on a beautiful traditional rifle, but I’d choose messed up lines with game in the salt over a pretty rifle and tracking for days.

Best of luck to you sir.

 

[IvW]

I used iron sights to qualify “expert” with a rifle in the Navy about a million years ago. I say a million because that’s how my eyes feel about it…as I type this through a set of reading glasses. The age of your eyes will make a big difference.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found magnified optics much more effective and easy to use. Where they are not practical, I’ve started to substitute a red dot over pure irons with good success.

That’s not to say that you can’t (or shouldn’t try) to get good with iron sights, but make sure you have realistic expectations.

I know a red dot messes up the lines on a beautiful traditional rifle, but I’d choose messed up lines with game in the salt over a pretty rifle and tracking for days.

Best of luck to you sir.

Try a proper ghost ring site.....your eye (keeping both open) auto centres the front sight so you put the front sight dot where it needs to go and bang.....done

Red dots work but I fail to understand why most use certain makes but aimpoint is hardly mentioned......best red dot sight using same principle....both eyes open red dot on target bang flop done.....

 

[Pheroze]

That is the way to go.....
Peep sights are for long range target shooting not hunting with open sites.

I have the peep on the Brno ZKK. Is that not as good as an aftermarket ghost ring?

 

[IvW]

I have the peep on the Brno ZKK. Is that not as good as an aftermarket ghost ring?

Nope position is great but you need to drill the hole bigger.....

 

[IvW]

The idea with a ghost ring is that you dont see the outer ring but your eye automatically centres the front bead....

 

[IvW]

Check and you will see there is space to do this.....the closer to the eye the smaller the apperture can be for the same effect.

 

[Pheroze]

Check and you will see there is space to do this.....the closer to the eye the smaller the apperture can be for the same effect.

Thanks

 

[BeeMaa]

I have the peep on the Brno ZKK. Is that not as good as an aftermarket ghost ring?

The small aperture precludes a proper sight picture for everything but target shooting. Being able to see the game and the front sight centered in the rear aperture (ghost ring in this case) sight is the goal.

Try a proper ghost ring site.....your eye (keeping both open) auto centres the front sight so you put the front sight dot where it needs to go and bang.....done

Red dots work but I fail to understand why most use certain makes but aimpoint is hardly mentioned......best red dot sight using same principle....both eyes open red dot on target bang flop done.....

Using a red dot only requires the "dot" to be where you want the bullet to go without having to line up the game, front sight and rear ghost ring sight. I understand where you are coming from but most people don't have a rifle that fits properly to allow sight alignment (like using a shotgun) or lack the discipline to practice this regularly. And it takes practice, a lot of it to get proficient.

With a red dot, the learning curve is much quicker, taking a poor shooter and making them at least capable if not better in just a couple of range sessions.

I'll concede the old school that "irons never fail" but red dots have come a long way in the last 5-10 years. I trust my life (and the life of my family) to one and I know several other who do the same.

EDIT - I'm using an AimPoint T2. And looking at a Trijicon RMR-HD for my carry pistol.

 

[IvW]

The Brno ZKK system with pop up peep site has the best platform for a DG rifle.guide or ph rifle....
1. Fit a qd scope or aimpoint.
2. Replace the fixed rear site with a flip up one(it gets in the way of the peep).
3. Have a ghost ring with qd to mount on rear receiver.
4. Use the pop up peep site drilled out to bigger size.

This gives you....
Failure on redot or aimpoint.....
Ghost ring with qd mount...
Pop up peep modified to ghost ring....
Flip up rear sight...

Last resort is front bead.....

So you have 4 rear sight options and if you add a spare front sight you should be fine....

Obviously not needed for a visting hunter but for a guide or ph many fallbacks....

 

[sgt_zim]

I have a NECG ghost ring I'm bringing as a backup for my scope when I go to RSA in August. The problem is the front sight on my 9.3 is black. Anybody have any hi-viz paint recommendations I can put on the front sight?

Also, hood or no hood on the front sight? My rifle came with one, but I took it off.

 

[Boyd Brooks]

I have a NECG ghost ring I'm bringing as a backup for my scope when I go to RSA in August. The problem is the front sight on my 9.3 is black. Anybody have any hi-viz paint recommendations I can put on the front sight?

Also, hood or no hood on the front sight? My rifle came with one, but I took it off.

White nail polish is a good temporary fix.

 

[IvW]

No hood...

 

[Shootist43]

sgt_zim, I believe NECG offers front sights in different colors. Also check out Brownells. I purchased a green fiber optic front sight from them for use on a lever gun. Talk to someone in their "Tech" Dept.