Open sights on new rifles

[Andrew62]

Just my personal choice, my 9.3x74R and 450-400 do, all of my other rifles do not. In fact I had 4" of the barrel taken off of my Kimber Talkeetna, .375H&H, making it a 20" barrel. Must easier to maneuver in tight places.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

With the advent and popularity of scopes manufacturers cut out iron sights for cost savings and people still bought them.
I won’t buy one. I think they look unfinished without sights. I’ve had some argue that no sights make for a more accurate rifle but I have never found any evidence to support that in my personal experience.
I always sight in the irons before mounting QD scopes. If shooting irons with no scope I prefer a peep due to my need for reading glasses.

Open sights on any of the fast magnums or high speed .22s (think .22-250) just look like useless bling to me. I agree that when iron sights are needed, a peep is way faster and more accurate. I now have my grandfather's (over a hundred years old) and an uncle's (around 70 years old) .30-30s. The men weren't related but they both had tang sights installed for speed and accuracy. I also have my dad's Marlin .22 from around 1935 also with the tang peep. It's just what all of the old timers did around here back in the day as they considered open sights to be kind of "crude." I still use the .22 and have a peep on my muzzle loader. If I could figure a good way to replace the open rear sight with a peep on my .458 and keep the scope mount I'd probably do that too.

 

[Vintageguy]

Open sights on any of the fast magnums or high speed .22s (think .22-250) just look like useless bling to me. I agree that when iron sights are needed, a peep is way faster and more accurate. I now have my grandfather's (over a hundred years old) and an uncle's (around 70 years old) .30-30s. The men weren't related but they both had tang sights installed for speed and accuracy. I also have my dad's Marlin .22 from around 1935 also with the tang peep. It's just what all of the old timers did around here back in the day as they considered open sights to be kind of "crude." I still use the .22 and have a peep on my muzzle loader. If I could figure a good way to replace the open rear sight with a peep on my .458 and keep the scope mount I'd probably do that too.

Good point concerning the rifles in varmit calibers. I really wasn’t even considering them but only PG and DG calibers.

 

[BGHNTR416]

Two is one and one is none. Ask me how I know...

Not sighting in your irons puts you firmly in the latter category. You hunt and your choice because you will be the one living with the consequences should something go awry.

Okay....

 

[WI-2021]

With suppressors becoming more common, front sights are in the way if you want to thread the barrel for a suppressor. If building a rifle do you mount the front sight farther back?

Hopefully I'll be getting my .375 Ruger Alaskan back next week with the barrel threaded for a suppressor. Since I'm of the opinion that .375 on up needs irons, I'm having the gunsmith put a barrel band front sight back on. My insistence on still having sights really complicated the works on that project. I fully expect that the can is going to block the sights, but if I need the irons for something I'll just remove the suppressor when i remove the scope.

If I'd have had the rifle built I'd have just had the front sight installed 3/4" back from the muzzle. Throw a thread protector on it and it would look just like an original Rigby!

As far as when open sights started becoming less common, I think the no sights trend really got started in the 80's. By the 90's when I started getting into guns and hunting they were mostly gone on bolt guns. On smaller caliber bolt guns I don't want sights since they're just another thing to complicate scope mounting.

If I was concerned enough to need a backup sighting system, I'd take another scope in QD rings when travelling. When I hunt semi-locally, I just keep a spare rifle at the cabin. I started doing that after I had a scope fail (broken objective lens, of all things) while hunting. Broken scope, no sights, no spare, and a wounded deer was not a good situation. Fortunately I wasn't hunting alone, so another member of the group finished it off.

 

[BeeMaa]

Okay....

"Two is one, one is none" is an adage that is attributed to the US military, specifically the Navy SEALs who I spent some time with while I was in the Navy. It means be prepared because things don't always go as planned...but I suspect you already knew this.

 

[Tra3]

Why not use a simple piece of painters tape over the end of the barrel? If you think it's not enough...I've also seen condoms used in the military over the end of a barrel to prevent water and debris from entering. Both of these solutions can be shot through with little to no change in accuracy.

Yeah, I know...it's a condom. Hanging off the end of your barrel. I agree it's not the best look and your leather cap is most certainly an improvement...but still cheap and useful. If you wanted to go "full bore" there's always Amazon...
https://www.amazon.com/Condom-Style-Muzzle-Cover-Rubber/dp/B01D62S1UE

I’ve taken old gloves and cut the functioning fingers off the glove, then Velcro sound that at the end of the barrel. It works for a very dusty ride. Electrical tape works too. I carry both in my backpack.
I don’t cover the muzzle when snowing. I’m usually more worried about the scope when it is snowing heavily. Covid masks work perfect to cover the scope, just attach the ear part to the turrets.

 

[steve white]

Was it a new trend, going sightless, or just another way for the manufacturer to save money/keep the price down a bit?

 

[Doug Hamilton]

"Two is one, one is none" is an adage that is attributed to the US military, specifically the Navy SEALs who I spent some time with while I was in the Navy. It means be prepared because things don't always go as planned...but I suspect you already knew this.

We said that when I was in Corrections as well. I always bring a back up rifle when hunting in NA. When I went to Zim in August, I brought a spare scope. If you have to return to camp to remove a scope anyway, it's easier to just exchange rifles. Even changing to a pre sighted in scope is better than switching to open sights.
I've never needed to use a back up rifle or scope, but as the saying goes two is one, etc. One buddy of mine used to make fun of me for doing this, until he was hunting in Middle of Nowhere, Nevada. A mutual friend of ours was with him and fell in the rocks wrecking his scope. Now they both bring back up rifles.

I’ve taken old gloves and cut the functioning fingers off the glove, then Velcro sound that at the end of the barrel. It works for a very dusty ride. Electrical tape works too. I carry both in my backpack.
I don’t cover the muzzle when snowing. I’m usually more worried about the scope when it is snowing heavily. Covid masks work perfect to cover the scope, just attach the ear part to the turrets.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Was it a new trend, going sightless, or just another way for the manufacturer to save money/keep the price down a bit?

Butler Creek Bikini Scope Cover. They're cheap and seal out rain, snow and debris.

 

[medvedhunting]

i cant have suppressor i live in canada and i do like open sights despite being no more young ... when we are doing a fly out we alays take an extra rifle if weight is not too much a worry and the rifles will have open sights and each an extra spare scope already sighted in with qd rings ... never needed but you never know.

 

[freefall]

I had to install iron sights on my Business Rifle in 1987.

 

[HWL]

In this modern world the backup to a scope is a red dot. Open sights are relegated to close in DG.

Never ever I would hunt DG without iron sights....
Red dots are nice, but batteries die... sometimes...

HWL

 

[steve white]

It's a co-conspiracy including gun soft case manufacturers who don't want front sights to rip a hole in the lining of the case....?

 

[rookhawk]

This question may be me having a brain fart, when did manufacturers get away from installing sights on hunting rifles? I remember most hunting rifles when I was younger always had iron sights or peep sights on them, currently most rifles do not (I know some models do), more or less asking for my own curiosity

Ignoring costs, it’s also about comb height, optics, and rings.

A stock is properly built if it aligns the eyes to the iron sights. To in turn get that gun properly built to work with optics would be impossible at Cabelas or a huge superstore because they would lack the basic ingredients to scope such a rifle:

Rings - Low or Extra Low
Optic - Straight tube optic of 24mm, or belled optic of 36mm

So they bailed on all of that, and went with high comb Monte Carlo stocks that have no plan to properly align to express sights, and then in the next aisle they have 50mm scopes and the corresponding extra high rings and 20MOA pic rails. Everyone can pretend to be snipers with their savage 110s.

#progress

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

My FX air rifle came with no iron sights, only kids air rifles have irons these days. What it does have is a sliding recoil pad, moves up or down for perfect eye alignment. Such a simple thing to fit to a rifle without permanent scarring. Even a double!