Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles XS ghost ring sight - first impressions

Got an XS ghost ring sight today for my Model 700 to replace a WGRS. Overall I give it an A for sturdyness, lightness and being a good looking but unobtrusive little device, but a C for execution as noted below.

The good:
It looks to be about the the same height as the Williams so I shouldn't have to replace the front sight.
It looks pretty sturdy. Not as strong as the Skinner I posted about recently but it would take a pretty good whack to hurt it.
You adjust elevation by moving the aperture stem up and down, same as the Skinner, so knowing the tpi count you can calculate exactly how much each half turn will change POI at 100 yards. And even better IMO than the Skinner, windage is adjusted by two opposing set screws, you loosen one and tighten the other to move the sliding piece the stem threads into. Again, knowing they are 40 tpi lets you calculate exactly how much a quarter or half turn moves the POI.

Nit picks: They give you slotted screws of dubious strength to fasten it to the receiver and the windage screws are also tiny little slotted head affairs. They come set pretty hard with some kind of grease so you have to give it some oomph to get them loose the first time. The slots are wide and shallow so they are really easy to bugger up, you have to be very careful with them. This is where Murphy has a lot of fun - no matter how many screwdrivers and bits I have, they've come up with a screw slot that doesn't exactly fit any of them. As they are you can't apply too much torque to them. I don't hear folks complaining about them coming loose a lot so hopefully you can apply "enough", it's just a design that could be improved.

You get two aperture stems, a .230" and .191" inside diameter with another .150" ID available for $13. Neither are threaded inside so you can't insert standard Williams type apertures. I get that this is a ghost ring sight but they don't give a lot of meat around the apertures. If you want to sight in with a fine aperture you have to disturb the sight setting to replace it by loosening one windage screw and completely unscrewing the smaller aperture stem. If you're careful this won't mess up the sight in but it would be completely unnecessary if they gave you one internally threaded stem that could use industry standard screw in apertures.

Overall it looks like it will be a good, sturdy set and forget sight- certainly better than the Williams WGRS which has been much cheapened over the years - but I would recommend two big improvements:

1. Everybody and their brother has gone to something other than old slot head screws. Replace those easily buggered screws with standard sized hex head or torx heads that will take several inch pounds of torque with no danger of messing up the slot - this is where the Skinner is definitely superior.
2. Give us one .210" internally threaded aperture stem so we can switch from a fine target aperture for sighting in to a wider one or remove it completely without disturbing the sight setting.

Jim in Idaho - yours is a great example of the sight's maker not having enough/any experience with their product. IF they had the issues you brought up would have been addressed, maybe even fixed. Comments about slot headed screws are right on...hex headed, or better yet, torx headed screws should have been used. BUT I'm sure they probably cost a little more and did not make the "value engineering" guide-lines. Homesteader

I had one that came on a Marlin 1895SBL. Knew I would never use it so pulled it, the rail, and the front sight, sold them, and put stainless plugs in all the holes.

I have them on my Marlin Guide gun in 45/70.. Put them on about 10 years ago. Tough as nails and never a problem with them..

I emailed their tech support yesterday with a c&p of my post here and half expected a lukewarm "thanks for your interest but yada yada" or a flat out GFY.

Instead they responded this morning with the sizes I'd need for replacement screws and mentioned that they do indeed have a threaded aperture for sale that will take the normal screw in discs, so I stand corrected on that.

So, my one complaint is rendered moot, and now I just need to find some replacement screws. Something I learned yesterday when I went to a HUGE screw and fasener store in town - they have literally thousands and thousands of screws in all shapes and sizes - but "gun screws" all have different threads and they don't carry them. Hmmm, will have to ask around the local gunsmiths to see if I can beg or buy a few replacements.

Talk about over complicating sheit.

Yeah. My local Ace hardware has about 400 sq ft of Hillman Fastener stuff. Grade 2, 5, 8, stainless, brass, metric, etc... And he still had to put in a separate section of "gun screws" up by the ammo case...

OTOH, glad to hear that they have a stem that will accept standard Lyman/Weaver apertures...

Steelhead recommended the XS sights for my 1895 so I gave 'em a try. I wasn't expecting very much but wouldn't own a lever-gun without 'em now. I was very surprised how accurate/fast they were....that front post just naturally settles on the target for me.

Even among gun screws, the 8-40 socket set screw of approximately 3/16" length is the single most obtainable piece of hardware in the known universe. I think the last ones were used to attach horns to unicorns. The local D&B store and a dozen on-line retailers have bunches of socket set screws in 6-40, 8-32, 8-36, 10-40, you name it, but 8-40 was classed as a Schedule I drug by the FDA in 1969. Apparently I am not alone in my searching as I ran across a gunsmith forum post from 2003 where the poster couldn't find an 8-40 socket set screw for love nor money either. There's a great spy story from WWII where an American agent went deep undercover to try to steal the plans for one from a secret German base in Bavaria but after he penetrated the inner circle of the GDSMG (Geheimnis Deutsches Schkrew Machen Gmbz or Secret German Screwmaker's Guild) he was captured and never heard from again. A shady looking guy at one hardware store pulled me aside and gave me the name of a high school kid who supposedly sells them out of his '89 Honda Civic but he wants $120 apiece for them, that's a bit much.

I might contact GanjaFarmer to see if he knows where I could find some in Oregon...

I think they are the best peep sights made, and I love the white striped front post.

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