Home Forums Hunting & Shooting BPCR Received this in the mail awhile back...

As a relative newbie to BPCR and with my present learning curve moving forward a good Vernier sight was a big ? mark as to whether one would be in my future.

Jorge stepped up and offered to lend his for a trial run saving me a large outlay of initial cash just in case it shouldn't fit my comfort zone.

It's an MVA Buffalo Soule #101 mid range and quite pricey I may add.Having launched about 50 rounds downrange at 100-350 after correlating with the buck horns it gives me a much better sight pic than the barrel sights but as you all know too well is slow to acquire in most hunting scenarios.

I'll be 66 soon the ole peepers aren't what they used to be so I need all the help I can get without glasses..Hunting Nebraska winters with specks is an almost impossible undertaking. Further testing is eminent but this sight design is without a doubt in my near future.

Jorge thanks for the trial run my friend really appreciate it,gotta love the CF kindness that shows itself here time after time..

At least when you look at a sight like that you know why it is expensive.Nice

Outstanding!

What front sight do you currently have on your rifle, Woody?

Ed

Ed still using Sharpsguy's copper penny.

Thank you, sir.

When I finally get my Sharps, I will see if I can impose on Sharpsguy to help me switch mine out for a copper penny.
Thinking about finding one from my birth year.

My rifle had an "anticipated" delivery date of 5-21-14. Unknown when it will actually get here.

Ed

Have you considered the MVA Winchester scope? Not a whole lot more money than a soule sight and globe.

Mine should be coming with a #108 rear. I too am doing some eager anticipating...

A scope has never been on my radar or ever will be,think if it came to that I'd just quit altogether and put her on the wall..

Scope is more authentic on a hunting sharps than a target sight that didn't come until about the time the big guns went silent...

Thanks for the info guess I need to catch up on some history.ET sent me his copy of Getting a Stand by Miles Gilbert but it doesn't mention much about scoped Sharps rifles.

In the Buffalo Hunters Encyclopedia there are a number of accounts of those guys putting scopes on their rifles. One of those storie is from Charles Billinghurst who traveled and shot quite extensively in the last half of the big hunt. He tells of his entire outfit having their rifles fitted with scopes in Miles City.
Seller's Sharps rifle book has pictures of many of those old rifles that still wear the original Malcolm scopes.

Scopes are mentioned in The Buffalo Harvest by Frank Mayer. He says he had one on a .40/90 Sharps. Some readers don't like his book but he was about 100 years old when he was writing it. So, some dates get mixed up and he seemed to use straight cases a bit too soon. Forgive him on those details and he tells a real good story.

Woody a couple of years back I went shooting with a bud who had a 6x RHO scope on his Shiloh 45-70. In low light it made shooting possible, we were just plinking at left over chunks of clay pigeons on a public range. With iron sighted ones we had with us it was a no go. I have a penny frt sight and a buckhorn for my 45 2 7/8" for hunting yet the gun most of the time has a MVA#111 on it and a XLR Soule sight for targets to a mile. One only has to change frt sights about 1 time and you start thinking about another gun. While I believe most of the Sharps used in the 1870's were just equipped with barrel sights more than a few had sporting tangs also and some were scoped. Do what you need to to keep shooting. See MVA scopes at all the LR gong shoots I attend, no big deal, separate classes and the scope scores aren't allways the highest ones either. As we get older our needs change and we need new challenges too the a scope will be one of mine. Magnum-Man

There goes the neighborhood...

Now Sharpsguy it is aways down the road and it would really be cool to put a 28" MVA 6x on my 40-70 bn 26" barreled Saddle gun for prairie dogging. Retro PD'ing or what?

Yeah, I know, but it is even cooler to take them with barrel sights. I honestly think it is easier to get on them with barrel sights than with a scope unless they are sitting dead nuts on your scope zero point.

Case in point. Last week I was on my range with my Shiloh Rough Rider in 45-70 which currently carries a Lyman 17A front and a Red River Arms Mega Soule in the back. The wife and I were practicing our offhand on the chicken. She had finished shooting and I had my 200 meter zero on the tang sight to shoot the chicken. As she looked through the spotting scope, she saw a coyote walk out and stop right in front of my 410 yard gong. She said "Shoot it". I was trying to change my sight setting from the 200 meter setting to the 410 yard setting--52 points to 74 points,the wife is saying "Why arent you shooting him?" and I'm trying to get squared away. The coyote got tired of watching the circus and walked off out of sight just as I tightened the eyepiece. No shot, no joy. If I had been using barrel sights, I probably would have killed the coyote. I would have most certainly been able to get a shot off with time to spare.

Bottom line is you guys are going to screw around with these tang sights and scopes for hunting, and you may kill something from time to time. But you are going to miss out on a lot of shooting opportunities that present themselves that you would otherwise have if you stick to the buckhorn and blade. BTDT--last week, in fact.

I've hunted enuff stuff over the years with many different barrel sight combos but still as in days gone bye will pass on a crappy or fuzzy sight pic every time without exception as I feel all of us owe that same respect for the game we hunt.That's my present dilemma at longer ranges.

Jorge's MVA has cleaned up my sight pic very well and definitely falls within my comfort zone of target acquisition so now it's a matter of correlation and practice.

Number one is what works best for me however bizarre or half bubble off of SOP it may be.Kinda like baseball,some of the best hitters have the crappiest unorthodox stance in the box but manage to knock the hide off the old apple with relative ease and consistency.

At present I'm good to go with critter confidence to 250 yds with barrel sights but beyond is no man's land at the present state of the old peepers.Probably a trip to my optometrist would solve several issues just need to move that to the top of my bucket list.

If seeing the sights and or the target is a problem, the 457+75 for a soule sight with a Hadley, and 550 for that MVA Winchester scope copy, seems like an easy choice to me..

Seriously considering the MVA #133 Sporting Tang..should be the same resolution I'm getting with the Vernier but with the increased speed of elevation for faster target acquisition.

You're best bet is going to be go the the eye doc, and get some glasses that are going to let you shoot again.
That sight is not really made to change elevations in a hurry.
If you really think a peep is the answer to all your problems you might want to think about having someone build you a slide for the ladder that uses a peep instead of the notch.