Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Close Range Deer Rifle

I routinely hunt in thick stuff. Where I spent the past weekend was like deer hunting on Guadalcanal, only drier and colder. My guns of choice in that situation have barrels ranging from 20" to 24"- the longer barrels posing no handicap whatsoever IMO. What I cherish more than the gun being short and quick handling in the traditional sense are sights that line up the instant the gun is mounted. I definitely think a scope in that situation, when shots are measured in feet not yards, is a minor handicap. Heck, even though I'm an advocate of aperture rear sights, I feel an old fashioned English-style "express" sight is better- something with a wide shallow V, coupled with a big honking gold bead front sight. Certainly not a sighting arrangement conducive to making those bug hole groups off the bench we like to talk about, but when the target is the size of a dinner plate and you only have a second to get on it and shoot, who cares.

For me the ideal is an aperture rear sight with its slide easily removable in the field (and returnable to dead nuts zero when re-installing)- which eliminates most of them other than the Lyman 48- or a fold down tang sight, or quick detachable scope system. All of which can be gotten out of the way in order to use the backup express sights out on the barrel whenever one ventures into the thick stuff.