Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Aperture Sight Advice

XS system now mounted on my 700. did a ittle boresighting this morning. won't be able to shoot for a few days. shor 'nuf handy ...

Estacado:

Do you mean you have a peep on it? If so, what kind is it?

Thanks.

- TJM

DocRocket:

Just chiming in to offer a couple of suggestions and cmts.

1. I've a Browning 1886 SRC that I'm fond of. I ended up with a Marble tang aperture and a custom foresight that consists of a wide blade with a large brass bead inset on a shelf. Offers a fast visible sight picture for aging eyes without the beads tendency to shoot away from the light.

I use orignal LYMAN 66 and a REDFIELD SOURDOUGH on an original WInchester 71, but the modern iteration of the Marble tang seemed adequate for the Japanese Brownings I have in 45/70 and 357. I use original Lyman and Redfield Sourdoughs on my 92's except for a Japanese Browning 92 which also has the tang aperture since it's used occasionally in SASS.

Tang Apertures are perhaps the optimal aperture sight as far as fast sight acquisition, but can be a problem with a heavy recoiling light weight rifle if the eye is too close to the tang. That being said, I tend to prefer a receiver sight and prefer earlier iterations of the Lymans on original guns since I think they just look better. Don't mind a current Lyman on the Japanese Repro's though. Just a matter of taste.

2. I've never heard of a problem with the grand old Williams Fool Proof aperture and used to use them exclusively back in the fifties and sixties on a variety of Marlin 336's and 39A's. Mebbe steel and alloy will wear them out, but I don't know anyone personally who fiddles much with the sight adjustment after zero. As a matter of taste, I just prefer the look of the older Lyman's to the Williams FP or the current Lyman's.

3. The XS sights are viable options, but, personally, I discount them for the same reason I discount 'scopes on a saddle gun---they just don't look right to me.

4. As has been said before, stay away from the globe foresights in the hunting field. Marvellous sights for their intended purpose when there is good light. Hard to beat the old REDFIELD LYMAN SOURDOUGH---they were made for a while after Redfield disconintued them by BURRUSS and are, or were, the last time I looked, offered by NECG's. My foresight was visible in the Maine woods on my WInchester 71 until after target discrimination was not viable.

5. Don't discount the ROCKY MOUNTAIN BUCKHORN sight if you're shooting fast and close---say for hogs. I always dismissed the buckhorn because "it obscured the target" in the common wisdom when I was growing up. I learned from SASS just how fast and accurate the Buckhorn can be when it's used as a "sorta, half-arsed aperture." Wouldn't be my choice for precision shooting, but for hogs in the SE, it can be a useful sight on a 45/70 Lever.

Hope this is useful.

This is exactly the way I have used bead front sights with an open rear sight since I was a kid. It works well. You cover with the bead the part you want to your bullet to go through. Simple. Thanks for the confirmation.

256MS: Thanks for sharing your insights. I appreciate it.

I have not considered a Marbles tang aperture sight for this rifle because USRAC's "risk management" people decided to put a tang safety switch on this rifle. I have mixed feelings about the safety, but I am not yet willing to have a gunsmith remove the safety, weld in metal to fill the hole, then refinish it so I can screw a Marbles sight onto it. Seems like a lot of trouble and expense when I can simply mount a Lyman receiver sight on the holes drilled and tapped by USRAC.

That being said, I have used Marbles tang sights on a number of borrowed cowboy action rifles and really like them.

Yes, I guess you can write off worthless advice to a senior moment---or long term effect. I know the Winchester's have the tang safety intellectually, but I have no real gut understanding of a hammer saddle gun with a tang safety so I never really think about it. I do think receiver sights are sturdier, but as I said, I think it's a toss up between the Williams FP and the Lyman 66. The Williams is more compact. Don't think durability is an issue. Do personally prefer the look and feel of the older Lymans, but haven't gone to the effort to use one of my small hoard on the Japanese Brownings. You will have to change the foresight---you might look at the NECG sight and see if they retain their version of the old Redfield Sourdough--they never used that term for it, though, but it leaps out at you when you see the pix.

One of the virtues of a post like the Sourdough is that it facilitates a precise zero. Unless you find a zero bull that is slightly larger than the bead, it's difficult to zero for center of bead and know exactly where you're shooting at distance --especially if you like, as I do, a large bead. I often zero so that POA is at top of bead for a six o'clock hold just as I would with a flat top post. A useful bead covers a lot of meat at any range beyond 50 meters and it's difficult to assess accuracy.

Was just zeroing a new Colt AR and couldn't figger why I was having so much trouble seeing my front sight compared to my Knight- Stoner . . . .took a while for old dog to understand new tricks though and I realized that I had a long stock on the K-S (won't go into THAT detail) but on the Colt, I had collapsed the stock to the first extension AND was shooting it nose-to-Cocking Handle. Eyes were closer to the target and just fuzzed it all up---Can't figger out how I used to see those sights so clearly as well as the aiming point on the little GI Zero targets. . . All adds to the fun of using irons. . . Get the right size ZERO TARGET for your eyes, the range, and the size of the foresight and it surely helps. Too little attention is paid to selection of the zero target which, in truth, doesn't matter so much for young heroes' eyes. Sure makes for problems for aging eyes. . .

Good luck.

TJM10025, yes I have a Williams 'slide on' the dovetail aperture. Its got the target knobs. I did have to chisel a small square of wood out of the stock to get clearance. The CZ 452 is the Lux model with the front blade and hood. I had to move the front sight blade down to get enough clearance to get zeroed at 50 yards. Its a really great understudy for my 9.3MM with the Lyman 57. Saves the shoulder and the ammo is cheaper.

Estacado