Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hunting with iron sights...am I crazy?

Hey Guys,

had some fun yesterday at the range banging steel with my hunting rifle after sighting in my backup iron sights to a new load. I also shot some groups and to my surprise, i can shoot these things pretty good...into 4 inches anyways to 200 yards or so.

Am i crazy for considering using irons for this years hunting season facing shots on whitetail up to and including 100 yards or perhaps 125? I know low light in woods conditions would be challenging...but I'm thinking I wouldn't be overly handicapped it might be a whole new level of fun. What do you guys think...am I nuts?

I love iron sights. My balls are just too fuzzy past 75, maybe 100 yards, to take shots past that.

Should really practice with them more though. Dug out my old model 94 last year. Had forgotten how fun it was to shoot!

Do it a lot. I enjoy it.

It really is! I got way more concerned with making great shots...and not great groups which honestly was a breath of fresh air. Banging steel was a blast...no pun intended and the plates were about the size of the kill zone

The only drawback is you cut down your hunting time because of the available light

Nope.
I do it all the time.
(maybe we are both crazy)

I like irons best, but I admit I need a scope in dimmer light. I am just too old now to shoot irons in dim light.
I killed an antelope doe 2 weeks ago with an iron sighted 6.5X54 at 20 yards, right through the neck. It's the same rifle I killed this buck with last year. The shot was from about 165 or 170 yards last year, also hit through the neck. I would have prefered a chesh shot, but the buck 'busted me" when I was crawling up and stuck his head and neck over the berm. That's all I had to shoot at so I took the shot.
2018 #1 Ant. Buck by Steve Zihn, on [bleep]
I am going out this afternoon to try to kill a nice buck antelope, and I am going to use either my M1 Garand, my M95 Winchester Lever action or maybe my Savage M99. None of which are scoped.

I intend to use a scoped rifle this year for my bull elk, but for my cow, and for all antelope, and all deer I am hoping I have clear skies and good light, and if I do I will use iron sighted rifles for them all.

A big side benefit of open or receiver sights is that all kinds of rifles suddenly turn into well balanced, fast handling lightweights when you remove a pound of weight sitting well above the bore line.

I'm almost 73. Last November. I took my Hawken out in the back yard. Sunny, and I could see open sights fine. I use glasses for reading only. As evening and shadows fell, a huge buck walked out. I leveled the gun him, and with the diminished light, could not pick the iron sights... What a fool. Laughed at myself, and swore scope from now on!

I have several with open sights or receiver sights. Even with 60 year old eyes and trifocals, I don't feel particularly hampered. I like a blade rather than a bead with receiver sights. I will say that minuscule bead on my 1908 Mannlicher Schoenauer ain't fun to find. The rest of my open sighted rifles have enough bead or blade to see with no trouble. I like hunting with opens sights or receiver sights.

Nothing crazy about it at all. I do hunt with scopes a fair amount, but I always enjoy an iron sighted rifle. Hunts are more rewarding for sure.

I've shot some pretty decent groups at the range out to 200-300 yards coming pretty close to what I can do with opitcs. In good light. Looking at a black aiming point that jumps out against a white background. But in a heavy canopy, 5 minutes into legal shooting time which is still 25 minutes till sunup those sights get lost on the brownish gray hide of a buck at even 30 yards. I'll stick with my scopes for hunting. But enjoy playing with irons at the range occasionally.

Killed two deer last year with a 30AW open sites 30/30.
One was a trotting shot on a doe at about 20 yards. The other about 80 yards on a doe I spotted in a clearing.
Optics may help improve your chances in low light, and with open sites you will benefit with good or corrected vision, but never underestimate the effectiveness of good sites if you know how to use them.

^^^ This. They also seem to hold zero better

I started with iron sights in 1964 the 1st time I used a scope on deer was 1978 or 79, got a nice 8 point but it was so easy it took all the fun of hunting away for me. It may just be me, but taking every advantage in the hunt away lessens the experience of hunting. It seems today a scope is a necessity . If I was a meat hunter I would use a scope but as a sport hunter I can't bring myself to use a scope on something as large as a deer. Even small deer are a big target. In the back of their minds I think a lot of hunter know what I mean. When asked why they use a scope it almost always is an excuse the top being "my eyes" then I may have a long shot or light conditions. Only once have I had someone say it is so much easier with a scope. Even on short range rifles 357,44mag,45-70 etc. big scopes are to common. Then there are the scopes on shotguns for turkey. Even with the tightest choked shotgun do you really need a scope. Same with scopes on crossbows. Won't be long before scopes on fishing poles will be common. (this has been my old man rant I don't really care if a scope is used or not)

Not sure if it comes with age, maturity or experience, but there comes a time when the hunt becomes more important than the kill. I got as much satisfaction from this small buck than if I had tagged a monster with my one of my scoped tack drivers.

If my eyes were better, I'd do it more often. We now have a special season in January that only allows iron-sighted sidelock MLs and stickbows. I have a couple that qualify. If I get lucky and make meat early, I may get one out, or my Browning Low Wall .44 mag, or maybe just carry my .357.

The right glasses make a huge difference for me. +1.5 readers, or a bit more, do the trick right now, especially with a peepsight.

Yup..I did a lot of it till the eyes got too old...but I really enjoyed iron sights...my last kill with irons....

Irons are good, but can be a challenge as one ages. Solutions? Longer barrels, such as a flintlock, or aperture sights.

I've killed more deer with iron sighted rifles than scoped. Put good, visible sights on and it doesn't handicap you as much as you'd think at typical woods ranges. For years I used Williams receiver sights coupled with a Lyman or Marbles ivory bead front and killed a pile of deer, several in excess of 200 yards. Today I prefer to couple a receiver sight with a Williams green fiber optic front. That combo is still visible/useable beyond legal shooting hours here.

I do it most of the time