Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Rear ghost ring/peep sight

What brand of rear peep/ghost ring have you found to be the most solid to not get knocked out of adjustment while being relatively easy to adjust/sight in.

I have experience with XS rear ghost and Williams FoolProof

Am considering the above plus skinner sights and Ranger Point precision.

Im looking to set up a 30-30 Marlin as a knock around gun/ truck gun general purpose two or four leg critter getter.

go with the skinner

skinner is the best and I have both skinner and williams. the williams is and always will be easier to adjust

I have either XS or a system I really appreciate is a Skinner dovetail rear peep with front blade, Weaver S466 steel bases and a scope in QRW rings, and/or Burris Fastfire. Its the best of all worlds. You can change your setup in seconds.

On an iron sight/red dot only, I like the XS with a base on the front screws. You can cut an aluminum Cheapo base down and put some black appliance paint over the raw aluminum. Its chit hot lollipop setup.

If you choose to cut weaver base down for the small red dot rail, kinda fit the sight on and decide what you wanna cut or its position before you cut it. Some of them don’t have many slots to work with and I personally try to make it where I have no overhang.

“Pasture Creek”

I've had all 3 and I like Skinners better than Williams and XO. For me, the Williams peep that attaches to the side of the receiver just has too much stuff in the way. The XO is nice but you have the option of swapping out different size apertures in the Skinner. I also found that the Williams and Skinner apertures are interchangeable.

You can get the threaded XS app and they all use the same apertures

Skinner sights are great but the winged XS is my favorite......

I’ve had XS on two rifles that I didn’t shoot much but loved the function of them; and a Williams on a model 94 that while I didn’t like the looks or design it was easy to adjust and accurate with a fiber optic front.

I’m wanting to try the skinner out but the XS set is much cheaper and I know it will suite my needs. For those that had both, was the Skinner easier to adjust than the XS rear? For a front sight a prefer a post which white stripe. They both offer one, the XS is just cheaper.

Nebraska? I didn't know XS made one with wings. Be Well, Rustyzipper.

Leupy 1-4x20 makes for a nice peep sight.

If he hadn't already said it, this is what I'da said. I have FPs on my rifles, but I think there are more aesthetic alternatives that work just as well.

Skinner or XS work fine and I prefer the XS white stripped front sight on either set up. I am not a fan of wings on my iron sights. I run XS on my 94 Big Bore .356 and Mirkoru made Mod. 71 Win. .348. My Marlin 1896 in 45-70 has the Skinner "Alaskan" on the rear. Our old Mod. 94 Win. .44 mag. has a Williams that looks more fragile then the rest. We have been using the gun for over 25 years and it is still ok.

We hunt and carry our rifles and try to protect them, they spend time in Koplin ATV scabbards and boats and etc. Maybe if they were "battle" rifles I would consider a winged version.

Nobody here is any harder or neglectful on a rifle as I am and wings aren’t needed. Your sights are only as tough as your weak screws.

So if you want the bulk of the wings for aesthetics, more power to ya.

Any of the Skinner peeps are on par adjustment wise as the XS

Ghost sights in my opinion are akin to a 2.5x or red dot in that while they appear to have certain shortcomings for a paper shooter, the more you use them, the more you use and appreciate them. No doubt for low light, neither the red dot nor peeps can cut the same mustard as a scope.

Actually Matt, you can get into a set of Skinners for less than the XS's. I think the XS's are about $99/set but I bought a rear Skinner "Reliable" sight for my 1894 Marlin for $61 and the plain blued front sight was $15. I used a white paint pen to paint a white stripe on the front sight. If you go for the Express or Alaskan rear sight the price goes up pretty fast.

Whatever choice you decide on I can tell you unless you are just lucky with front sight heights, the Skinner front blade that you can file down then put some white appliance paint on is the easiest way to get it how you want it.

I can also tell you the Skinner rear dovetail peep is just as quick and accurate as having the sight on the rear receiver holes.

Another thing, while stout, the XS front sight is made out of some type of metal that snaps instead of bends. A few Marlins I installed sights on in the past had slightly canted barrels so I tried to bend the sight just a bit where things would appear straight. The Skinner blade would bend a bit, the XS would snap off.

I really like my Skinner sight.

I'm just the opposite. Williams and Lyman peeps are what I've been used to seeing on rifles all my life. The Skinners and XO's just look goofy to me. I want a traditional looking sight on my traditional lever action rifles. I don't throw them into creeks or dive into fox holes with my rifles and have had no trouble with durability despite many years of use. One of my rifles did fall over when leaned against a tree while I was dressing a deer a few years go. The Williams front sight hit a rock and was bent over considerably. I straightened it up with the pliers on my Gerber multi tool and it's still working fine today.

Have you thought about something like this Bullseye rear sight? It fits in the rear dovetail, keeps the lines of the rifle original, and helps inherent accuracy like a regular peep. Cheap and easy to replace if you dont like it.

https://www.brownells.com/rifle-par...short-bullseye-rear-sight-prod27265.aspx

Just preference but I like my peeps as far back as possible.

I wish Skinner would make a peep sight for handguns. I always thought having one on my Bisley would be the way to go.