Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Anyone hunt with a bolt action with open sights only?

Wondering if anyone here still hunts with a bolt action rifle, one chambered in a modern, "flat shooting" cartridge, with only open sights? I'm not talkling about a mil-surp, or a dangerous African game rifle. But rather a run of the mill big game bolt rifle for deer, elk, ect.

It seems the first thing I do after I acquire a new bolt action is decide on the scope that will go on top. I've scoped all my bolt actions. But I have a couple that just seem to be perfect without a scope. I have a Sako 85M Black Bear .30-06. The open sights on that gun are just about perfect for me. The heavy 20" fluted barrel makes it an exceptionally handy rifle. I've had three different scopes on it, and it never has appealed to me scoped the way it does scope-free. And I have a Ruger MkII Express in .270. Same thing. The scope just seems to detract from from the handiness of the gun. The open sights are nearly perfect.

Just curious who here prefers a bolt action with open sights and no scope?

My eyes are about 10-15 years past such an option. I used to carry around a Remington 700 ADL with open sights in my youth. I could hit a 2 liter bottle at 200 yds with it pretty consistently but never found a deer to cooperate while I was carrying it. I liked the simplicity of the open sights.

My eyes have gotten to the point where scopes are mostly needed, too. I'm been really appealling to V express sights. Both my Ruger and Sako have express sights. I can still see these well, particualy the Sako sights.

Looking back I have only seen one hunter in the woods with scopeless bolt action rifle. Tons of lever actions though

Killed my best buck using a J.C. Higgins M50 with a Williams Foolproof receiver sight and a homemade front. Those Foolproofs are discontinued, and Williams only has the target knob ones in stock for the FN. the jury’s still out on how I’ll equip the one that’s due in tomorrow. The comb height will figure in. It has only a front ramp, no rear sight like many older FNs.

I did until I turned 50 and the eyes didnt work so good, its all scopes now. Did my first African Safari with iron sights...on a .300 Winchester.Sounds stupid but it was flat shooting enough that there was no need to guess where to hold. If the bead didnt blot them out, aim right at them. If it did blot out the vitals, the animal was too far IMHO. Simple system, Resulted in 7 one shot kills. My last safari with iron sights...7x57...







and a British .303

I do have a Heym 98 in .308 with a nice set of irons on the barrel, but like a Sako .243 I used to own, the stock comb is too high to use them comfortably. Maybe post-war Germans’ faces were thinner than mine? Anyway, it’s wearing a 2.5x Leupy, the next best thing.

Just an 03 and 03A3 or 2 and a couple of SAKO'S.

Yes, I have a Husqvarna 9.3x57 that I use with open sights and a 35 whelen with an aperture sight.

No

None of my bolt rifles have sights

The only thing I have a scope on presently is an inline muzzleloader, everything else is irons now. I've just come to like the handling and simplicity of sights, and phased out all my scopes over the past few years.

They're mostly levers, but there are bolts in 308 Win and 222 Rem in the mix, too. The 308 isn't drilled and tapped for bases, so it's never worn a scope. The 222 was actually the last one I eliminated the scope on earlier this year.

I totally get the feel and preference for running an iron sighted rifle. Do I use one? Heck yeah. I own two such implements. One is an Ruger scout 308win and the other is an Ruger compact 338RCM with its 20" barrel. That 338RCM is my favorite hunting rifle ever. Perfect size and weight. Handles like a wand with irons.

Bad news is that this year my eyes have changed and I can't see the sights clearly with my glasses anymore but I'm able without my prescription lenses.

I have scopes on my bolt actions

"I have a Sako 85M Black Bear .30-06. The open sights on that gun are just about perfect for me. The heavy 20" fluted barrel makes it an exceptionally handy rifle. I've had three different scopes on it, and it never has appealed to me scoped the way it does scope-free."

All my bolt guns have scopes. But if I needed one without a scope, I cant think of a better one than the Sako posted above.

My old eyes wouldn't work good enough for me to use open sights on a hunting rifle even if I wanted to, so all of my bolt action hunting rifles have scopes. I do have an open sighted 10-22 that rides with me in the UTV, as well as a couple of AR's that are open sighted. I can shoot good enough with them to do what I need to do.

I dont believe I even own a bolt with open sights anymore. I never scoped my very first centerfire rifle which was a marlin levergun 336 30/30.
Once I got into bolts and scopes I guess never considered a open sight set up.

The first 5 or 6 deer I killed were taken with open sighted rifles, a 303 Lee-Enfield, and Marlin 35 Rem with peeps. Funny thing was, I'd been using a scope sighted 22 rifle for years, and knew how much better a scope was than open sights, but I still ended up using open sighted deer rifles. All that changed when I started using a scope on my 270 and 243. I do have a Model 700 30-06 with a set of open sights on it, but I don't use them, as the rifle is scoped.

Sometimes local deer hunting using Mannlichers fitted with receiver sights. I can still manage an aperture with bead, but notched sights became a no-go at about age 50. When traveling to hunt, it's always a scoped rifle, and the back-up to the scope has to be another scope.

I have my 9.3x57 that has irons and my 760 270 that has a skinner peep. That’s about all I have without sights. I have a 7600 35 Whelen that may just get a set of Skinners as well. Jury is still out on it.

I'd have to go through them to get an exact count, but very few of my bolt guns would work well with open sights. Majority of them have had the stocks replaced with lightweight synthetic stocks. Most of those stocks have very little drop in them....they'd be tough to use with open sights.

I have a couple of lever guns set up with ghost ring sights and I really enjoy them.