I have just about finished putting togehter a 458 WM on a Mauser action and have a question about the front sight and specifically about the hood. The barrel band front sight came equipped with a very large sight hood and it is easily removed with a side plunger type set-up.

My question is, is this hood important while hunting DG or is it more for just travelling to prevent the front sight from getting knocked about and then taken off before going afield?

I have also installed a scope(leo 1.5x5 with QD's), so the iron sights are more of a back-up, but I will begin shooting the rifle with the iron sights to know I can hit with them and make sure they are sighted properly to my hunting load.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

BigBullet

BB,

My preference is to be hood-less. I think the hood would be a PIA in low light conditions. My 375H&H, pre64, SG came with the hood and bead. The hood was removed and the bead replaced with a wide blade with sloping brass fill for gathering light. This front sight is used with a receiver sight with insert removed.....This has made a good sight system for all conditions. If I was using the rifle a lot now, I would consider a tritium insert in the front blade.

The hood does protect your front sight and for precision shooting helps maintain a more constant amount of light and less glare on the front sight. For example, a rifle I have been working cast bullets through shot rectangular groups of about 2 1/2 by 4 inches, being wider on the horizontal plane. Our range faces due south and most of the day the amount and direction of sunlight changes constantly . This caused me to pick up a false center for the front sight despite blackening the blade with soot, depending on which way the light is striking it. By installing a hood for use at the range the groups became circular and started to run between 2 and 2 1/2 inches. Probabaly as good as I can see and not much worse than the rifle will do.

I usually hunt with the hood removed as I don't like the interference of vision the hood creates around the game. In dark timber I don't want the sight ( a Sourdough ) to appear black, I want it to stand out and ranges are likely to be short and target grade precision is not called for.

If you were using the rifle for antelope on the open plains the sight hood may be beneficial and probably can't hurt. For DG at close range I can see no benefit and probably a hindrance to quick sight picture acquisition.

I suggest you shoot the rifle on the range both ways to see if you find any difference. Then walk through a variety of canopy cover under different conditions of daylight practicing obtaining a sight picture on different objects such as knots on trees that are appropriately coloured to coincide with animal colors. I think you'll establish your own feeling of comfort one way or the other.
Best