Iron Sights & Riflescopes

Jay Edward · #1 10-17-2006, 11:59 AM

A gentleman who sent his son through the Fall Hunter's Education course approached me about mounting a riflescope on his son's new (upcoming birthday) Marlin lever action rifle.

He purchased a Weaver 4X riflescope and brought the just purchased rifle over to me last night. I mounted the scope on the rifle this morning and had to remove the back sight to do so. On reflection, I also dismounted the front sight.

It has been my experience over the years that the need to remount the iron sights is very rare indeed. Without the front sight, the rifle doesn't hook on anything (from the rifle case to bushes and trees) and become worn to no purpose.

How do you feel about this?

Keep the front sight on no matter what?

Dismount the front sight and put it somewhere secure with the rear sight.

Daryl · #2 10-17-2006, 12:14 PM

When I scope a rifle, the iron sights usually come off and are stored together. I put plugs in the screw holes and call it good.

I've yet to ever put them back on, but sometimes someone needs them for another rifle.

RatherBHuntin · #3 10-18-2006, 03:33 PM

I've never removed any. I have one rifle with see thru mounts and the other scoped rifles never had any iron sights. That said, I would not want half of a pair on a rifle.

davidlt89 · #4 10-18-2006, 07:08 PM

I am with Daryl. I take off both sights and plug the holes. Have never even thought about putting them back on.

babbyc1000 · #5 10-19-2006, 03:02 AM

think im the odd one out, i would always leave them on, i have a habit of losing things so safer keeping it on the gun, having said that i prefer iron sights to scopes anyway, as im normally only shooting up to 75m

HSM_miner · #6 10-19-2006, 07:01 AM

hmmm.....interesting ok I'll bite. Both my dad and myself had simular experences where we have had anamal in close in thick tag alder cover. In both cases you could see the moose through the scope but could not see the brush up close. This resulted in a few alders being shot instead of the moose. In my case, the bull was only 30 yards from me. I have weaver tip off mounts on my scope, the scope was batted to the side and the good ol' iron sights saved the day!! Sometimes you only get a little window to shoot in heavy cover in close.

Whenever I hunt where I know it can get thick & dirty, I always have iron sights to back up my scope

babbyc1000 · #7 10-19-2006, 08:18 AM

sorry i forgot to finish that one, i would normally shoot up to 75 metres, as im a uk shooter its normally small targets like rabbits, and i find that iron sights are better for the job, as i normally only have a split second to sight and fire at a rapidly appearing target!

having said that i have used a scope for longer range stationery targets, but with a scope i found i was missing too many close shots due to having to search for the target!

enough said!

Brithunter · #8 11-17-2006, 10:01 AM

Hi All,

Hmmm must say that I have several rifles which the rar sight has been removed but still carry the front sights, however a lot of those sights are soldered or brazed on so I am not about to use heat to remove them

others have hidden screws so they remain as well.

Now babbyc1000,

Methinks you need first to check that the scope and rifle are set up properly ............... and you need to practice using the scopes more. Learning to shoot an SA80 or cadet rifles is not good training for using a sporting rifle. Remember that the SA80 was designed by a committee

and produced in as a cheap a way as possible despite this it has cost an absolute fortune due to incompetance.

With a sporting rifle correctly set up when you raise the rifle to your shoulder the sights align and your looking at the target be it paper or game

. With the military it's "One size fits all" and sorry it don't work very well

.

babbyc1000 · #9 11-18-2006, 01:45 PM

no im not saying that, its more of a case that with the target being so close and moving, and the magnification of the sight ive lost a few short range shots due to trying to find the target.

the cadet rifles all use iron sights anyway, plus the susat on the sa80 is only 2x or maybe 3x magnification, when i used it i always kept both eyes open as the magnification wasnt too big, just concentrated on right eye once id spotted a target - well thats how i worked! now with the other rifle scope i found i was getting bit disorientated tho probly had the magnification up too high (goes from 3 to 9!)

tho getting back to the original point, i reckon should always leave the front sight on no matter what!