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Iron sights

Chef

By Chef,
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Chef Grand Master

Chef

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So who here still hunts with iron sights. I really want to take a deer with my Garand this year but am worried about those early morning shots with iron sights. Curious to see what you guys think.

 

 

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Daveboone Proficient

Daveboone

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I have aperture sights on two model 94s and a Krag. The key need is practice. A lot of folks never learn the secret to shooting with open sights is NOT t use to use the  center of the front sight as the aiming point (as it covers a huge target area) but to use the top edge of the sight as your aiming point. A very fine hold can be done.

Next, get to a range as late in the day as you can to practice those low light shots. I have to admit, while I am totally confident in my aiming with apertures under ideal conditions, for early morning and late evening sits I still prefer my scope.

Probably the biggest adjustment for you with your Garand is just lugging it around!

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Chef Grand Master

Chef

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I have aperture sights on two model 94s and a Krag. The key need is practice. A lot of folks never learn the secret to shooting with open sights is NOT t use to use the  center of the front sight as the aiming point (as it covers a huge target area) but to use the top edge of the sight as your aiming point. A very fine hold can be done.
Next, get to a range as late in the day as you can to practice those low light shots. I have to admit, while I am totally confident in my aiming with apertures under ideal conditions, for early morning and late evening sits I still prefer my scope.
Probably the biggest adjustment for you with your Garand is just lugging it around!

Hahah yea it’s heavy for sure. If I do take it out it will be to one of my stands. I have them situated where they are all pretty easy to get to


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wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

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When I was 16, I missed the first antlered buck that I ever shot at with iron-sights.   The next season, I put a 1-1/2 power Weaver scope on that old Ithaca 16 gauge slug gun and have mostly used scopes since then.   Over the years, since that first iron-sight mishap, I have shot at (3) more deer with them, using my Remington 870 smoothbore slug gun with.  Two of those were clean (1) shot kills at about 50 yards, which is the range that I always sight that gun in at.   

The third was also a clean kill, but took (2) shots.  Hunting at home, I only use the slug gun with iron sights on extremely rainy days.  A button buck stepped out of the cover, as soon as the pouring rain stopped, and was feeding on clover about 100 yards away.  My first shot was clearly high, as indicated by the patch of dirt that flew up behind him.  He was not bothered much by that shot, just raised his head briefly and went back to feeding.  I aimed a tad lower and brought him down in his tracks with my second shot, striking the spine at the shoulder.  I have several enclosed blinds around home now, so I may not use the iron sights anymore around here.  

When hunting up in the northern zone with my Marlin 336BL, I will use fiber-optic iron sights on rainy days.  Those seem to work real well in low light situations.   If you are real concerned about low-light situations it would likely be simple to mount some of those on your garand.  If I had one, I would definitely want to try it on a deer and I would use the factory sights, but I would only take the shot if I was comfortable with the sight picture.  That might mean sleeping in a little later, or packing it up early.

I am very comfortable with iron sight, because I take thousands of practice shots with them every year.  Most of those involve cutting suspended beer cans in half, with an adult-stocked Daisy red-ryder bb-gun, off the back deck.  5000 bb's costs just $ 5.00.  The only "real" bullets that I fire are at "real" deer and to check the zero on my weapons each season.            

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Rattler Newbie

Rattler

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I use a peep sight on my scopeless rifles.  I find it works well if you know how to use a peep properly.  Keep both eyes open and focus on putting the front sight where it needs to be.  It's clear and fast.  With both eyes open, the sight doesn't block out any of the target as you see a ghost of the sight on the target.  Proper cheek weld will automatically put your eye in the peep and the front sight is all you need to worry about at that point.

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NFA-ADK Rookie

NFA-ADK

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Good idea to have one of each, scoped and open sights.  As mentioned in bad weather open sights are a preferred method of hunting same when I am tracking and might need to make a quick shot.  If I am posting in a open area the scope comes out especially if I have a shot past 80 yards. 

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Chef Grand Master

Chef

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In my opinion open iron sights and darn near useless on a hunting rifle. A quality peep is a different story.


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Well that’s a good point and the Garand actually is a peep not iron sights


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nyslowhand Enthusiast

nyslowhand

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On 9/2/2019 at 9:13 AM, rachunter said:

I want to put a scope on my .54 cal. caplock.My eyes are terrible.I was shooting it last weekend and anything over 50-60 yards gets a pass.

It was a sacrilege and would make any traditional BP shooter cringe - I put a 2X red dot scope on my TC Renegade due to my failing eyesight. Even with that s/u my shots were probably within the ~80yrd range.

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rachunter Experienced

rachunter

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5 hours ago, nyslowhand said:

It was a sacrilege and would make any traditional BP shooter cringe - I put a 2X red dot scope on my TC Renegade due to my failing eyesight. Even with that s/u my shots were probably within the ~80yrd range.

Exactly why I haven't,but my eyes are only going to get worse.I'm going to look into having it drilled and tapped. It's also a TC reneagde

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Pygmy Experienced

Pygmy

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22 hours ago, Chef said:


Well that’s a good point and the Garand actually is a peep not iron sights


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I do have issues with my Garand's issue sights under  low light conditions, although in normal daylight it is fine...

On my old TC Hawken, when I began to have problems seeing the open sights I  installed a tang peep sight and then drilled the aperture out to about 1/8 inch... It works well and I have killed quite a few deer with it, plus  my one and only bull elk...

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stubborn1VT Proficient

stubborn1VT

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On 9/2/2019 at 1:47 AM, Buckmaster7600 said:

When it’s game time and there’s snow on the ground and I’m tracking in the Adks I wouldn’t be caught dead with a scope. For all other hunting I would hate to be without an optic of some sort.


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How come?  I thought you were a big believer in low power optics for quick target acquisition.

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nyslowhand Enthusiast

nyslowhand

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19 hours ago, rachunter said:

Exactly why I haven't,but my eyes are only going to get worse.I'm going to look into having it drilled and tapped. It's also a TC reneagde

Gunsmith used existing D&T hole from OEM rear sight to install the red-dot scope. For whatever reason, he didn't want to D&T any new holes himself.  This was ~15yrs ago, so maybe there are some better mounting options today! Not the most secure mounting, but when you don't have much choice other than hanging up the rifle...

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