Lyman 17 front sight..

[NHlever]

Is anyone using this front sight on a 94 Winchester. I do a lot more paper shooting than hunting these days for medical reasons, and was hoping the lowest Lyman #17 would work. I have a scoped Marlin, but I do still like the 94 Winchester's pretty well, and can still use the right combination receiver sight pretty well. I have the standard white bead on my Dad's old 94, and can shoot pretty good groups with it, but it requires a pretty large target to center the bead.

[Dan Cash]

I am using this sight but on 336 Marlins. On a gun where the sight dovetail is directly behind the front band, you will have to do soome file work to the sight to clear the band but it takes about 10 minutes and looks sanitary. Go to Buffalo Arms and order a $20.00 card of sight reticles. They are much better than the reticles provided by Lyman. The sight is a practical option for hunting as well.
\Dan

[gnoahhh]

I've done that quite often on "standard" hunting rifles. The major drawback is the chance of the sights getting battered up from repeated removal. If you're going to do this and leave it on forever, I say why not. One statement has me scratching my head though, and that's the reference to centering the bead on the bullseye. That's a less-than-efficient way to do it. Indeed you do need a pretty big bullseye . Try using a 6 o'clock hold and see if things improve. That'll allow the use of a smaller bull. "Aim small, hit small".

[BruceB]

All three of my lever rifles have Lyman 17 front sights. A Marlin 36 (NOT 336)and a Winchester Model 64, both in .32 Special, and a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, all are much easier to shoot with decent front sights. They all have receiver-mounted aperture sights, as well.

If I intended to hunt with these rifles, and was concerned about the fragility of the sight inserts, note that the inserts can easily be doubled-up (or even tripled!) and thus made much stronger. A bit of care in avoiding front-sight damage will do the rest.

My sights always carry the post-style inserts, because all my training and iron-sight shooting has been with such styles. They offer positive elevation control, and are highly-visible under most conditions. At the zeroing distance, bullet impact is precisely at the top edge of the post.

The 17 sights are a very neat and high-quality route to vast improvement in the sight picture. I also have them on rifles other than lever-actions, and would not be without them if given a choice.

[Larry Gibson]

I also use the Lyman 17s and older Redfields on several rifles including my M94AE Blk Shadow which has a Lyman reciever sight on it. Like Bruce I use the post insert and have used them in hunting without worry about damage.

Larry Gibson

[doubs43]

The Lyman 17 series of globe sights have been around forever and that speaks highly of the design. There is no reason why you shouldn't put one on your '94 Winchester as long as you follow gnoahhh's advice to keep it on and not continually remove it. Other good advice you've gotten is to use a 6 O'clock hold; i.e., sit the bullseye on top of the front sight post with a sliver of white showing between. You'll quickly appreciate the improvement in your sight picture and ability to aim more precisely.

[MGySgt]

Lyman 17 - when I am working a load up for the rifle, I find a front sight insert that is a circle. The front sight circle should appear a little bit larger than the bulls eye you are shooting at.

You now have a Circle within a Circle and a bulls eye. Your eye will automaticly try to align them. Even if the target is a little fuzzy - you can still center it because it is the same fuzzieness all the way around.

This is the most accurate setup for target - sucks for hunting (I too use a center post for hunting).

After load development - switch to a center post and re-zero the fifle.

You would be surprissed at the difference in group size between a post and a circle.

Drew

[NHlever]

I too use the six o'clock hold when I have a post front sight, and I have made a few "sourdough" style sights for that purpose. Millett also makes a ramp front sight that works well on guns that have the dovetail directly in the barrel, and I have the red one on both my Winchester 94 pistol caliber guns. They make them in bright red, and white, and they are about .100 wide. ( I have a .357, and a .44), and they work really well for hunting, and plinking. With the bead though I have trouble getting away from a center hold. I missed a good buck once because I sighted in with the six o'clock hold, and when he left his bed in a hurry, I just naturally centered the bead where I wanted the boolit to go. He thanked me with a tail wave, and disappeared in the brush. It's been hard for me to get over that, and it happened many years ago, and I am still stuck on centering a bead style sight......... I know I should change, and lots of practice would make it natural.
My main concern with the Lyman #17 was that it would be too high when used on the ramp of a pre 64 Winchester. I do have a nice old Lyman receiver sight to put on the gun, andd it probably won't be used for any serious hunting....... maybe a little woods walking. Just came in from casting a bunch of Lee C-309-170-FN for it so I'm getting ready on that end.
Thanks to everyone for some very good input!

[Dan Cash]

NH,
The 17 comes in 3 different heights. My 336 saddle gun took the intermediate height sight. The shorter model should work fine on a ramp as it suits on my 336 SC which has a ramp. With both guns, I have a 100 yard zeero with the rear aperture sight bottomed out.

[NHlever]

Thanks Dan, that is the information I was mostly looking for along with a conversation about how they work out for folks.

[rintinglen]

I have them on two M-94s, a Marlin 1895 CB, a Marlin 1894 CB, aMarlin 39a, and just last month put one on my browning 53. I use them in Metallic silhouette Shooting, so I have to use a post. They are excellent. Mostly I have used the short one, AHB--I think. It is supposed to be .404. The others are higher and tend to cause issues at longer range. You run out of elevation if your boolit is slow and heavy and the range is far. Before you buy, measure the height of your current front sight from top of bead to the bottom of dovetail, and get the one closest in hieght to that measurement. Only use one if you are going to use a peep rear sight, they don't--at least for me--work too well with buckhorn or other traditional sights.