iron sights

[crankycalico]

Is there a chance of actual iron sights on modern rifles anymore?

What I DO see is merely cheap shotgun sights put on them, never could stand them on a shotgun, and hate them on a muzzle loader.

By actual iron sight I mean, what you get on a 91/30, 03 springfield, enfield, etc... What savage uses on their "scout" or "hog hunter line" are a joke of a joke in my opinion. That type of sight doesn't work on a 10/22 in my opinion..

Is there modern choice, or do I merely need to get my desired rifle, toss on a heavy barrel to get some meat for installing what ever surplus sight I can find online and finding someone who can figure out correct graduation scale for new barrel length and caliber?

[samari46]

My newest rifle is a Ruger American compact in 7.62x39 no provision for iron sights. I'd have to look at some of my other bolt guns but reasonably sure scopes only not even holes for irons. Course my mil surps all have iron sights. Friend bought an old Rem sendero to try his hand at high power and had to get his rifle drilled and tapped for irons. Redfield before they went out of business used to make their Olympic, international and Palma sights. Along with their globe front target sights. Even after all these years those sights ain't cheap. Warners are probably the best target sight out as far as I know. About the only rifles drilled and tapped today are the various lever actions. I usually remove the barrel mounted rear and install a williams. the slot where the sight was gets plugged with one of the marbles steel gizmo. Frank

[Hick]

My CZ 527-- a new rifle, is set up for iron sights or scope. Same for my Henry. I wouldn't buy a rifle if it did not have provisions for iron sights.

[Walks]

Remington 700 bdl

[rking22]

simple answer, no probably not. No one in the industry seems to know or care what good open sights look like or how they should work. And, that goes back decades! Now CZ 527, at least my hornetand, some Ruger NO1s come with functional open sights. My 7.62x39 NO1 was zeroed from the factory for surplus at 100yards. When I want good open sights I buy a prewar rifle, that's WWII for you younger folk. Once scopes became common sights became junk that none used!
I did pick up a commercial Mauser in 30-06 that has great sights, mid 50s vintage Belgium gun, so relatively modern are out there.

[crankycalico]

simple answer, no probably not. No one in the industry seems to know or care what good open sights look like or how they should work. And, that goes back decades! Now CZ 527, at least my hornetand, some Ruger NO1s come with functional open sights. My 7.62x39 NO1 was zeroed from the factory for surplus at 100yards. When I want good open sights I buy a prewar rifle, that's WWII for you younger folk. Once scopes became common sights became junk that none used!
I did pick up a commercial Mauser in 30-06 that has great sights, mid 50s vintage Belgium gun, so relatively modern are out there.

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/...+4473+Required that comes with a peep on the receiver, but not a cartridge...

some of the ruger and savage scout rifles come with a rough rear aperture sight sometimes sold for turkey shotguns.. not exactly up to snuff....

Although with the number of companies making rear sights for the M14... perhaps one of those can be made to fit a receiver ring?

[Petrol & Powder]

There are still old Redfield and Lyman receiver sights out there. They're not cheap but they are industrial works of art.

The rifle makers know that the vast majority of their customers will equip the rifle with a scope and there's no need to put sights on a rifle that will wear a scope its entire life. That's just the state of affairs.

If you want high quality iron sights you're going to have to pay for them.

[crankycalico]

There are still old Redfield and Lyman receiver sights out there. They're not cheap but they are industrial works of art.

The rifle makers know that the vast majority of their customers will equip the rifle with a scope and there's no need to put sights on a rifle that will wear a scope its entire life. That's just the state of affairs.

If you want high quality iron sights you're going to have to pay for them.

Whats the best option then, front sight is critical and most barrels don't seem to have enough metal at the muzzle for anything other then a shotgun bead.

[Rich/WIS]

Band type replacement sights used to be available, not sure if that is still true. Sight would slip on the end of the barrel and was held by either a set screw in the sight or soldered in place, sometimes both. Turn up on E-bay quite frequently, need to know your barrel diameter as they come in various sizes and heights.

[KenT7021]

You should be able to find various band type front sights from Numrich.Plain ramp front sights can be installed using low temp silver solder.

[JoeJames]

Agreed. My Rossi R92 has buckhorn sights that are, at least to me, a bit better than the Henry Big Boy buckhorn sights, but the Rossi is not drilled and tapped for a receiver sight. I plan on getting a Williams 94-36 sight, and having my gunsmith do the installing. Decent rear sights, and using a sling for something more than toting the rifle are both a thing of the past. Private rant here, but when was the last time you saw anyone using a sling as a hasty sling for support when shooting?

[crankycalico]

Agreed. My Rossi R92 has buckhorn sights that are, at least to me, a bit better than the Henry Big Boy buckhorn sights, but the Rossi is not drilled and tapped for a receiver sight. I plan on getting a Williams 94-36 sight, and having my gunsmith do the installing. Decent rear sights, and using a sling for something more than toting the rifle are both a thing of the past. Private rant here, but when was the last time you saw anyone using a sling as a hasty sling for support when shooting?

this morning, when I was testing my first cast rifle loads standing in da field.

CZ says they don't make sights with sights like a springfield or mauser or enfield, because "there is no market segment for it". THEN they refer me to two custom companies that turn out ONLY to work on HANDGUNS.

I don't have the ability to do it myself

[junkbug]

New England Custom Guns sell peep sights that mount to the integral bases of CZ-550 and Ruger M-77 rifles. Also banded front sights and express rear sights. The front and rear sights take gunsmithing effort to mount. The peep sights do not.


https://www.newenglandcustomgun.com/...ces/Sights.asp

[country gent]

Using the M1A/M14 Garand rear sight you will need to make the base for it or find a scrapped receiver to salvage the mount base from for the after market sight. The base is forged into the receiver itself. The windage elevation shaft holds the sight in and its holes détentes are in it. the spring clip tensions it. Even some of the NM sights need some tuning to repeat and be accurate. It can be done, but may be a lot of work to do. With the after market sights available. Centra, RPA, PNW all made make aperture rear sights that mount on a dovetail ( 3/8" or 1") so a piece of brownels dovetail blank drilled and tapped for the rear scope block would mount it. Also skinner and others make good sights. A front sight that mounts around the barrel can look very good if done right. I have made barrel band front sights in the past. A bore sized to barrel dia with a .060-.080 wall thickness and a ramp on top with the appropriate dovetail for front sight of choice.

[Texas by God]

Why would you want a tangent military rear sight at all? They are graduated for one bullet at one velocity. The sight picture of the military rifle before the P14 wasn't that good, especially Mauser and Mosins. Those type sights are obsolete for a reason.
Bill Ruger's M77 was the first non- sighted bolt action sporter, others followed as customers wanted the smooth look. We got what we wished for. For $100-$200, you can have pretty good sights put on most any sightless rifle. A scope will still be better for placing those Bullets where it counts.

[crankycalico]

The sight notch on my 24/47 DOES leave something to be desired, but practice makes perfect. Their are very good photos of people doing precision shooting with mausers and enfields and mosins and don't forget NRA matchs with those obsolete springfields, garands, and so forth.

Alvin York did a pretty good job proving those obsolete sights work, just merely saying. The introduction of commercially available scopes was the reason ruger did the m77 as a scope only rifle. Very much less cost in production.

If your building a rifle, say 22 rimfire for expedience in discussion, its far far simpler to merely send it drilled and tapped for receiver mounts then it is to put a set of irons on it.

The secret I found, by using a cousins mosin nagant, is that with the rear military tangent sight, I can compensate for individual loads very easier. When you discover that Winchester fmj hits a foot lower then your typical factory hunting ammo, instead of having to use Kentucky elevation, you simply take a few minutes and raise the rear sight until your on target again.
Sure you might kill 3 or 4 rounds to realize that you need to use the 250 yard setting to be on target at 100 yards, but you can always reliably get that setting adjustment. And its rather hard to get consistent Kentucky elevation with a scope by estimating how many inches your holding up.

Besides I like them. I once had a pellet rifle that the scope broke on, and while I was waiting for a peep sight to come in the mail, I made myself a springfield style rear ladder sight with an index card, a hole punch, and a paper clip and some tape.

[Texas by God]

Alvin Yorks rifle had peep sights. The M17 paved the way to better sights and the military never looked back. Good scopes pre dated the 1968 release of the M77 by years. I understand your preference in sights but I don't share them is all. AKs and SKS sights in particular bug me!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[crankycalico]

scopes are fine, but I need large objectives for some reason. And anything with more then 2 horizontal lines just become big blobs for me as well.

[JSnover]

simple answer, no probably not. No one in the industry seems to know or care what good open sights look like or how they should work. And, that goes back decades!

I think that's only part of the problem. Good open sights are available but they aint cheap. Good vintage open sights are also out there but they'll cost even more. You'd pay scrap prices for them if no one knew or cared what they were.
I have a bid on what appears to be a Parker Hale AGA tang sight for about half the current market value because the owner can't identify it. Mount a sight like that on a new rifle, you'll add $75-$150 to the price and buyers will walk away. Some folks don't know what quality is and some don't want to pay for it.

[crankycalico]

im starting to get the impression from companies that they feel its fine for rimfire to have any sort of iron sight on them because "kids don't need scopes" but for a center fire they only want to put a scope on it.