Iron Sights

Muddyboots said:

So @bamban posted a photo of him with kill in 1974 with rifle with iron sights.

So interesting question: have you ever killed a big game animal with iron sights and how long ago?

Me? I killed young buck with good old thurta thurta in a deer camp near @adk hunter. Year? 1970! And best part of that is I left new Case knife on a rock at kill site. I bet @adk hunter found it.

Click to expand...

Not yet but I'll keep an eye out. Was here a few days ago...Wilcox Lake.





Peep sights and Savage 99's are all I knew growing up! The two boys with winchesters or marlins were dating a few of the daughters. Didn't work out...

From 1958 to about 1965 used an octagon barrel 25-35 Winchester rifle that someone had cut the barrel down to make a saddle gun out of it. Harvested a number of mule deer with the rifle. Was my Dad's first rifle and he passed it down to me.

Only used iron sights with my muzzleloader. Usually required by statute. I've killed 7-8 deer. All close range, less than 100 yards.

Might have read it here, not sure

The deer camp beer can challenge
Everyone at camp gets a cold bore shot on a beer can at 100yds, whatever you brung.
(I've seen a lot of guys say I'm gonna shoot how far!?!, yes at 100 yards...) Lots of people don't practice shooting any more than 50yards with open sights.

I like to practice at 80-100yds with irons I think its 6" steel, offhand with a small centerfire "plinker" "yard popper" load. I tell my friends and son, practice with irons out that far, OFFHAND, and the rest will be "easy" when your out hunting (we hunt thick timber) but if you figured most still hunting, small game walking, or tree stand east coast are 50 yards and much closer for small game......its a code I live by.

Told my kid no scopes til your older and experienced, he shot 22 with a scope one day and was rapid firing hits, while I did congratulate him, that's too easy, he didn't know how to even line up irons at that point yet!!!!

I've killed a few blacktail and elk with an open sight traditional 50 cal muzzleloader. Hunting this year with an inline .54, still open sight.

I shot a deer with my No1MK3 standard iron sights at 150mts on river flats in the last roar (New Zealand south island).

Had a Slie .54 cal muzzle loader with the buckhorn style sights.
Killed maybe 8-10 deer and pigs with it. Probably no farther than 75yds maybe?
A 420gr Maxi Ball and 100grs Pyrodex was mean on both ends of it.
The shorter carbine model if I recall.
Dual triggers

Took my first deer with a '03A3 in 1975 - my dad and I put a Herters sporter stock on the beast and I used it with the military sights until the late 1980s. I still have it in the same configuration, no changes. It kicks like mad. We could use a rifle in northern Wisconsin, but had to use a shotgun in the other parts of the state. I've taken a number of deer with bead sighted shotguns as well since 1976 - a 1950's J.C. Higgins Model 583.19 in 20g and a 1955 M870 in 12g. That J.C. Higgins shoots slugs amazingly well.

I used my NM M1 Garand in 1987 then loaned it to my cousin for the next 8 years. It's taken 11 deer, and there are some crazy stories about it and my cousin told at deer camp every year. I'll be seeing those guys this Friday - at deer camp! Can't wait.

I still have all of those bang sticks - too many good memories and "firsts" to let them leave the family.

I'll add this. As I mentioned, I was only 14 when I got my Win. Model 88 in .308 Win.

Prior to that, thousands of rounds through a Benjamin Pump, and many hundreds of 22 Rim Fire……I had never looked through a scope.

I wanted to shoot that little .308 so badly, I guess that I didn't realize that that light rifle with plastic butt plate was supposed to hurt when shot.

Some of my more memorable shots would be….a couple Buzzards in flight, one crow in flight, a crow sitting on the ground @ around 200 yards, a can (303 I think) placed end facing me by an uncle that said I couldn't hit it @ around 100 yards - won that bet, can't count the number of snakes at distance lying on limbs, and Armadillos.

When you've done a lot of shooting with irons, are young with good eyes, love shooting more than breathing……you can do some pretty good shooting. I wish that I could shoot that good now…..can't see the irons nearly as good!

There's no substitute for great eyesight and thousands of rounds fired when using irons.

If there had been more deer where I hunted…..I think my deer kills would have been substantially higher. memtb

I killed more than a few critters with irons, and... not that very long ago.
Win 94 { circa } 1942 .30-30
Win 94 { circa } 1970 .44 Mag top eject
Win 71 { circa } 1952 .348 Win
Marlin 444 { circa } 1966 .444 Rem
Win 88 { circa } 1958 .308 Win
M96 Swede { circa? } 6.5x55 Swede

There were a few more, but... you get the point, I like IRON! Cheers

I don't think I shot a scoped gun for big game until I was about 24. By then I had killed over 70 deer, it was not uncommon to get 7-8 antlerless tags a season. A few with a shotgun, most with a $120 Traditions muzzleloader I bought at K-Mart with money from stacking hay bales.

Most of my guns have scopes or dots on them now. I still have a Marlin in 35 Rem with irons though I haven't taken a deer with it yet. I have a Ruger carbine in 44Mag and a T/C Omega ML with peep sights. Last deer with the Ruger was 4 years ago. Shot one with the T/C at 130 yards 2 years ago.