Open Sights

[crankbait]

Hello,
I would like to replace the sights on my Winchester Model 94 with a rear peep sight and was wondering about the choices that are available. Also, what choices in front sights, to complement the peep, are there? Would you remove the front hood? I am hunting in the bottoms of East Texas where a long shot is 50 yards. And you can guess what the light conditions are at 6:30 in the morning in a hardwood bottom. I am interested in using this rifle without a scope, since I have other scoped rifles. Just enjoy shooting a lever gun with open sights, you know? I would like to hear from some of you guys with experience in this area.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[C A Plater]

Hello,  
I would like to replace the sights on my Winchester Model 94 with a rear peep sight and was wondering about the choices that are available. Also, what choices in front sights, to complement the peep, are there? Would you remove the front hood? I am hunting in the bottoms of East Texas where a long shot is 50 yards. And you can guess what the light conditions are at 6:30 in the morning in a hardwood bottom. I am interested in using this rifle without a scope, since I have other scoped rifles. Just enjoy shooting a lever gun with open sights, you know? I would like to hear from some of you guys with experience in this area.  

 
 
With one exception, all my lever guns have aperture rear sights. I usually replace the front blade and always remove the hood.  Most of the rear sights are Williams FP models but I have a Lyman and Redfield rear when I find the right one.  I've experimented with several different front blades and have come to favor the stronger sourdough (or is it partridge) blade over the bead.   The fiber optic fronts are a bit on the fragile side for my tastes but do give a good sight picture.  You will find hoods to just get in the way.   With most you peeps, you can remove the rear aperture and have a "ghost ring" for the real early and late shooting hours.  At 50 yards the peeps are as accurate as the same rifle with a scope for me.

[williek]

First, I agree with most of the prior post except for the need for the hood on the front sight.  He likes it without, and he probably has good reasons.  I like it with the hood for these reasons.
1. Keep the hood on but get a front sight installed that is high enough to have the dot very close to being in the middle of the circle the hood makes.
2. Adjust the peep sight so you hit dead on at 100 yards. (We are talking heavy woods here.  I hunt in heavy woods and brush in northern Minnesota where 100 yards is a long shot. You will only be about an inch high at 50 yards.)
3. Unscrew the peep insert from the sight and store in a safe place.
4. Now is the interesting part.
When you look through the sights you will see a circle within a circle with the dot of the front sight in the middle of the smaller circle.  Your brain really wants to place the smaller circle in the exact center of the larger circle, and will do so without your really thinking about it, which in turn makes this a really accurate sight.
Secondly, this is really a fast sight because when you have one of those brown bombs ripping through the brush about ten or fifteen yards from you, all you need is brown hair inside the front hood in the general area of the kill zone and you have meat on the table.
I have this setup on a Ruger .44 Mag Carbine.  It's my go to gun for drives in heavy woods and brush.  I have taken a number of deer with it and have never lost one.  That slow moving lead pumpkin has killing power way beyond its statistics.
Try very hard to shoot with both eyes open- it makes it even faster.
Good hunting,
williek

[crankbait]

Thanks CA Plater and Williek for your replies. I will look into the sights made by Williams, Lyman and Redfield. I realize that everyone has their own opinion, but which one do you guys think is the best to use?

Thanks again.

[williek]

Williams- hands down winner.
Very sturdy and don't have alot of junk in the way to obstruct your vision.  I have had all or most of the other makes and I now have only Williams on my shorter range rifles.  However, remember when I said put that insert in a safe place?  Put it in the sight at a bench with sand bags and you may be surprised at just how accurately you can shoot at 200 yards.
Never forget that there are many competition shooters out there shooting matches at 500 yards with peep sights and they would embarass many shooters using scopes.
Good luck this fall,
williek

[Winter Hawk]

I'll step in this also.  I too use the Williams receiver sights with a "Sourdough Patridge" (not partridge) front sight.  I have used this combo since 1964.  I like a hood because for my 60+ year old eyes, the sun on the gold turns into a huge blob of light out on the end of the barrel.

Williams Foolproof is the way to go if you have the bucks.  The 5D is the Foolproof without the click screw adjustments.  The WGRS is a little less precise to adjust but less bulky than the other two.

I bought the smallest aperture Williams makes and use that for sighting in.  It will equal a low power scope.  Then I use their "twilight" aperture in the field.  With our rainy weather here in SE Alaska, this is a very sensible setup.  No foggy or wet optics.  The rifle is handier to carry without a scope also.

I had a small problem a while back.  I was on my belly, getting ready to bag a nice little forkhorned buck, but when I tried to find him through the sights he disappeared!  There was a small leaf inside the aperture.  I had to unscrew it and blow it out, then reinstall it.  In the mean time the buck and his girl friend stood there looking at me.  Very cooperative, and he ended up in the freezer.  The shot paced out at 120 yards, and hammered him at point of aim in the neck.

-WH-

[williek]

I put my first 5D Williams sight on in 1962.  
It was called the 5D because it cost 5 Dollars!!!!!!!
My!  The times they are a Changin'. When I tell the grandchildren these things, they just look bored.  Perhaps with good reason.
williek