The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Hide > The Hunt

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old September 26, 2012, 11:40 PM   #1
SIGSHR
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 13, 2005
Posts: 4,700
Hunting with iron sights.

Does anyone here hunt with iron sights, i.e. no scope mounted? I don't mean exclusively, but now and then?
SIGSHR is offline  
Old September 26, 2012, 11:50 PM   #2
cornbush
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 29, 2008
Location: The retarded place below Idaho
Posts: 1,408
Yup, sporterized Arisaka with model 70 winchester sights
__________________
The best shot I ever made was an accident
cornbush is offline  
Old September 26, 2012, 11:53 PM   #3
mrawesome22
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 9, 2005
Location: Ohio, Appalachia's foothills.
Posts: 3,779
Yes.

sudo passwd root
mrawesome22 is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 02:23 AM   #4
Regolith
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 30, 2008
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 400
Yes, usually when hunting small game, such as ground squirrels or rabbits.
Regolith is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 03:33 AM   #5
BfloBill
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 2, 2010
Location: Buffalo, N.Y.
Posts: 457
I took a couple deer with Williams peep sights on my Marlin, then scoped it. I am going to do the scope one more year then go back to the peep sights. I don't really have a good reason, just like changing my setup once in a while. With my previous deer gun (Ithaca 37) I took deer with iron sights, scope, and a red dot.
BfloBill is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 06:18 AM   #6
bird_dog
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 26, 2004
Posts: 225
I've killed deer (and coyotes) with open sights on my handguns, shotguns and rifles.

Lately though, especially when being concerned with quick, humane kills (and shorter tracking jobs), I've pretty much switched to hunting with scopes (red-dots on the handguns and shotgun).

Lots of critters have been killed with open sights but these days I like to have every advantage I can.

The last hunting gun I have with open sights is my SBH 357. I'll still use it, but more as a backup during hunting season or on tracking jobs.
bird_dog is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 06:43 AM   #7
mete
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 14, 2004
Location: NY State
Posts: 6,575
I learned the proper way -without scope !
All my handguns are iron sighted . This year it's going to be a rifle with iron sights .All my iron sights are proper Patridge sights which is what I learned with.
__________________
And Watson , bring your revolver !
mete is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 08:05 AM   #8
tahoe2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 13, 2011
Location: Seattle area
Posts: 661
Marlin 336 with a peep/post for Pacific Northwest Coastal woods. You need quick target acquisition in these conditions!
tahoe2 is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 08:05 AM   #9
Rifleman1776
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 25, 2010
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 3,309
As a lover of traditional muzzle loaders that is what I use mostly as do many others who do not use modern rifles for hunting.
Open iron sights work, as they have for many centuries.
Rifleman1776 is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 08:25 AM   #10
chewie146
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 25, 2010
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 853
See my post with the coyote. No scope on that Saiga.



chewie146 is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 11:29 AM   #11
Edward429451
Junior member
 
Join Date: November 12, 2000
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Posts: 9,494
I have hunted with a scope in the past, but scopes are expensive and fragile so I switched to iron peeps, and set up my sons guns with peeps also. I have two Deer to my credit with peeps, my son nailed a bull Elk with peeps, I have a friend who took a Mule Deer with the funky factory barrel mounted ramp sight on his 336 30/30!

Iron sights rock. They bring home the bacon, cost less than scopes, and teach a valuable skill to fall back on if you should ever break a scope that you do use.
Edward429451 is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 11:59 AM   #12
YARDDOG(1)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 24, 2008
Location: GATOR COUNTRY HA HA HA!
Posts: 721
"[As a lover of traditional muzzle loaders that is what I use mostly as do many others who do not use modern rifles for hunting.
Open iron sights work, as they have for many centuries]"


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Exactly, Durring BP season
Y/D
__________________
There's a GATOR in the bushes & She's Callin my name
>Molly Hatchett<
YARDDOG(1) is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 01:07 PM   #13
WV_gunner
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 14, 2011
Location: WV
Posts: 938
I am really starting to hate scopes. They can be a pain. I've deer hunted for 10 years with scopes. Last year I shot a deer at over 400 yards with my Savage 110 .243 rifle. But I can't remember how many I couldn't get a shot on because they were running and the scope just slowed me down. Plus with the rain, fog, and dark scopes can be annoying. This week I went rifle hunting my first time ever without a scope, bear hunted for the first time too. I have to say even though I didn't even see a bear, I absolutely love using sights. Much less of a headache. I'll trade a crazy long distance shot for a few close range shots, fine with me.
WV_gunner is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 01:22 PM   #14
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
 
Join Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Austin, CO
Posts: 19,578
Quote:
Originally Posted by WV_gunner
I am really starting to hate scopes. They can be a pain. I've deer hunted for 10 years with scopes. Last year I shot a deer at over 400 yards with my Savage 110 .243 rifle. But I can't remember how many I couldn't get a shot on because they were running and the scope just slowed me down. Plus with the rain, fog, and dark scopes can be annoying. This week I went rifle hunting my first time ever without a scope, bear hunted for the first time too. I have to say even though I didn't even see a bear, I absolutely love using sights. Much less of a headache. I'll trade a crazy long distance shot for a few close range shots, fine with me.
I have the exact opposite opinion.

I have hunted with both "open" sights and scopes. Spent a good 10 years hunting deer without a scope.

I can't stand not having optics. Every gun I've ever owned has been scoped (yes, the years I hunted deer with open sights it wasn't my gun).

One year, I tried an unmagnified Red Dot on my shotgun. I'm so used to picking tiny little spots to shoot at that I couldn't get myself to pull the trigger on any of a group of doe just 70 or so yards away. That thing went away that night and I went back to a 3-9x

I typically move about with my scopes set on at least 5, sometimes 7 power. I have taken (and hit) shots on running deer as close as 15 or 20 feet with the scope on 5x and never had target acquisition issues.

The only thing I can think with people who have trouble with scopes is that they bring their heads to the gun instead of the gun to their heads. If you're looking at the target and bring the gun to your eye, it will be, by necessity, aimed at the target.

Anyway, in reference to the OP, yes I have hunted with open sights. I can hit with them just fine, I just hate it. Does archery count? I still have "open sights" on my bow!
__________________
Nobody plans to screw up their lives...
...they just don't plan not to.
-Andy Stanley
Brian Pfleuger is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 02:07 PM   #15
Woody55
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 19, 2012
Location: East Texas
Posts: 407
Yes. My primary hunting rifle is a Winchester 94 Ranger with a Williams peep sight on it. I usually can't see anything more than 50 yards away. When the light is bad or if I am walking, I take the screw in thing with the aperture out and use (the larger) hole that's left behind as the rear sight.

I have a bolt action rifle with a scope, but unless I'm going somewhere that I am going to be shooting over 100 yards, I don't use it.
Woody55 is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 02:34 PM   #16
doofus47
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 9, 2010
Location: live in a in a house when i'm not in a tent
Posts: 2,483
cornbush:
Quote:
Yup, sporterized Arisaka with model 70 winchester sights
we might have to compare notes. I just bought a stock Arisaka (peeps) and I'm taking it into the woods with me next month!

Good luck!
__________________
I'm right about the metric system 3/4 of the time.
doofus47 is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 05:11 PM   #17
Sure Shot Mc Gee
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 2, 2012
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 3,876
Better than1/2 century with no scope while walking on Mother Earth. Peeps & Iron sights. It's a matter of choice at the time for me.
Sure Shot Mc Gee is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 05:53 PM   #18
WV_gunner
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 14, 2011
Location: WV
Posts: 938
It's too hard to find a moving target in brush with a scope. They get behind cover or over the ridge. I don't have a problem finding targets in a scope, just ones running behind cover. Plus with bad weather conditions, I've had so many annoying issues. It's just so much simpler to use sights to me.
WV_gunner is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 06:20 PM   #19
Old Grump
Member in memoriam
 
Join Date: April 9, 2009
Location: Blue River Wisconsin, in
Posts: 3,144
All my guns but 3 are iron sighted and one of those 3 I don't hunt with.
__________________
Good intentions will always be pleaded for any assumption of power. The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern will, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.
--Daniel Webster--
Old Grump is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 06:33 PM   #20
Rembrandt
Senior Member
 
Join Date: August 10, 2002
Posts: 2,108
Now and then I like to go retro.....1948 Winchester 52B Sporter with Lyman 48F peeps.

Rembrandt is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 07:05 PM   #21
SerenityNetworks
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 13, 2012
Location: Allen, TX
Posts: 416
I've never hunted with a scope. Then at 56 (my age) my dad gave me a still-in-box 1982 Browning BBR. I've put a 3-9x50 Nikon on it, practiced at the range, and am anxious to go hunting with it this fall.

I hope it lives up to my expectations.

But kind of to your point, I'm teaching a 9 year old boy to shoot. The first time out we were with a friend and his boys. We had a selection of .22s and he fired them all. He loved the scoped rifles. Then we were at the range this last weekend and I was more serious about technique, since he had a good solid start on safety. From bags he shot both a scoped .22 and a non-scoped .22. But he greatly preferred the scoped rifle. Then the last thing before we left I spent some time getting a sling adjusted for him on the non-scoped rifle.

Sitting with the sling and using iron sights he shot a significantly better group at 25 yards than he did with the scoped rifle on bags. Then we left :-) Last night his mom told me he had commented that the scopes were cool, but maybe he didn't need them :-)

NRA Life Member
------------------------
"There are some ideas so preposterous that only an intellectual will believe them." - Malcolm Muggeridge
SerenityNetworks is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 10:52 PM   #22
CCCLVII
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 16, 2012
Location: Idaho
Posts: 432
I have never had a scope on my shot guns....

My 458 Lott never will be scoped.
__________________
Always looking for a good hunt!
CCCLVII is offline  
Old September 27, 2012, 11:24 PM   #23
shortwave
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 17, 2007
Location: SOUTHEAST, OHIO
Posts: 5,970
A mixed bag for hunting.
Some scoped...some not:

Pistols are divided. Three with, four without...a couple with Accudots.

C/F Rifles: two with, one without.

Black powder: Inlines, three with, one without.
Sidelocks, four without.

Several Shotguns, zero scoped.

Note...as I get older the eyes seem to be fading much faster then my desire to quit hunting. I'm finding the scopes are becoming more of a friend.

Last edited by shortwave; September 29, 2012 at 01:17 AM.
shortwave is offline  
Old September 28, 2012, 07:36 PM   #24
paleodog
Member
 
Join Date: March 11, 2011
Location: SW Georgia
Posts: 30
Hunting with iron sights

1895 Marlin 45-70 with aperture rear sight. You can eat right up to the hole with cast bullets.
paleodog is offline  
Old September 29, 2012, 09:20 AM   #25
jmr40
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 15, 2008
Location: Georgia
Posts: 10,792
I occasionally use one of my iron sighted lever guns. But from a practical perspective scopes do everything better. If you are having trouble getting on target quickly, or having reliablity issues with a scope you are either doing something wrong or using the wrong scope.

In good light, with quality sights, I can hit deer sized game just as far away with irons as with a scope. It is not the magnification. A quality scope, designed for hunting helps you see your target better. It doesn't matter what conditions you hunting in. Close range, low light, bad weather, moving targets are all picked up and seen better with some sort of optic.

The problem is that everyone wants to skimp on the cost of optics and try to buy the cheapest SNIPER scope they can find and put it on a hunting rifle. They end up with a heavy scope with too much magnification, too little eye relief and cheap glass that is a handicap to them.

Put a lightweight, low powered scope with generous eye relief and quality glass on a deer rifle, learn to shoot with both eyes open and the difference is amazing.
jmr40 is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:24 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.07625 seconds with 8 queries