94 Winchester sight

[Sea Buck]

I resurrected my 94 Winnie from the depths of my gun safe. Bought from a hunting buddy's wife when he passed away years ago and never used by me. Circa 1950 and shows all the scars of many seasons, rain, belt buckles, trucks and handling. The rear sight was on the second notch and I couldn't get it on paper at about 75 yards. Frustrated, took it to 25 yards, moved the sight up to next to last notch and drilled the target dead center. I have left the sight there. The rear sight is full buck horn, the front sight is low with a ramp. Both appears to be original. Is this sight position normal as it seems high? Did Winchester have a set yardage increment for the notches or was it up to the user to find out for their self? Love this old gun, it has a 1000 hunting stories to tell!

[T. O'Heir]

Factory Win 94 sights of any vintage are poor to start with, but the ammo used matters too. So does the trigger pull. How it was sighted in when you got it is not how it'll be sighted in for you either. You must sight in for you.
If you're not reloading, you need to try a box of as many brands and bullet weights as you can to find the ammo that particular rifle shoots best. Then sight in with that ammo for you.
The front sight look like it may have been filed? Front sight blades came in different heights, but some people would file 'em instead of replacing 'em.

[Pathfinder45]

What ammo were you shooting Sea Buck?

[Sea Buck]

Pathfinder: I am shooting commercial Winchester 170 gr. Power Point. No reloads or mixed rounds. Just trying to make an antique sighting system on a 68 year old rifle work. Part of the problem may be me and my 75 yr old eyes !

[LineStretcher]

Its 25, 50, 75 to infinity. The weren't meant to be shot for more than 100 yards. It's a saddle gun or brush gun dont try to make it a precision rifle because it isn't and never will be.

That said, once you get to know the rifle you can shoot darn well with it because its light and easy to hold on target. Just practice.

I set mine on the highest step and use the hold over that I've learned.

[Pathfinder45]

I basically have the same rifle but made around 1942, one of the so-called, "wartime carbines". With 170 grain factory loads or equivalent reloads, I have to set the semi-buckhorn sight at the highest setting. On a good day, with excellent lighting, the sights seem to work pretty well. But there's a lot of room for improvement. I prefer 170 grain loads, but now I have the sight on the lowest setting and will probably replace it with a folding sight since I now have a Lyman tang mounted peep sight, which is a whole lot better, especially when the target is farther out there than the regular sight is reliable for.

[bamaranger]

What notch, and where the bullet lands accordingly, is largely dependent on the sight picture one uses. If one holds "fine" and buries the bead in the notch, point of impact will be very different than if one holds more coarsely and sets the front sight stem up in the notch with the front bead perched on top, clearly visible.

I'll ad that I've met more than one old timer, back when I was a kid and there were more iron sight shooters, that adjusted their buckhorn sights for coarse holding. With the front visible sight up out of the notch and the bead highly visible, the nearly oval buckhorn was used like a very large aperture or peep sight. That allowed to things: one,.... if shooting in a hurry or in poor light, one didn't need to finesse their hold and miss an opportunity on fleeting game, and two,.....if up in years and the peepers weren't what they used to be, the full coarse front sight hold was way easier to see.

I've got a buckhorn sight on a Remington 14 so arranged.

[Sea Buck]

Bama, Pathf.. thanks for the response. I think I'll leave the sight where it is and use the ghost ring approach. I read somewhere that a 25 yd zero is 2-3 inches high at 100 yds so if I ghost ring my target I should be in the ball park. Next opportunity I'll try a few rounds at 50, and 100 yds.

[ThomasT]

Bama gave a good post and is correct on the fact that most do not use the bead and U-Notch rear sight the same.

On my 94 I just installed a Williams receiver sight and have my gun sighted so that with the bead centered in the hole the biullet lands just a inch high at 75 yards and then dead on behind the bead at 125yards. Thats good enough for the way I use this gun.

I need to install a post front. I just never did like bead sights anyway. Too much guesswork IMHO.

[Pathfinder45]

For me, I actually like a fairly large bead front sight, painted brightly, that can be quickly acquired. I like a six-o'clock hold so that the target/deer can be clearly seen right on top of the bead. That's all for this rifle, mind you; another might be set up entirely different.

[Sea Buck]

thanks folks. Good information.