Guns 2011-02.pdf - Jeffersonian

was considered plenty good, even for
pronghorns at 400 yards.)
The bead subtended around 8" at
100 yards. An average caribou bull
measures around 21" to 22" from
top to bottom of the chest, so the
front sight on the Model 70 would
completely “cover” a bull’s chest
at around 250 yards. With the rifle
sighted-in 2" high at 100 yards, the
bullets landed close to the top of the
bead anywhere out to 250 yards, and
in the middle third of the bead from
275 to 350 yards.
The migration hadn’t started yet
and caribou were scarce. Several days
into the hunt I finally found a very old
bull with stumpy antlers. I like caribou
meat too much to go home without
any, and also had a second tag, just in
case a real trophy showed up later. So
I lay down on a tundra ridge and held
the bead on the bull’s chest. The bead
appeared a little larger than his chest,
indicating a range of over 300 yards,
so I centered the entire bead right on
his ribs and pulled the trigger.
At the shot he turned and started
trotting away, but in the same moment
I heard the thump of the bullet
striking his chest. I wanted to be sure,
so placed another shot in the middle
of his rump, between the steaks. He
went down and stayed down, and it
took over 350 long paces to reach him.
That’s the longest game shot I’ve
ever made (or attempted) with iron
sights, but I’ve taken many other
animals out to 200 yards or so. Out
to 200 yards, using iron sights isn’t
all that different than shooting with
scopes as long as there’s sufficient
light to see the sights, despite the
objections of hunters who’ve never
really used irons.
Too Fuzzy?
The two most common objections
are “the rear sight’s fuzzy” and “the
front sight covers the animal.” The
reason I’ve emphasized the front sight
so heavily is that’s what we use to aim.
If we can see the front sight and the
target clearly, then precise shooting is
relatively easy. The rear sight can be
very fuzzy, but that doesn’t matter as
long as we can see equal amounts of
light on each side of the front sight.
An aperture (peep) sight is more
easily used than an open-rear sight
because we look through the fuzzy
hole at the front sight, but even people
on the far side of 40 can use open-rear
sights if they just accept that the sight
will be somewhat out of focus. I’m
58, and use open sights for shooting
small varmints every year here in
Montana, usually with my Winchester
Model 62A .22 rimfire, and can still
hit ground squirrels and prairie dogs
Fifty years ago scopes weren’t nearly as reliable as they are now. Many hunters used detachable
mounts so they could switch to iron sights, as with this old Savage 99 (above). Some even had
scopes mounted high enough so they could switch to irons without even removing the scope, as on
this Mauser-action sporter built by Bill Sukalle (below).
Many older German rifles featured built-in,
flip-up tang sights for more accurate aiming
at longer ranges, such as this double rifle in
9.3x74R (left) and hammer drilling in 12 gauge
and .30-30 (right).
consistently out to 50 or more yards.
This practice makes shooting deer (or
really big game, such as Cape buffalo)
relatively easy.
However, placing the rear sight
further forward on the barrel can help.
This makes the sight radius smaller,
theoretically reducing accuracy, but
also makes the sight less fuzzy. This
makes up for any theory.
No, the front sight does not cover
up an animal, not unless we’re using
it wrong. If the animal is very small,
such as a rabbit or prairie dog, then
we aim with the very top of the sight,
using the 6 o’clock hold. If we’re
hunting big game the bead only covers
part of the animal. We only think it’s
covering up too much animal because
So many Savage 99s were made during a century
of production that several companies still make
iron sights. The rifle in the rear has an XS Sights
receiver sight, while the rifle in front has a
Marble tang sight.
we’re scope-wimps, used to being able
to aim at one particular hair with a
fine reticle. The vital area of a deer is
a lot bigger than one hair. All we have
to do is put a bullet in the middle of a
deer’s ribs, not part hair.
Plus, when hunting either small or
large game with iron sights, we should
be shooting with both eyes open. This
allows us to still see the entire animal
with our “off” eye, even if the bead
apparently covers a caribou’s chest.
It used to be universally accepted
that iron sights were quicker than
scopes, though as more shooters
switched to scopes, they discovered
that a single sharp aiming point made
scopes faster. However, if the stock of
our rifle fits like a shotgun’s, extremely
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