Open Sights

[jdpate]

These are two of my guns that I love to shoot with open sights. The trapper is a 44 magnum, and the CZ is a 308. What are your favorite hunting experiences with iron sights?

[27hand]

I had an eye injury a couple years back and have limited vision (probably 75%) in my dominant eye.

If I have time, I can move the eye,concentrate and make a hit.

This year during deer season, a small deer came up on my weak side. my rifle was on my lap pointed the other way and my Ruger Redhawk pistol in .44mag was on my backpack on that weak side.

I picked up the pistol (deer didn't move at about 40 yds out),focused on the front sight,had a branch in the way, leaned way back almost laying down and pressed off a round.

The bullet took the top of the heart out. The deer ran about 75 yds.

That was not only my first iron sighted deer but my first deer with a handgun

I missed a nice sized buck the following weekend with that same pistol .




27hand

[jdpate]

When all else fails, go back to basics. Good job... sounds like a very satisfying kill.

[deafsmithco]

Been using open sighted lever guns and black powder guns for almost twenty years. Still use scoped guns from time to time though. I enjoy taking the old rifles hunting, and any thing I get with them means that much more.

[ham385]

I keep meaning to get one of those new fangled glass scope thingamajiggers. I don't own a singe one. I carry bino's for identification and that's it. Peep sights and open sights work good enough for me, especially with the replacement hi-vis beads.

[Pukindog]

Shot a groundhog at 150 yards with a Sharps Model 1875 in .38-55. The rifle has a medium range Vernier sight and a globe front. The 255 gr. sp lifted that sucker ten feet in the air. Gutted the critter too.

Jeff

[Emptymag]

Favorite hunting experiences with iron sights?
Well, all of them were with open sights, but my first(and only)buck was a memorable one. Here's the story cut from an old post:

...The buck was running and came to a stop for a few seconds, he presented his entire side to me as he looked back towards whatever had spooked him in my direction... I think in my nervous excitement, the deer became a "target". By that, I mean, where do you shoot a target? Yup, first-time, nervous, excitement made all of the things I "knew" about where to shoot, go right out the window! I aimed dead-center of this big, brown "target" in the woods, and pressed the trigger of that old 7mm Mauser.

The "target" jumped and ran over the edge of the slight rise he was on. I chambered another round and walked in the direction I saw him go. My father heard the shot and came to see and as we crested the slight rise in the woods, I saw the buck lying on his side, back to us. He lifted his head and looked back at us, put his head down and by the time we walked the last 30 feet or so, he had died.

I'll never forget the mess inside! When he was opened up, it was like grass-green oatmeal with corn mixed in! Mmmm... (and yes, I still like oatmeal!) Afterward, I felt bad for hitting him in the stomach, but fortunately, he didn't run off and die slowly.

One shot with a 7mm surplus Mauser to the "gut" (with jacketed, soft point bullets and no scope) and he died. He didn't die instantly. He didn't die slowly. He didn't get "knocked down", and I don't think that I would have had a better chance of "killing" him by putting "multiple rounds on target" if I had used a .22 semi-auto.
[this was taken from a post with an argument about shot placement/caliber, if you can't tell from the last few lines.]

The rifle was a sporterized version of a rifle similar to this:



I miss that old rifle.