Adjustable Sights

[Niederlander]

Good morning, and Merry Christmas!

How common were adjustable sights in this era?  I realize fixed sights were FAR more common, but it would be nice to be able to have vertical adjustment for shooting at longer range.  I like the one Track of the Wolf sells, but how late would that have been?

[Gabriel Law]

In the flintlock era...extremely rare.  During the late percussion era, far more common.

[Professor Marvel]

Since this is the Plainsman Society, I would have to agree, in general non-adjustable sites such as these (please ignore the one adjustable)

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/880/1?PageSize=100

were the most common. There are examples of fancy sights on schuetzen rifles, and by the civil war adjustable sights were common, but not so much on the muzzleloading "plains rifle"

yhs
prof marvel

[ChuckBurrows]

While not common some original Hawken Mountain rifles of the post 1850 period (those made by Sam Hawken and later J. P. Gemmer who bought the shop from Sam) did have adjustable rear sights similar to the old Winchester 94 with the stepped slide for elevation which could be tapped left or right for windage, so an adjustable sight for the era is documented (I don't do this stuff for the public so the whole common meme is trumped by the full history of the period) - see John Baird's "Hawken Rifles - the Mountain Man's Choice" for more info or see this pic of a modern made copy of one type of original Hawken adjustable sight as sold by several vendors

[Blair]

Most sights especially in the earlier muzzle loading firearms were rather low profile.
This was in an effort to keep them from being knock about.
These arms were also rather slow loading between shots, so the rifleman didn't need to worry about the barrel heating up like one will find in later types of raped shooting  firearms.
However, as hunters moved out onto more open country like the plains, they found that having a rear sight that could be easily adjusted for greater distance quickly would be to their advantage.
My best,
Blair