Sights--Tangent and otherwise

[TIZWIN]

A big hello to my new friends here.  I'm considering buying an Uberti Henry.  Reading David Chicoine's book, "Guns of the New West," gives me the impression that on some rifles anyway, the rear ladder-type sight is not so good. Is this still the case in the experience of you fellows?  If so, where would one find a quality, authentic replacement?  Additionally, I've seen some Henry rifles in CAS that had tangent, peep type sights retro-fitted to their tangs.  How authentic is this?  Anyone seen originals set up this way?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

[Will Ketchum]

The Tang sight is historically correct.  The Early Henry's had the rear sight mounted on the receiver and not on the barrel.  Many Henrys have dovetails cut in both places.  I had one cut on the receiver of my Henry but my old eyes didn't like it.

For CAS type shooting I have discarded all my tang sights because there is too much to go wrong.  You might forget to put it up before you stage the rifle, or knock it down when grabbing it.  When the rifle is to be staged in a scabbard the chance that the sight might fold down is pretty good or you might knock it out of alignment.  That said many people use them.  I have found a full buckhorn such as can be found at the Track of the Wolf web site is the best.  It is actually a muzzle loading sight so it could have been easily put on a henry.

I believe this is the sight I have on both my Henry and my 66.

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/categories/partDetail.aspx?catId=14&subId=167&styleId=764&partNum=RS-PM-1


Will Ketchum

[USCG Flyer]

I'm not a CAS shooter, but I'll tell you what I think since I do own a Henry. On mine at least, the rear sight is very "floppy". I wondered how good it would be for consistent shot placement. One I got a load I liked, I found with the sight folded down in the normal manner, I could very easily keep a good group to 100 yards. I still have not tried to flip it up and try a few long shots. It would be nice if you could have the correct sight with a spring or something to hold it in position.One of these days, I would like to pop mine off and try to fit something to it. But, like I said, I have no idea about the distances involved in CAS, but from what I understand, with the exception of long range side stuff, the normal sight would be fine.