help me pick a sight

[Black River Johnny]

Well after several failed attempts to win a sight on ebay, and taking grizz's advice on leaving my old lyman on my 94 - I have decided to buy a sight. I think I can shoot the gun more accurate with something different. So with that in mind here is my story- I plan on hunting, will not have the need to shoot at an animal further than 150 yards (if that) I plan on target shooting at my house at 100yrds and I would like to try some steel buffalos at out to 400yrds. I would also like to have something on the rifle that would have been available when the gun came out, 76 to lets say 79 so early, What are my choices and what do you reccomend or should I just leave whats on there? Thanks for all the input.

[john boy]

Johnny - your needs sound like a ladder rear and a globe aperture front sight.  The combination will cover your hunting and target shooting.

Both the peeps and the verniers, if installed, would give you no flexibility to change the range POA quickly

[Grizzly Adams]

Johnny - your needs sound like a ladder rear and a globe aperture front sight.  The combination will cover your hunting and target shooting.

Both the peeps and the verniers, if installed, would give you no flexibility to change the range POA quickly

What John said!

[Black River Johnny]

Not ever seeing a ladder sight up close i was wondering how that works. to me it looks like just an elevated buck horn or a sight with a notch. How does it help you aim more accurately? i guess i am looking for a quick education on sights, thanks.

[larryo_1]

Black River Johnny:
I put a ladder rear sight on my '76.  Got it from BACO.  Just go to their web sight and look it up and expand the picture.  It is a direct copy of an original.  I am very happy with it.  I sent some pictures of it on my rifle to Grizzley Adams and he concurred with my feelings.  As far as the front sight is concerned, all I did was file the factory sight down to match the measurements of the ladder sight and have had no problems.  All you have to do is look in the Brownells catalog on how to do that.  Can save you a heap of bucks doing it this way.

Just some fleeting thoughts of the moment that might be of help.   

[Grizzly Adams]

Not ever seeing a ladder sight up close i was wondering how that works. to me it looks like just an elevated buck horn or a sight with a notch. How does it help you aim more accurately? i guess i am looking for a quick education on sights, thanks.

The "ladder sight" or sporting leaf is the most common sight found on the original 1876 rifles.  It does not provide the same level of increased precision at long ranges that a high quality long range or soule sight will provide, but it does increase the range and speed with which quick, repeatable, adjustments can be made.  If you can shoot open sights well, you will do fine with the ladder sight for hunting and for the vast majority of "long range" events held at your average SASS match.  I have ladder sights on both my 1876 and my 1886 SRC, and I can hit the steel pretty regular out to 300-400 yards. 

If you are having trouble seeing buckhorn sights well, then you may want to consider some type of peep or aperture sight - like the Lyman or Marbles.  In addition to naturally centering the eye, they also sharpen the sight picture.  It is the same effect you see in photography - the smaller the aperture the greater the depth of field.

Folks that are real serious about shooting long range competitions, sometimes spend as much on a quality set of sights as they do on the rifle!

Hope this is of some help!

[Black River Johnny]

larryo1, what buffalo arms ladder sight exactly do you have? thanks

[Grogan]

While some might not agree with me here, the way I went with mine was to put on an Axtell-Riflesmith Tang Mounted Peep Sight on the rear.

Mine's a Long Range Model (Model 30A), but for the shorter ranges you mention you'd probably be just as well served using the Model 29 (seen on the same page, up above the  various 30s)

http://www.riflesmith.com/sightswinchester.html

Using this sight, you'd still have the option of using your standard barrel mounted rear sight.

For use in more precision target shooting I also ordered an additional Sight Disk with a smaller aperture, but for hunting the Disk that comes with the sight should work just fine. 

Once your various ranges are determined, this style of sight is probably even FASTER to adjust than a ladder style rear.  Just loosen the sliding Aperture Bar by rotating the Disk ~1/8th turn, slide it to your desired sight setting and turn it back 1/8th turn to lock it.  It doesn't get much faster than that!  (And it is quite precise for a non-vernier style Peep Sight as it does have a graduated marked scale on the side)

For a Front Sight I chose an MVA #111 Low Profile Globe.  This sight, while perhaps not "ideal" for all hunting conditions is a very good one that allows the use of a number of various interchangeable inserts to be used while shading the Front Sight from sunlight and glare.  I've always favored the Wide standard post, which pretty much mimicks a good blade with sharp, crisp corners.

http://www.montanavintagearms.com/111_globe.html

The tall hunting tang mounted peep on my rifle looks like this.  (The short staffed sight would be ~2/3rds this height)



The Front Sight looks like this