Tang sight, whch style was most popular with hunters

[Capt'n Jack]

Trying to judge which type of tang sight most likely to show up on a buffalo rifle, as used for actual hunting.  The ladder type or the Marble type? Or other?  We are talking late 1800's timeframe.  Thanks for any input.  Capt'n Jack.

[Reverend P. Babcock Chase]

Howdy Capt.,

I can't answer your question precisely, but the Lyman tag sight was created in 1878. It and the Marbles style do not have the range of adjustment to handle truly long range duties for the rainbow trajectory of the buffalo cartridges. My guess is the ladder sight was probably most common. Again, I'm no authority.

Rev. Chase

[Professor Marvel]

Historically, the adjustable rear peep sight has been around since the 1500's on crossbows and arbelesques, and later applied to matchlocks, flintlocks, etc.

The penultimate form of folding tanf mount peep can be seen here, adjustable for both windage and elevation

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/33739

Tang mounted Peeps were used regularly in europe, but not as so much here in the states. Howver the "lolipop screw peep" mounted in the tang was used enough on flinters and caplock rifles to show up in survivng examples, usually in museums now, often as target rifles.

https://proxy.imagearchive.com/65f/65fb63ed6a81072f24d10c6bedf0da7e.jpg

HOWEVER, for cartridge buffaloe style guns, the quintiscential adjustable tang mounted peep was
Availabl as early as 1860 ish

Courtesey, 4V50Gary
" In Manual of Rifling and Rifle Sights by Lt. Col. Viscount Bury, the illustration on page 29 (illustration 17) does show a tang rear sight that is screw adjustable for windage. Published in London, Bury's booklet is dated 1864."

More words coutesy Lyman Co.

" THE LYMAN No. 2 TANG SIGHT
The Lyman Gun Sight Company was founded in 1878 on the invention of William Lyman. That invention was the Tang-mounted Peep Sight, unequaled on the target range or in the field. Its introduction not only created a company, but set the standard for shooting accuracy for years to come.
History of the Aperture Sight
Most shooters probably think of the rear aperture sight as a development of the last eighty or ninety years. In fact, the rear aperture sight was first used by the ancient Romans on their cross bows.
When firearms first came into use, sights of any
kind were more or less superfluous, especially
on weapons such as the blunderbuss, and it is
for this reason that guns were pointed rather
than aimed. With improvements in the barrels,
especially with the introduction of rifling and the
ability to shoot accurately at comparatively long
ranges, came either a resurrection or re-discovery
of the rear aperture sight and in the last century
some crude attempts were made at an elevating
rear aperture sight. These usually consisted
merely of screws flattened on the end with a small hole drilled in this flat portion. The elevation was obtained by turning this screw in the stock, one-half rotation giving an elevation equal to one-half the pitch of the thread.
Later, sights were manufactured with the base that screwed to the tang and to which perpendicular slides were attached on which the aperture rode. This type of sight was not positive in adjustment, and in fact, could not be said to be superior to the crude screw mentioned above.
The rear aperture sight was in this condition up to the latter part of the eighteen sixties and early part of the eighteen seventies."


And John Soule's Patent is dated 1889, but the Soule adjustable Wind Gauge Micrometer Peep Sight, was announced in the "Shooting and Fishing" imagazine September 27, 1888, as the first vernier tang peep sight with micrometer wind gauge adjustments in the base.

So now you have more information than you wanted, and must decide how complicated a sight you want and for which time periond

Yhs
Prof babbles

Words stolen shamelessly from sources, rescources, books, and interweb stuff worldwide

[Cap'n Redneck]

Me and three buddies shot one buffalo each just north of the Standing Rock reservation back in 2006.
I had my Sharps fitted with a long Tasco 4X scope in a sliding mount, two of my buddies had their Sharps rifles fitted with tang peep sights and front tunnel sights with inserts.  The fourth man used his Marlin lever-action with factory open sights.  Our evaluation concluded that scopes and open sights work best for hunting buffalo.  Peep sights are not optimal when you're aiming at a large animal with dark fur, unless it's a bright sunny day.  Most buffalo-rifles I've seen in museums and books have had barrel-mounted open sights.
When the buffalo got scarce and the ranges increased beyond, say 300 yards, some professional buffalo-runners invested in scoped rifles to stay in the game.

[Coffinmaker]

Well Heck 

I can only comment from what I have seen in Antique Rifle collections and Museums.  The vast majority of Sample Examples sported Ladder type open sights or fix'd open sights. 

Near as I can tell, by the time the flash fancy adjustable tang sights appeared, most of the Buffalo were already gone.  Those sights (Flash tang) have been most often seen on dedicated target rifles as opposed to actual hunting arms.

My only personal experience is relegated to playing the Frontiersman game in CAS where one has lots of time to sign up sights although I personally did not like nor use those gentleman's tang sights.  My rifles were/are equipped with vastly more user friendly Ladder Sights.  Burma Shave

[Drydock]

It depends:  Are you someone with a light rifle looking for a few skins for a quick stake, a subsistence hunter looking to feed a family or a camp, a thrill hunter looking to kill a big animal, or one of the relatively small number of professionals?

The sight on the far left (From the Original Sight Company) was sold by Sharps as a "Hunters" tang sight, and was quite popular. Most of the sights pictured were offered by Sharps and other rifle makers.

Sharps published range tables for most common calibers, very easy to estimate range on a buffalo once you understood the size of the critter.  Sharps offered tang sights on their rifles starting in the 1850s, and the professional hunters used them quite a bit.  Marcots Sharps books have many documented Buffalo rifles, most with some form of tang sight.  Short term/single season/getting a stake Hunters getting in close with a light rifle or carbine would use barrel sights, but the Professionals, the ones with the 12-16 lb heavy rifles, would stand off on high ground some 200-300 yards off using some form of Tang sights.  During the last years of the Northern herd, a good number of Scopes were used.

The Lyman/Marbles sight would not be seen on the Buffalo ranges, it pretty much post dates both the Sharps and the great hunts of the 1870s.  Really  it was designed for lever action rifles, where a traditional ladder tang could  not be mounted.