At what point do you switch to Optics?

B

baddarryl

New member
Hi all. I was doing some sighting in my .22's preparing for an Appleseed event coming up and am wondering this. I did one rifle with tech sights and another with a scope. Both grouped about the same. Best was 1/4" at 25 meters (82 feet). That was with Aperture 'Tech Sights' and a sling prone. Using CCI SV.

The scoped .22 was also prone, but not done with a sling (what a difference that makes). So I am sure with a sling would have been tighter. I have been able to do one hole from a bench with it.

I am now 47, need glasses to read a book, but thankfully still have better distance vision than most. I like the challenge of iron sights for target work and want to be able to do well with them. I can still focus on the front sight of my rifle or handgun. I wonder if I am handicapping myself unnecessarily. I ask, at what point do you give up on the irons?
 
At a generation older than that, (plus some), I still prefer iron sights over anything else.
They don't have to be crystal clear to be effective, and they are so easy to line up on target.
But scopes are a definite help for targets too far away to be seen without them.
So, that would be the test.
Switch to a scope when the target is too far away to see it.
The distances and target sizes at the Appleseed events won't require it, unless a scope is just preferable.
That's my take, anyway.
Enjoy the event.
 
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I use a scope.

I'm envious of folks who can still see that little red square on the Appleseed redcoat target... :( But I may have to get cataract surgery in a few years, and then... look out, Redcoats!
 
I switch when I grab the shotgun





no but depending on the hunt.

nowadays a reddot when I hutn with the dog, it is quicker and better at range

irons rule when crawling thru bushes and whatnot thou
 
I switched to optics when I started hunting at night.... Even in low light with a standard duplex reticle, you can make out the crosshairs.... Difficult with irons

I loved shooting with irons... Very much so.... Young and full of myself days, I'd bash people for using scopes ( I was an idiot )

Now now I can't see as well farther away, not bad, I can see across a classroom just fine, but further out it gets blurry...

A light prescription fixed that. I could wear glasses just to shoot just fine.... No biggie, just to go shooting then take off the glasses.
Worked good for a few years..

Now after years of looking at schematics and little wiring and such... I can't see close up with glasses on at all.... But without glasses I can see close just fine....

I can live and function without lenses just fine...
I can't see 100yd targets and beyond as well as I could. I can with glasses but not much of the sights with them on....
Peep sights help a bunch....

It's really just a lot less hassle to put a scope on it and forget glasses because I don't need them for daily life
 
Give fiber optics a try. I need glasses to read and was starting to have trouble seeing the iron sights on pistols or rifles. Fiber optics took care of that problem. Even just installing one on the front helps.
 
I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that I can shoot decently with iron sights. It's all in concentration and putting the sights in a repeatable position even though you can't necessarily see your impacts.

For group shooting, I like a scope past 25 yards. For man or game sized targets, iron sights are fun to take out to long-ish distances. I've only done out to about 200 or more, I'd take the opportunity to shoot further with them.
 
Switch to optics if your eyes have trouble seeing targets at certain distances.

Optics also give many advantages such as quicker and easier target acquisition.
 
I love red dot sights. My eyes have been bad since I was a child, and I find that optics help a lot. You can focus on the target instead of focusing on the sight and trying to make accurate hits on the fuzzy blob that is supposed to be your target.

That said, never give up practicing with irons. I switch to my backup iron sights and practice with them every time i go to the range so I can still use them if my optic fails.
 
I have always preferred scopes/optics with rifles since I was a kid. But as I grew older, I purposely purchased a CZ 452 Sporter and Marlin 39A to shoot only with irons. Probably will scope the 39A as I am not satisfied with my performance. Accurate rifles are the only interesting rifles.

With hunting type handguns, I have both. I prefer irons for closer shots and optics to give me more confidence at longer range. I suspect the confidence is mostly related to sighting on a single plane and rationalized precision rather than dealing with front sights and so forth which I consider I hit somewhere on a paper plate at 50 yds versus the bull or near the bull.
 
I was somewhere in my 40s when I noticed that my ability to focus on open iron sights and the target simultaneously was pooping out. Since then, I've had a scope on all of my rifles.

Problem solved.
 
Relating to both !!!

I have "started" all my kids and grand kids on open sights even when they were all hyped up about scopes. I keep them on open sights until I see that their little brains are properly programmed. Then, I with for the next request for optics and we go from there. .... ;)

Starting out, there are many good reasons to start them on open sights and there is absolutely noting wrong with progressing to optics. They never stop relating to open sights, regardless. :rolleyes:

I am getting long in the tooth and the only open sights I use, are on my Side-Cockers. ..... :)

Be Safe !!!
 
When the state you hunt deer in enacts a regulation that makes you count a certain amount of points on a deer's antlers to make it legal.
 
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