How good are you with iron sights?

I can do pretty good with iron sights if shooting in the middle of the day in bright light. When the light gets bad, scopes come into their own.

Varying light, such as on a partly cloudy day, can wreak havoc on your groups or scores if you don't understand how light conditions change your point of aim with iron sights.
 
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Adequate - sights zeroed to POA at 25 yards - fine tuned to hit 2" above POA
at 100 yards -

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Williams FP71 on Winchester 95 in 30-06 - worked for my then 78 year old eyes - fist rest on table at range at 100 yards. Now at 85, do adequate shooting but see some slipping even after having the cataract removed from right eye - do have some macular degeneration - getting old's not for sissies -
 
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depends

I still manage, but time is catching up with my eyes. Blade and notch sights, especially on a short barrel rig like an AK, give me fits. Shot a buddy's CZ trainer yesterday with 22" bbl and blade/notch sights I did OK at 25-50 yds, do to the longer sight radius. I can still shoot a peep well if the barrel is longer than 16-18", ie Garand, M1A, OK...M4 not so good. I still manage my agency qualification w/o trouble, but the post on the carbine is pretty fuzzy these days.

How good? I have a 6" gong at the corner of my place, about 120 yds from the side door. Bamaboy and I shot at it steadily all summer with an old .22 Mossberg M-44 trainer. Rifle zeroed "on" at that distance. Bulk of the shooting was seated w/ sling. I shot about 60-70% on it. We didn't keep notes, but that is our recollection (I just asked him).

Seems like I read somewhere that a "rifleman" should be able to go 4MOA with iron sights. I'm likely a bit over "par". I have declared this year the "year of the iron sights" and to date, have not carried a rifle deer hunting wearing a scope. I have not killed a deer yet either!..........but have not had a shot. Figured I better do it for my eyes get any older. You sure lose a lot of hunting time in the evening w/no scope!!!

I agree that iron / peep sights are a fadiing skill. Heck there are guys in my deer lease that have NEVER shot a rifle with iron sights!!!!! By all means, learn to shoot irons. Likely will help with your handgun shooting too!
 
I suppose it depends on what I am shooting, but usually never miss at what I am aiming at out to 100 with fairly good grouping with a good old 10/22 with factory rear flip up and front sights and with my mini-14 even further still and my 1903 A3 can hit it if you see it, but then again I never shot using any type of optics until recently when I bought my M1A. I was amazed at this incredible and expensive world. To me buying a scope that is worth as much as your gun was ludicrous, I'd rather have a second gun, but I sold out cause I wanted my perfect rifle. But I grew up shooting good old iron sights my dad didn't believe in anything else, and I agree I think people have got too caught up in modifying and changing their weapons that it is worth going back to the bare bones just the steel and wood in your hands Even I have been guilty of this by trying to scope that beautiful 1903 A3 I mentioned above, but was deterred and have since gone back to what got me to love shooting in the first place something, that was familiar and homey, something that helps me remember my father.
 
that was familiar and homey, something that helps me remember my father
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That says a lot. My Dad introduced me to guns also. He was mostly a shotgunner. That man could really bag the quail and walk my legs off.

Quite a guy and I still hear his voice every day.

Geetarman
 
My dad taught me to shoot with iron sights. In fact I didn't use a scoped rifle for years. The majority of my rifles are scoped these days. It's a matter of more discretionary income and failing eyesight. Having moved from the East Coast to the West Coast some years ago also changed my hunting needs. Here in the west the opportunity for taking longer shots is greater than back east. I still enjoy shooting my M1A Super Match with its iron sights. In fact it has never had an optic mounted to it.
 
Ever since I've had eye surgery, I've qualified expert (Army) with iron sights every time I've shot (over 10x since surgery). So I guess I'm that good, whatever that means.

I agree that shooting with irons is a lost art; not just in the civilian population but also in the military. I went through USAF basic training 8 years ago and we shot with CCOs only in basic training :eek:. I've since switched to the Army and have worked in basic training the last 3 years. They learn on irons but transition to optics by week 6. I understand why they do it but even the military is moving toward optics.

I imagine once all the red dot sights become like the aimpoint (always on, for like 3 years with one battery...) iron sights will be used even less...
 
20 years ago great, unlike a lot of the shooters on here our targets were squirrels rabbits birds and what ever else. We did not know what a scope was. Today I am lucky to see the Irons, much less the target. My first rifle was a Remington target master single shot had no place to put a scope
 
Sometimes I do well, but some sights don't work for my eyes. My 336 I can do about 5 inches at 100, my ar-10 or m1a I can do about 2-1/2", ak sights are the worst for me....maybe about 8-10"...the front post blurs out and gets double wide as soon as I shoulder it. They flat out don't work for me.
200 yards is as far as I've ever been able to practice, m1a scout at 100.
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It really depends on the type of open sights and how fine a bead, the width of the rear notch, the length of the sight radius. In general 100% hits of a pepsi can at 50 yards and regular hits at 100 yards is generally good. To shoot tight groups with open sights you need bold targets and good eyes. Many target shooters use globe sights for competition. rc
 
I used to have 20/10 vision(used to just read the copyright info on the vision test charts at school). I could shoot iron sights very proficiently. Now my vision is about 20/35, not all that bad, and I can't seem to hit anything with them. I don't wear glasses normally, but do to shoot. I can't seem to get my focus worked out well with a piece of glass in the middle. Proably just need to put in some more time, but used to be able to focus so well on the front sight and it seemed everything was still so clear.
 
I dunno, its nothing to really write about, but I've been getting 4-6" 100 yd groups with my old peep sighted military rifles. Either they aren't very good or I'm not. Its most likely the former. :)



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I use the rear appeture sight and front post and do pretty good with it fro being 63...But with a rear v groove sight I suck big time....
 
#25
Picher
Senior Member


Join Date: December 14, 2004
Location: Maine
Posts: 1,862 I have a Merit adjustable aperture that uses a suction cup mount to eyeglasses. Positioning it for using open iron sights on a rifle, and adjusting the aperture size, it makes both sights and target clear. I bought it for pistol shooting, but it also works well for iron sighted rifles. The image is dimmer, so it won't work well for hunting in the woods, but is great for range shooting.

You can take black target pasters or electrical tape and punch holes of various sizes to find the right size for the condition and stick them on your glasses where you normally look when shooting. I did that and won an inter-club military open-sight benchrest match at 100 yards, using a borrowed Swede 6.5 and paper-patched cast bullets. The 5-shot group was about 1 1/4", as I recall.

Now thats damn good shooting...Congradulations.....john;)
 
Yesterday's Range Time

These were fairly rapid fire at 50 yards. I was shooting with my son. It was hist first time shooting an AR15. The first is mine and the second one is his.

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It was a great time at the range.
 

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With peep sights I can still occasionally do MOA at 100 yards 5 shots. I can't see the typical buckhorn sights on a lever gun worth anything anymore so they all have Williams or Ashley sights now. Mucho improvement.
 
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