New Sights for a Guide Gun

J

Jaeger

New member
I have a Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70 and would like some input from some of you guys that are using aftermarket sights.

I am considering the followng:
Lyman receiver sight
Ashley Outdoors front and rear
Wild West front and rear w/ fiber optic insert
Marbles tang sight

I am not interested in anything made by Williams. I am also not interested in Lyman's tang sight.

I would appreciate input from anyone using the sights I mentioned in the field.
The AO setup looks very promising but it looks like it sits kind of high. Anyone have a problem with this?
I am especially interested in hearing about the Wild West setup with the fiber optic insert.

Any input would be appreciated.

If I decide to scope it eventually I will use the AO scout mount and a Leupold scout scope so no scope input please. Just focus on iron sights. Thanks in advance for your help.
 
I have 2 of the sights on your list, on different rifles.

Marbles tang sight. It is on my guide gun. This is certainly a quality sight with a traditional apearance. Expensive but, as I said quality in all regards. My main objection is that, as much as I want to I cannot enjoy a sight in that location.

WIld west guns fiber optic sight. I am not sure anymore if they offer different models or what. Mine was installed by them so I don't know what the process was. I had a adjustable ghost ring rear put on with a fiber optic (which is made by williams) front site. The hood also had to be changed to one with holes in it to let the light in. This is on my .357 co-pilot/backpacking gun. I love this setup. (I think the front site also had to be changed to a different height to go with the ghost ring rear). It is sturdy and work great in low light. This is the first Ghost ring sight I ever had and was leary about them, my thought process was that how can such a large apperture be accurate. But as I know now and I am sure many have you have know for a long time they work great. The adjustment are positive and sturdy on the rear sight and lock well. It is contoured on the front so brush does not snag in it. The downside would be if you have to have them install it, and therefore sending you gun away. I was getting lots of work done so it was no big deal. They are one of the fastest in turn around that I ever dealt with.

If you have any specific questions, I will be happy to drag out the rifles to tell you more. Aaron
 
I have a AO ghost ring rear and white blade front on my guide gun. What do you intend to do with the gun? The AO sights are fast--great for pig hunting in heavy brush. If you want long distance precision, these aren't the sights you want. As to accuracy, the AOs are somewhere between the express sights used on African dangerous game rifles and traditional peep sights. Because of the blade, you can maintain accuracy at longer distances than with the big round dots on many express sights, but they will not give the type of precision available from National match sights on a M1A. If your eyes aren't what they use to be, the white blade does help; the AO front is much easier to acquire than the Marlin sights. Hope this helps.
 
Thank you for the replies.
Is the Wild West rear sight finger adjustable or do you need tools. Can you tell if it sits higher than the AO setup or about the same. DOES THe Williams front fiber optic seem sturdy? Do you think it would lend itself to shots out to 200 yds if necessary?

My main purpose for this rifle is hunting. It will no doubt be a fun range rifle but it was made for hunting.

I can get the WW rear sight from Brownells and the fiber optic front from Natchez so sending the rifle out shouldn't be an issue.

Anone else with any feedback?
 
I just put the Ashley Outdoors ghostring sights on my guide gun and like them a lot. Like Swampy says, these aren't precision target sights (although ashley does offer four different sized apertures so you can get pretty small) but they beat all hell out of the stock sights. However, if precision shooting is what you want, you should scope it. Using AO's Lever Scout mount and Leupold quick release rings, I mounted a Leupold 2.5x Scout scope on mine and its sweet. The scout mount moves the scope far enough forward that the AO ghostrings don't interfere with the scope (which I have mounted in low rings). With the quick release, I can pop the scope off and use the ghostrings whenever I need to. I'm convinced this is perfection. In one of the recent issues of American Rifleman, there's an article on hunting moose in Alaska with the .450 Marlin Guide Gun. That rifle is setup exactly like mine.

I bought the AO sights and the AO Lever Scout mount from Brownell's. It took me about 20 minutes in the garage to install everything.
 
Jaeger,

For hunting applications, I like Lyman's receiver sight. I've one mounted on a Marlin 1894S. The sight came with two interchangable aperatures. I use the smaller one for range work, the larger in the field, and if you remove them both, the housing itself serves as a usable ghost ring. Pretty versatile IMHO.
 
The wild west rear sight is not finger adjustable. I am not familiar with the ashley Outdoors so I am not sure of the height. I know it did require a higher front sight. The williams front sight is sturdy but you do need the hood on it (that is cut away) or you risk shatering the fiberoptic tube.
 
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