Got the Girls Out Today |Winchester Hunting, Shooting & Reloading|Forum|Winchester Collector

Nice! Been getting any rain? No shooting here today, would have to duct tape the rifles to the concrete bench, a folding table would have dumped everything and led a merry chase.

Mike

Adam, both those Winchesters are a pleasure to look at. Natural light illuminates detail like nothing else. I’m sure an expert could pick the results apart for some reason or another but both rifles look like they’ve weathered years of use in good hands and are still ready for more. 

About the buckhorn sight. I’ve listened patiently to condescending explanations that you use it like an aperture sight and just look through it and put the bead on the target. In other words, the eye will center itself in the brightest part of a semicircle.  

Bravo Sierra. I don’t believe it. For one thing, it isn’t close enough to the eye and, more importantly,  light will enter asymetrically. Tang sights and Lyman 21/38 receiver sights were the marksman’s preference for a reason, even for snapshooting. 

Original a full buckhorn may be but so was the chamber pot. Leave it in or sell it to a sight collector. Install a Lyman 1a and whatever higher front sight that requires, if you want a “usin’ gun.” Your eyes will thank you. 

Barrel-mounted rear sights require too much of a middle-aged human eye.  A young shooter can manage aligning rear sight, front sight, and target fairly well but that ability fades rapidly with age. 

There is a reason why our armed services adopted the aperture sight – once learned, everybody shoots better with it. 

For the sake of authenticity, I can tolerate a tang peep, although I dislike the absence of micrometer adjustments and lack of any azimuth adjustment on most of them. 

When I got my 1950 Model 70 Supergrade Decades ago, it came with a Lyman 48 WJS and, as I learned to use it  effectively, it was like showing fire to a caveman. By changing out the aperture as lighting conditions varied, I realized I wasn’t giving up all that much to a 4X scope in most hunting situations. 

We were discussing the Winchester Model 71. Collectors adore WRACO’S 98A bolt peep sight, which has fairly rough adjustments – loosen a set screw, slide the aperture up or down, tighten the set screw. My 1949 Model 71 wears a Redfield 80-FT with full quarter minute click micrometer knobs for both windage and elevation. I would not trade it.(The Redfield sight could be special ordered for the 71 until the Lyman 56W became standard and superseded the 98A, so a Redfield 70 or 80 looks at home.)

If you have not tried a Lyman 56A or a Redfield 70E on a Winchester 94, consider it before you settle on a tang peep. It would require tapping the left receiver wall, depending on the vintage of the gun.  Neither receiver sight coded for the Model 94 is rare.  The 56 would be more expensive. The steel 66 is just as good, by the way. One reason I like them so much is they are lightning fast and don’t interfere with my shooting hand’s grip. 

If I can find it, I’ll attach a photo of two 1886 rifles, one with  Redfield 70 and the other with a Redfield 80. Both with hunter knobs.