Advice for range and iron sights

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GPossenti

New member
I have a Marlin 336 lever action with iron sights. I am a new shooter.

Being a new shooter, I thought it smart to invest in "The Marksmanship Primer" from Palladium Press. The book details the importance of being able to estimate range, elevation, and sight adjustment.

My Marlin has the iron sights adjuster that looks like an ascending staircase. Is there a table or some kind of explanation or guide which will help me understand the degree of adjustment.

For example, on the first notch on level ground at 100 yards, the .30-30 bullet will travel with this much elevation through its path. On the top notch, level ground at 100 yards the bullet will travel with this much elevation through its path.

Any advice?
 
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GPossenti

New member
For a lever action with a tube magazine, it's a .30-30 with flat-nosed bullets. (Or Hornady with the plastic tip bullets)

How does one figure out the trajectory of the bullet? I feel like I'd need a house sized target at 100 yards in order to figure out the trajectory. What is a good way of figuring this out?
 
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fisherman66

New member
I much prefer a peep (receiver) sight to the semi-buckhorns. You can get different peep inserts for refined target shooting or use the standard insert for snap shooting where speed is more important than accuracy (like when hunting at less than 100 yards - where the 30/30 really shines.)

After adjusting the sight for a particular range you know where the impact should take place at that range. Your up and down of 3" (or ballistic pipe -MPBR) should allow you to shot out to over 200 yards with enough margin for error to compensate for any slight misalignment.
 
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PointOneSeven

New member
I usually look up the bullet drop at a 100 yards on paper (or even memorize the whole chart on the ammo box/website), and keep that in mind while shooting. I usually leave the sight set for dead on at 50 yards, and if I'm shooting farther away, I'll give it another notch or two on the sight.

I don't know if the clicks on the sight correspond with a consistent change through all the clicks or not, but I do know that shooting a few inches low is easily corrected.
 
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cold100onhw1

New member
Take your rifle to the range and shoot it a lot. get to know your rifle. after a while you will know how high or low to hold. You can kinda develop a feel for it over time.
 
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azredhawk44

Moderator
The elevation knotches are normally calibrated @ 25, 50, 75, 100, 200 yards.
Click to expand...

Source, please.

I'm not an expert, but I'd suggest that the 25 yard "zero" would be identical to the 100 yard zero. The bullet rises as it converges with the sight plane and then falls as gravity begins to affect it.

Those notches stair-step upwards on my lever guns.

I've never experimented with moving them, I just sight in at 100 (which, coincidentally, is dead-nuts on for 25 meters w/ my 170gr handloads) and then use a little kentucky windage to get out to 200 yards. I estimate about a 6" holdover and hit the pie plate or water jug just fine.

To the OP: Those notches won't ever be definitive. They are an adjustment tool. The reason for this is that 30-30 ammo can be anywhere from 130 to 180 grains in weight in retail format and even more varied in handloads. Velocities can range from 2000fps to 2600fps. Given a "typical" load of a 170gr bullet at 2200fps, you'll have between 4.5 and 8 inches of drop at 200 yards with a 100 yard zero. The bullet will have slowed from 2200fps to 1665fps.

http://www.winchester.com/products/...x?symbol=X30304&cart=MzAtMzAgV2luY2hlc3Rlcg==
 
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fisherman66

New member
Quote:
The elevation knotches are normally calibrated @ 25, 50, 75, 100, 200 yards.
Source, please.
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert, but I'd suggest that the 25 yard "zero" would be identical to the 100 yard zero. The bullet rises as it converges with the sight plane and then falls as gravity begins to affect it.
Click to expand...

I agree AZRH. It's much more likely that the increments are 100, 150, 180, 200, 215 yards or something like that. The linear curve works in the opposite direction. I'm fairly sure they are only points of reference, and not actually indexed to any yardage.
 
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