Sights for lever action?

[Steve Smith]

A friend is looking at getting a dark timber gun for elk and asked me about sights. I saw some at Wild West but I wanted to give him some more options. I told him a ghost or somewhat larger aperture would be best (shots should not be over 100 yards ever). Prices should be less than $100 if possible. Needs to look reasonably good.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ronin308]

Ashley Emerson's company makes some:

http://www.ashleyoutdoors.com

 

[Will Beararms]

I know this is not what he wants but I just put a Leupold VX1 2X-7X by 33m on a Winchester 94 .30-.30 and it really does great. I popped an 8 pt at 75 steps with it yesterday. The Buck was walking along a grown over logging road between a pine field and a hardwood bottom. At 2X it's almost like open sights and you can dial up to 7 for more detail. I put it right on the bore line--------------no see thru mounts.

 

[BusGunner007]

I used a 'new' Redfield Widefield 2-7 on my Marlin 1895 .45-70 in Redfield JR 1-pc. base with Redfield JR 1" low blue 'bottom screw' rings. Just be sure to get the maximum amount of eye relief and field of view before you get a scope cut like my brother-in-law did the first time we fired the rifle... I also found out in all the excitement that my front sight hood had taken off somewhere downrange. I since replaced it with a factory part from Brownells and used some blue loc-tite to keep it there!

Future plans are to use the AO/Express Sights scout mount and a red-dot sight, possibly NIKON, with a WildWestGuns rear ghost ring sight.

This is the rifle in its present configuration (minus the front sight hood):

 

[JohnKSa]

Aperture/ghost ring. Wild West Guns & Ashley Outdoors both make good ones. A lot of people like the Lyman and Willams sights too.

If you don't mind being a bit sacreligeous then you might put a red dot scope on it...

 

[BMWGS80]

I have AO sights on two Marlin 1894s .357/.41 Mag. and have been using them for over a year and find them very satisfactory.

I will be adding a scout mount with Luepold lever lock rings shortly with a 30mm red dot.

AO sights come with two sizes of rear sights I use the smaller of them.

Cheers,

ts

 

[Ron L]

For Ghost-ring or Peep sights; Wild West Guns, Ashley Outdoors, Lyman, or Williams.

For replacement sight blades; Marbles offers flat, semi-buckhorn, and full buckhorn rear blades.

With the solid receiver top, regular scope mounts work, but Scout-type scope mounts are also available from one or two sources, but I can't remember right now.

 

[Northwest Cajun]

I have the WWG ghost rear and a williams "Fire sight" Front.
With my moderate handloads( 1600fps w/405 rem's) I'm dead on @ 100yds. If I put the front sight at the top of the ghost ring I'm dead on @ 200. My targets at 200 are a 3x5 index card, not bad for an 18" barrel with open sights
Cajun

 

[Preacherman]

I'd strongly recommend the Express Sights Scout scope mount for a lever-action rifle. I've got a Marlin 336 with one of these, topped with the Leupold 2.5x Scout scope with coarse reticle. For "dark" hunting in thick brush, it's outstanding! Both eyes are used to find the target, and then as the rifle comes to the shoulder, the shooting eye looks through the scope to pick up the target in the reticle. It's the fastest sight system I've ever used for a snap shot, and I find it wholly superior to iron sights for even close-range (25-30 yards) work. Of course, at 10 yards, the scope is a bit superfluous, but then I have never had such an opportunity!

If a scope is not desired, then I strongly recommend either the Express Sights Ghost-ring setup, or the similar sights produced by Jim Brockman or Wild West Guns in Alaska. All work pretty well. I don't know which is the toughest, in terms of ability to stand up to knocking about in a hunting camp, but I think that WWG's sights seem to be the best suited to take this kind of abuse. However, those who swear by Jim Brockman's sights would doubtless champion their choice vociferously... I would agree that the Express Sights system is the most "fragile" of the three, but that's relative - all three are pretty tough as far as everyday use is concerned.

 

[Will Beararms]

I cannot say enough good about my new Leupold VX1 2-7X by 33m mounted on the bore line. I hunt thick hardwood timber and pine fields and I killed an 8 pt at 0630 hours last Sunday with no problemn. The scope can be had for between $179.00-$215.00.

I have it on my timber rifle----------Winchester 94AE.

 

[Dave T]

I have a WWG rear ghost ring that I tried on a 336. I think the screw spacing is the same on all Marlins and this thing is flat on the bottom so it should fit an 1895 frame.

If your interested I will sell it for less than whole sale. I just didn't like the look on the 336. Nothing wrong with the sight.

E-mail me if your interested.

 

[Will Beararms]

In the timber, the horns can blend in very well early in the day and late in the day. It's nice to have a higher power setting to dial up to for clarification. I used my 2X last Sunday on an 8 point that walked out just after legal shooting hours. I dialed up to 7X after it became clear he was not going to give me a broadside shot.

I had the needed confidence to take a shot with him facing me due to the fact that I was able to zero in on the target area. He fell like a ton of bricks with one 30-30 150 Grain SuperX slug in the frontal area where the chest and neck meet.

The scope made the difference. I have hunted nothing but heavy timber for 31 years and I can tell you that a scope is needed to gather light. Even on sunny days, the shadows can deceive you. A scope helps to calm your nerves and I hate making bad shots in the timber. If you don't hit them and hit them good, it is easy to lose them in a thicket to coyotes and buzzards.

I resisted a scope for 7 years and then found I loved them. I resisted buying a good scope for 31 years and now I love it.

I am not that old by the way. I started hunting at age 7.

 

[Gomez]

I've used ghost rings from Wickett (he made them for Gunsite and mades them for Wild West), XS Sight Systems (Ashley Emerson's old company), Williams, Redfield and Scattergun Tech and MMC. Of them all, the XS Sight Systems were the absolute best. I you like protective wings (a la the Wickett sight), XS is now producing a protective (winged) base assembly for their sights.

Now, the really sweet ticket for closer range shooting is the XS Express Sights set-up on a lever gun. The XS sights drop in to where the old buckhorn sight was and one of their dots up front and they are nice. I don't think they are catalogued yet, but you can call and ask about them. I first saw them on a David Clay custom take-down Marlin .44 lever gun and I fell in love.

 

[cashooter]

XS ghost-rings did the trick on my 1894P (.44mag)Bought from Ashley Outdoors. The best part was the huge increase in sight radius, with the rear sight now on the receiver. Can't see that I would need wings, could not remove that ghost-ring with a baseball bat!!

-mike