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Aperture vs. open iron sights

2K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  halfmoonclip 
#1 ·
When I was a kid, I remember seeing pictures of 'buffalo guns' with a tang sight on the wrist of the stock.
My first, personal, experience with apertures was on an M16 in basic, where we were expected to qualify out to 300 yards with our irons. Liked those sights, but, as a younger man, I could still shoot open 'buckhorns' pretty well.
As a codger, apertures are my favorites; the eye centers itself in the brightest part of the sight, and the (centered) front hits where you look. It also buys you a longer sight radius.
What has always been a puzzle is why apertures aren't more common. Our military rifles had open sights 'till the later generations of the '03 service rifle. The AK has opens; it's stamped steel action cover may prevent apertures.
So what are the group's thots on apertures vs open irons? This group isn't high speed/low drag enough to only like optics.
Thanks,
Moon
 
#3 ·
I am a huge fan of ghost ring apertures and the winged front sight. First iteration was on my Grandfather's M1 Garand. I was a natural. Just peek through the ghost ring, find the front sight, keep it between the wings and bang. Much more intuitive to me. My flintlock, if that had ghost ring on it, I wouldn't complain a bit. Has notch open irons and a brass front ramp. Sometimes on bright sunny days it can be a bear to acquire. And I am 32 years old and it is tough under the pressure of trying to rock off a shot at a deer that could just about get away. If I had ghost ring on that and could snap up and hope it went off, I'd be one further step ahead.
 
#4 ·
88', "...and hope it went off." LOL. When you pull the trigger on a flinter, three things can happen, and two of them are bad. You might find an aperture for your flinter; look at Marble and Lyman.
lana', got to disagree as regards the military; as noted, we had to qualify at 300 yds with irons. Just curious why it took so long for GI rifles to adopt them. I realize the 'high speed/low drag' guys use optics nowdays, but garden variety grunts are probably still using irons.
Oddly, apertures can be fast as well as accurate. Not much difference, for me, between a red dot and an aperture. A lot depends on the size of the aperture...really tiny ones are super accurate, but slower than a larger aperture.
Moon
 
#7 ·
I just like the simplicity of irons. My .44 Mag 'deer rifle' does wear a scope, at least partially to make sure the deer has the requisite number of points.
But for shooting, just to entertain myself, I really like aperture irons.
BTW, picked up one of the Japanese 'Winchester' replicas, a '73 in .45 Colt. Put a Marbles tang sight on it, and am very pleased with the result.
Moon
 
#9 ·
Jimmo, I'm quite pleased. The bluing is really handsome, and the wood/metal fit quite good. The wood itself is nicely finished, but doesn't have much character, considering the price. The metal fits are fine, and there are no 'finger gougers' hiding in the loading port.
The mechanism is a whole different critter from 94 Winchesters and Marlins, but is quite smooth. The trigger isn't super light, but quite crisp, and it all goes at once.
The Marble sight is beautifully made, adjusts for windage as well as elevation, and comes with three apertures. It won't work with the OEM open sights; those have to be removed and blanked.
Off my hind legs, I was pounding an 8.5"x 11" railroad tie plate, dangling 80 yards away, down at camp. Those big slugs made it ring like a bell.
Moon
 
#11 ·
I got one of the Japanese Winchesters, too. It's the .357 Magnum Model 1873 rifles. What I did to spruce up the wood was give it multiple treatments of Danish Oil and sand it with some 1000-grit sand paper after it dried each time. I did that when I had some time on my hands, and I need to do more of it, but the result of my incomplete work is still a vast improvement over the original finish. Also, infusing the wood with the oil will make it much more moisture resistant.
 
#12 ·
Just got back to revisit this thread; Born Fighting', have a look at Marbles' site; they do have a user resource, they should be able to tell you what sort of aperture would work on your flinter.
Good luck, and keep your powder dry.
Moon
 
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