ORIGINAL: Paul L Mohr
Newguy, I don't think you have shot many weapons both ways, or trained that many people to use them or you would know what I am talking about.
Not true... I hunt archery, shotgun, rifle, and ML. I also target shoot with my 1911 and smallbore rifle. I use open sights and scopes, but hunt only with scopes.
I have shot rifles, pistols and bows with both scopes and open sights, or non at all. Scopes are not always easier to use or more accurate. With my bow I can hit a 3 inch circle at around 80 yards using a peep sight and a fiber optic pin that competely covers the aiming point. As long as everything is centered and I focus the arrow still goes where I want it to. If I put a 4X scope on my bow I can see the target a bit better but the bow is very hard to hold steady.
You are far from the average hunter if you can make a 3" group at 80 yards with your bow... Most people would be lucky to hit the target at 40 yards!
And we are talking shooting large game here, not target shooting for groups at long distances.
Agreed, but the vitals on a deer are approximately an 8" circle for a humane kill.
Marksman can put kills on human sized targets at 1000 meters and out with open sights and military rifles so I don't think hitting a deer at 100 yards with them is unreasonable. I will admit that a scope helps in shooting small groups at longer distances with a steady rest if the shooter does his part. However not everyone can do that and it isn't needed to kill large game at short to medium distances. You can kill deer at beyond 100 yards with a muzzle loader that has fixed iron sights and a crappy trajectory if you know the rifle and range well enough.
So if a scope allows for more accuracy at longer distances, doesn't that mean you will be more accurate with a scope!?!?!?!?
And scopes are not easier to focus then open sights. If they are you are using open sights wrong or you have very bad vision.
Paul
Laws of human anatomy as I have stated over-and-over... SCOPES ARE EASIER TO FOCUS THAN IRON SIGHTS. You cannot argue this point. You physically cannot focus on the front sight, rear sight, and the target at the same time. If you can you have superhuman ability!