liberty1743

Yeah, it was probably a typo (and supposed to be 20")

stubblejumper

If the scope knocked off 20' at 30 yards,it should have been obvious that the barrel was pointing in another direction as you aimed at the deer.It also casts a great deal of doubt on the quality of the scope.I have had a Zeiss scope driven into a tree by a runaway horse,with me still on it as it ran through the trees after stepping on a hornets nest and being stung,and the scope held zero despite the very harsh impact.

I have been charged by a grizzly,and the scope set at 3x was in no way a handicap.For a person experienced in using a scope,a low power scope is actually quicker than open sights.

J The Deer Slayer

I have a trijicon on my Muzzle loader. Unless they make really good scopes and really bad scopes his story is exagerated.

One time I was climbing up a very steep part of the mountain on some rocks. Gun is slung over my shoulder as I'm climbing and I reach for what looks to be a steady rock but it moves causing a bigger rock to come down from above. I ducked and leaned far to my right so this rock wouldn't take my head off but the scope is bashed hard against the rocks from all my movement.

It has a gash in it from the rock. I killed a doe a few hours later.

skybuster20ga

im a big fan of iron sights or peep sights myself and for reasons not yet mentioned. i prefer irons for the carry factor. nice and light and thats what a man needs up here if hes a tracker going miles and miles each day. or even still hunting. also w/ some rifles, particularly the 7600's i think it screws up the balance of the rifle. "top heavy" so to speak.

another reason i prefer irons or peeps over scopes is that most of a mans shots using these hunting methods are at deer that are running or loping or a quick trot in the case of a cagey old maine hoosier and for me i like the idea of looking over the barrel and seeing the whole picture. not just what the scopes F.O.V. will allow. being able to judge in advance whichere he's gonna be in 30 40 or 50 yds and picking the best lanes to shoot through could mean the differance in a decent shot or taking a more obstructed shot and only being left w/ an empty casing or two and a bunch of excuses to tell your buddies.

liberty1743

Great points skybuster. I've made up my mind about open/iron sights, but I'm a little worried about finding someone to do a good job installing them on my smooth barrel. Can it be easily botched to mess up the point of impact?

ButchA

I still have open sights on my old Marlin .30-30 and to me, it looks classic and "old school". A scope on an old lever gun, to me, just doesn't look right. So, I use the old .30-30 in the real heavy brush, briars, thickets, etc... where I might have a max shot of 50, 60 yards.

For longer ranges and more open areas, I have my Savage .308 with a nice Bushnell 3-9x40 scope that's zeroed 1" high at 100 yards, and can do way more than the old .30-30 can.

Two different rifles. Two different styles of hunting. The best of both worlds. [8D]

Briman

Most iron sights put on sporting rifles are complete garbage. They usually have a tall unprotected front sight with a barrel mounted patridge or buckhorn (worst kind of iron sight conceivable) that needs a tiny eyeglass screwdriver to adjust. If you want a durable useful set of iron sights, look past the junk put on sporting rifles and take a look at the sights on a M14/M1 Garand/ or AR-15.

skybuster20ga

i recomend a banded front sight. NECG are pretty sweet. check them out at midwayusa.com. im having one installed in place of the factory sight on my mod 7 cdl. make sure to do enough research though and end up w/ the hight and size bead you will like the best. they are interchangable anyways if you dont like what you end up w/. i put a williams front ramp on my whelen carbine after i had that cut off and i really like it for close work. also at this point if your installing a new front i would go ahead and recomend a fiberoptic bead. i prefer a fiberoptic front and factory rear w. no bright colors or white triangles. no need for it. the rear sights, if the gun fits like it should will "pop" up perfectly in place every time.

Centaur 1

There's a reason that the screws that hold the scope rings to the base have a coin slot in them instead of a screwdriver slot, because most of us don't carry screwdrivers in the field. Something as simple as losing your grip while lowering your rifle out of a treestand can take out a scope. Pull a quarter out of your pocket and take off the scope and you're still in the game until you get back and fix the problem. Hopefully they'll never be needed but considering how much money we spend on every other aspect of hunting it just makes sense to me to have them on the gun.