Quilly

seems noone uses them nearly as much they used to. most rifles now don' t come with iron sights at all.

anyone still use iron sights? i use them on some rifles for stalking in bogs and swamps

akbound

I still use iron sights, though not exclusively! Actually I prefer " peep" sights to plain open sights. I have a 16.25" barreled Marlin in .44 Rem Mag with a peep. And a Ruger Carbine in .40 S&W with Ghost Ring " peep" rear. Additionally I have an unaltered 8X57 Mauser with the " balleycorn" rear and inverted triangle front. My SKS' s have their original open sights. (Even have a 20 gauge we originally set up for my son equipped with a rear " peep" sight!) Also I have a Remington 673 chambered for .350 Rem Mag and even though I am mounting a scope on it....it will be in Leupold Quick Release bases and rings. I like the sight picture on the 673 and want to have them accessable if I so choose! And of course I have open sights on my flintlock .50 and on both the smooth bore slug barrel and the " rifled" barrel on my Remington 870. So I guess you could say I still enjoy using and continue to use open sights!

I also have a number of other rifles set up that are fairly strictly scoped!

Briman

About 90% of my rifles have iron sights only and about 99% of my shooting at the range is with iron sights.
The fact that most rifles don' t come with iron sights is probably a blessing. Most modern hunting rifles that do come with iron sights have terrible, cheaply made sights, probably added as an afterthought.

diyj98

All of my hunting rifles are scoped. For my own use I' ve never found where I needed anything other than a properly mounted scope. Although I do have quite a few target rifles with peep sights, and other than sniper rifles all my military rifles have the original open sights.

270BBR

All my rifles are scoped, but I had to take the scope off of a .22 and use the open sites for the kids to learn to shoot. The eye relieve with the scope was not right for them and kept blacking out. Once the scope was off they became good shots.
I will put the scope back on when the kids get bigger; I just like a scope on a rifle.

Vapodog

Most of my rifles have scopes. Two don' t and I took one of them to Africa with me this Summer. It' s a .25-20 winchester model 92...it bagged a springbok and a duiker. It has the finest open sights I' ve ever used...made in 1917.

mauser06

i have a little of each....my muzzleloader is a flintlock so theres not much hope for a scope....and their illegal here in flintlock season...and i dont want one...my shots are almost always within 30yds...i dont need a scope...i dont need sights at all for that shot...i can probally do it from the hip! lol...though my mauser does have a leupold 3x9x40 on it...i was in a pinch and the season was close and i found it cheap.....it never leaves 3x except when im at the range...its almost like having a reticle in your eye when your using that thing that low....i was able to shoot a running deeer in a thicket like i was swinging a shotgun....i kinda like it but kinda dislike it...its alot of bulk and weight...but being in a pinch i didnt have time to goto a smith to fix my sights....they are set for 100 or 200m...at 50 yds it hits about 6 inches high and at the time i was to young to learn to shoot them like that so i put the scope on it and it hasnt left yet.....but i can see 2-300 yds down the trails sometimes on my walk in and out....so i just might need that 9x one day.....so each has its advantages.....

Nomercy

I usually prefer hunting with iron sights over a glass, peep sights are my favorites. I don' t really believe in asking more from equipment than should be, though, so whenever I' m hunting territory that lends itself to long shots, a glass is on my arm, but whenever I' m in territory that doesn' t dictate a need for a scope, I' m all over it with my peep' s. I don' t really believe in mounting scopes on handguns either, since that' s part of the thrill of handgunning is to make something very difficult to hunt with work for you. I don' t really think it' s ethical to take shots over 250yrds through open sights, so when I' m holding a gun good to a half mile, and have open views as far as I can see, a glass is a better idea, I usually outfit my guns with this in mind, if they' re a long range cartridge, then they need a long range sight, if they' re rainbow shooters, then open sights are the ticket.

Know what I REALLY want for my Marlin 1895 Cowboy? I want an old fashioned " telescopic" sight, one of the ones that spans the whole length of the bbl, that' d be fun for deer hunting!

plainsman

All my riles have scopes of some sort,except the Win. 94 22 mag.but it' s waiting for me to pick up the mounts for the 4x i have it lined up for.My main hunting rifle has see-trough mounts[wasn' t going to give up my irons]. I do believe beginners should start with irons, if for no other reason than to limit shot range.By doing this the new hunter will have to learn the art of stalking and of tracking, if the animal is gone when he gets to his comfortable shooting location.This works until he learns to start taking farther and farther shots.My irons are now 1 inch high at 100 yrds.Scope is set for 300. Decided to get scope AFTER I started taking mulies past the 400 range,but feel the glass gives me the option of going out to 600 IF NEED BE.

James B

As your eyes get older to the point you need bi-focal, Iron sights are worthless. With your glasses on you cat see the rear sight and with them off you can,t see the front sight. Peep sights however will still work pretty good because you are not looking at that rear sight. I use scopes 99 percent of the time. I have a Lyman peep sight on my 1895 45-70.