How soon we forget. Hunting rifles lack iron sights because shooters demanded that, with the maturation of optic technology, makers remove them. Partly for aesthetics, but also to facilitate scope installation and eliminate a snag point. Rifle owners had to buy plug screws of the right length to fill in the four holes in the barrel where the front & rear sights were mounted. Sometimes, those plug screws fell out. The threads trapped moisture and promoted corrosion. No one wanted iron sights on bolt actions used for hunting the lower 48.
I'm laughing at the idea iron sights are only available at a premium. The last rifles makers deleted iron sights from were the economy models. They only had iron sights so a nimrod on a budget could hunt this season and buy a scope for the next.
Iron sights were cheap and fragile. Even when iron sights ruled the world, factory sights were nothing but placeholders. Serious shooters replaced them with aperture or Express sights.
The majority of stocks in the fifties had drop at the toe to facilitate the use of iron sights and a sloped comb. It enhanced muzzle rise and pushed the comb into the shooter's face during recoil.
In the sixties, a Monte Carlo was added to raise the comb height to match the line of sight of rifle scopes. The comb was sloped forward or kept parallel to the bore to reduce cheek slap. When Ruger introduced the M-77, they simply raised the comb (and the toe) for scope use. No Monte Carlo. It set the pattern for what became known as the "Modern Classic". Other makers were slow to offer modern classic stocks, but when the mountain rifle craze took off, custom rifle makers had fully embraced the modern classic stock, Remington, Winchester and other bolt action makers had no choice but to meet the demand. Moving away from the Monte Carlo improved recoil control and offered a cleaner aesthetic.
Although the M77 was offered with iron sights, the comb of the modern classic stock was too high to use them comfortably. I shot one magazine through an old M-77 with iron sights and swore I'd never do it again. If I want a bolt action to shoot with iron sights, it's gonna be an 03-A3.