30-30 Iron Sights-Sighting In

[AgentAdam]

I'm not very familiar with 30-30 trajectories and every "battle sight in" and bullet drop post I find is usually regarding scopes that are 1.5" above the bore unlike iron sights.

I fully stripped my Marlin 336 30-30 lever gun and now need to get the rear sight elevation ramp back in the right spot. I'm looking for a sight in that will be good from 25-200yards for deer/hog hunting, preferably spot on at 100, and usable for CQB(sub 25yards) if i have to defend my home. I thought Iron sights cause less deviation of POI than a high rise scope.

I tried to start off at 100yard on a police silhouette target and i could barely keep them on paper as it was so hard to see the X that far and I'm a good shot with great vision. Maybe i need a williams/lyman peep sight. I'm excellent with 10/22 irons but don't like these Marlin horse shoe? style rears. Moved it back in to 25yards where i could see my 3" spray painted white circles and i could get 3 shots in under 2" standing after breathing heavy from walking 100yards back and forth 5 times, but then i ran out of ammo.

So basically what distance should i sight in up close where i can see that will get me back on at 100yards and what kind of hold over should i expect to drop em in at 25,50, 150,200,250,and 300 knowing that 275y is pushing its affective range and will i still be able to use this gun sub 25yard on an intruder without aiming for COM and hitting him 12" lower or something.

Also I will be using 150gr Winchester PowerPoint Soft Points mostly and 170gr+ if I am expecting any 12 pointers or 500lb Russian boars but not likely. After testing i might eventually meet some were in the middle with the new 160's or whatever the gun likes best if it makes that much of a difference. I think the 336 is a 1/12 twist and would prefer the heavier stuff but I'm not positive. I like the energies of the 150/160 better and things don't get that big around here.

 

[JustsayMo]

On my 20" 336's (I have 16" & 24" versions too) a 100 yard zero prints only about an inch high at 25 yards with my hunting loads. The "Point Blank Zero" (dead on hold) is father than I'd take a shot with iron sights.

Marlins can be finicky about what they like. I've owned a bunch (still own four) and handloading can really improve accuracy.

 

[ECVMatt]

I have found this very useful as a starting point...

http://www.hornady.com/ballistics/ballistics_calculator.php

You can play around with it to figure out what distance works best for. You can also lower your sight height to zero.

Good Luck,

Matt

It might look something like this:

BALLISTICS TABLE IN YARDS
170 gr., .218 B.C. www.hornady.com
Range (yards) Muzzle 25 50 75 100 150 200
Velocity (fps) 2390 2294 2201 2109 2020 1848 1687
Energy (ft.-lb.) 2156 1987 1828 1679 1540 1289 1074
Trajectory (100 yd. zero) -0.8 0.1 0.5 0.5 0.0 -2.6 -7.8
Come Up in MOA -0.8 -0.2 -1.0 -0.6 0.0 1.7 3.7

 

[LeverGunJunkie]

I shoot a couple of 30-30's, and even though it is for the 170gr bullet, the sight-in/trajectory stats that ECVMatt provided is about perfect based on my notes.

 

[schlockinz]

Get rid of the buckhorns is what I'd suggest (for me its to get a real good aiming point, and they blur easily on my guide gun).

Also, maybe try a target with an orange center instead of an X, your eyes might be able to stay on target a little more accurately at 100yds like that.

 

[AgentAdam]

I have a 1976 20" Texan.

I would have preferred to make my 5 target circles on my black silhouette with orange paint but i was out. The bead must have covered up 6" at 100y. I have real target targets but no target stand so i had to make due with a cardboard police silhouette leaned against the brush line.

Buck horns is a good name for the rear leaf? and they do blur very easily even though your supposed to focus on the front sight. It also seems like there is allot of variation in where you can place the front brass bead and the rear V slops awkwardly unlike the 10/22 irons which are very precise .

At 25yards i was only 2 or 3 inches high so i guess im only a notch or two away on the rear elevator but iv been talked into getting a peep sight. The peep sights that mount to the rear two receiver rail holes will give me a longer line of sight.

Since I already have Williams on my Mini14 and SKS i guess i will just keep it standardized like the rest unless another brand is recommended. The only think i dont like about the williams rear peep sight is the base is aluminum and doesn't seem as rugged as the rifles themselfs but i guess rings are aluminum also.

 

[AgentAdam]

Also for some reason i didn't bring my regular 2 foot wide benchrest targets as i didn't think it was going to be that accurate at 100y even though i know it should atleast hold a paper plate at 100y if not 1-4 MOA with a scope after i get used to it. I should have just brought it in to 25y to begin with but i have read horror stories of them being 8" high at 50y and 10" low at 200y but that is with high rise scopes with see threw rings. I guess i figured the Micro-Groved barrel would be kinda finicky anyways for the first box of ammo until it settled down after just cleaning 33 years of copper fouling out of the barrel with the ammonia based Hoppes Benchrest bore cleaner.

The empty brass looked ripe, just asking for a reloading but i told myself i wouldn't as i already am invested in .25,.380,.38,.357,9mm,.357sig,.223,.762x39,and.308 but what is another set of dies,trimmers, ect.,ect.,ect. Maybe i can just top them off with some black powder for some fun.

 

[schlockinz]

FWIW, I like the idea of sighting in where your hitting whats just above the front bead, that way it covers up nothing