35 remington for Elk ?

[Old Stumpy]

I shot a deer with a Finnish M27, distance was probably 45 feet or less. Even though it was close up, I had to use the front sight wings to center the shot because the low light and the dark fur of the deer made it impossible to see the post. A shooter will always see better, be able to aim at something with the cross hairs, and place the shot better than with irons. Not all shots are made with good illumination and contrasting targets. I have shot tens of thousands of rounds in competition with irons and I know that the further the target is from the shooter, the more critical the stock weld and sight alignment are with irons. This takes practice, lots of it. And the further the animal is out, you are basically putting the post in the middle, whereas with a scope, you can see the shoulder, or a patch of white, and aim at it.

I think it is prudent to put a scope on a hunting rifle as you are more likely to place your shot and reduce the animal's suffering.

I would not dispute that in low light conditions that open sights are difficult to use. However, when you can see the sights well, and the range is 100 yards it isn't that difficult to kill your deer. Sight alignment is critical, but I never found it that difficult to master.
I was able to shoot 3 or 4 inch groups from the bench at 100 yards with the factory irons without difficulty, and smaller groups with some rifles when I was younger.
Perhaps the fact that I began my shooting with formal bullseye shooting with a .22 target pistol is why.
You definitely learn sight alignment and trigger control this way.
But then, I wasn't attempting to shoot tiny groups with open sights at 200 yards either.
I'm sure that achieving tiny groups consistently in competition does take a lot of practice.
My point is that I believe that the average guy can learn to shoot well enough with buckhorns to kill a deer at 100 yards without difficulty.
If not, then I guess that all of those hunters in the 19th century on up to WW2 never killed anything more than 100 feet away.
I seriously doubt this and I think that as long as younger shooters believe that "open sights are no good" that they will never seriously try to learn to shoot with them.
Furthermore, a hell of a lot of traditional black powder round ball shooters would dispute the myth of buckhorns inaccuracy.

 

[eastbank]

yesterday I handled three new Kimber hunter rifles, a .243-.270,3006 and all were less than 6 lbs.

 

[Robert]

Congrats to the folks who felt it necessary to have a pissing contest in someone else's thread. You guys earned the lock one this one.