impressed by peep sight.....

[SSN Vet]

So I decided not to scope my Marlin 336 and just put a Williams 5D on last week.

I've never shot a rifle with aperture sights before. I can now appreciate why they are so common on military rifles, as the human eye seems to naturally center the front sight, without any thought.

Mine is a pre. 2001 Marlin with the tapped holes on the side of the receiver, so I got the 94/36 model, which seems to have a slightly lower profile. I screwed it in and set the windage to the bottom of the mechanical limit.

I was a little bummed, as I thought the 5D (economy model) came with a seliction of aperture inserts , as does the Foolproof. It doesn't. So that makes the sight more like a ghost ring.

Took her to the range on Sat. (which was a pretty blustery day) with large sheets of paper marked with a 2" black dot, expecting to be all over the place. First two shots on the 50 yd. range were right on top of each other within 2" of my dot. One easy windage adjustment and I was pretty much on the money.

With the large hole aperture I didn't expect much when I switched to the 100 yd range. Wow! Put 12 holes within an area the size of an 4"x6" Index card centered about 3" below and to the right of my dot. I'm a far cry from a marksman, so I was pretty pleased with these results.

I started with a box of 150 gr. Winchester Super-X and then finished up with 170 gr. Remington Core-Locs. I didn't see a discernable change in the rifles performance at 100 yds. But since the kick wasn't noticebly different either, I'll probably opt for the Remingtons.

Moved the aperture up one line on the elevation scale, which wasn't quite enough....then ran out of time.

So I'm a pretty happy camper.

Plan to head back soon with real targets and finish my tweeks.

My intention is to use this rifle for white tails in northern Maine next fall. Is there any consensus out there regarding what range to zero the site at? I'm thinking about 100 yds, and then aiming ~2" low at 50 yd shots.

 

[rockstar.esq]

Sounds like some good shooting! I'd probably leave it zero'd for 100 yards and not even think about range should a target present itself within 125 yards. I could be wrong but if I recall correctly the 30-30 will still hit the "breadbox" of a deer at 125 yards even if you were holding on the center of the chest at that range. This is a bit of a modification of the "Max point blank range" concept however I hear of more game killed within 100yds than farther. If you wanted to get more into it, Remington and others have free downloadable software which will calculate many of the variables for you.

 

[BruceB]

Nice, isn't it? A much better sight on the rifle, and it doesn't ruin the fast-handling character of the Marlin like a scope would. My only current lever gun is a Marlin 36 (not 336) in .32 Special, made in 1947. I mounted an old steel Redfield aperture sight on this one.

Zeroing the rifle at 100 yards creates a needless handicap on its ranging ability. For my .30-30/.32 Specials, I prefer to zero at 150 yards, or even a bit further, which gives reliable vital-zone hits on deer-size critters to a full 175 yards WITHOUT having to hold high or low on such animals. Most users of such rifles don't seem to realize that the cartridge will indeed reach out to 200 yards on deer if properly zeroed.. Of course, many such folks are hunting in very thick country where such long shots are at least rare, if not absolutely impossible. Here in Nevada, we need all the "reach" we can get!

 

[115grfmj]

I always amazes people...

the kind of accurate shooting that can be done with aperature sights. I've got a recent vintage 1894c in .357 magnum. I had a williams 5D (recently switched to a skinner aperature sight, becuase it lies flatter on the reciever, but I digress...) I also use a williams firesight front with a marlin factory cutout hood. I can regualry hit at 200yards( minute of pie plate, but that good enough for me ) 10 out of ten rounds. At 100yds I get 2-3" from my rest, slightly worse offhand, but it's the indian not the arrows . Heres another hint the smaller the aperature the better your groups will be, and if you plan to do any hunting with it, get the williams twilight aperature.
It's ringed with brass so the eye naturally picks it up, and centers it even in low light. I also highly recommend the firesight front it make low light shooting much easier.

One more thing, I also agree that your selling yourself short on the range for 30/30 also. As has been mentioned before, It is indeed a 200yd gun on whitetail. Even my .357, which is close but not as punchy as your 30/30, lands dead on at 175 yds, when sighted to high 3" high at 100yds. Your rifle is much flatter shooting..