Marlin 1895 apeture sights

[schlockinz]

I was looking at replacing the buckhorn sights on my 1895, mainly cause I've never been good with buckhorns past 75 yds.

I've been looking at the williams systems, I think that the foolproof with a tru glow blade would be slick, but not sure if I need that much sight.

The gun is a 45-70, and will be used primarily for a brush gun, but the possibility of checking out a field and having a 200yd shot still exists (hence why I thought about the FP models, could adjust if needed), but most of my shots should be under 75yds.

Any and all thoughts appreciated

 

[rcmodel]

The Foolproof is a good way to go.

The less expensive 5-D doesn't have the clearly defined click adjustments of the Foolproof.

It is best set once, locked down, and left alone.

With that said, I think the Foolproof is best left alone too.

If you sight in your 45-70 for Maximum Point Blank Range with a 300 JHP, it will be 2.4" high at 100, dead on at 140 yards, 6" low at 165, and 15" low at 225.

It is pretty easy to just hold on the top of a deer at 200 yards and hit him in the kill zone.

Don't know about you, but I can't see well enough past 200 yards to be shooting deer further then that with open sights.

IMO: Fiddling with sight clicks in the woods is a sure way to get things so screwed up I need to go home and sight in again.
Once I sight in, I leave the sights alone and learn the trajectory of the load I'm using.

rc

 

[MMCSRET]

I have 5Ds on several rifles and I set them for the range appropriate for the caliber and bullet I hunt with. I can always compensate by raising the front sight in the aperture. Takes practice but thats the fun part. My 444 Marlin is sighted in for 200 yds and will be in the "kill zone" anywhere out to about 230 yds. My 357 is set for 100, same principal. Adjusting the sight in the field always seemed foolish to me and time consuming. Its like watching a "TV" sniper spend 5 minutes adjusting the windage and elevation on his scope, AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

 

[kragluver]

Williams sights are hard to beat for the price. I have them on my 1895 and 336 as well as my JC Higgins Model 31.

 

[RSVP2RIP]

+1 for the 5D on a 444. Set mine for dead on at 100 yards. All my deer hunting is done at halitosis range and I almost always use a scope set at 1.5-2.5x max. Can always crank it up for a farther shot and you will be suprised to find that the scope is just as fast as the apeture sight once you practice keeping both eyes open and the power low. Also helps with aging eyes, but I'm not really speaking from experience on this one, I'm only 30.

 

[Asherdan]

I used the Williams 5D on my 1895G with great results until I felt the need to put a Weaver V3 1-3x20mm on it.

I'd suggest the standard .093 aperture is good for range sighting, unless you feel the need for the .050 target aperture, but for hunting I always liked the .125 Twilight aperture. It has a brass ring around the aperture that actually helped me locate and catch the front sight through the aperture quickly. If you're in the real dark deep and close stuff there's nothing wrong with pulling the aperture altogether and using the big ol' ring.

I like 'em. The 5D is a little more fooling around to sight in, no 'clicking in' like with the FP, just loosen the screws up and slide it a touch and reference the scale lines. Once it's on and locked in it does great.

I like the Truglow front sight in green, not red, but for them to capture enough light all the time you either need to remove or cut a window in the sight hood. They can break if you bang them around much. A post with a white stripe up it is optimal in my book but I wound up going back to the stock front sight with a flat filed on top and the face painted bright white.

It worked well for me but I found darkish foggy mornings I'd lose the front sight after legal hours were open so I switched over.

 

[MMCSRET]

The reason I have "peep" sights on my lever guns is because a scope throws the balance off and it is harder to handle in a saddle scabbard. I do have one Marlin with a scope, I bought it that way, a 1949 336A in 32 Winchester Special with a 1949 Weaver K2.5 in 1949 Buehler mounts. I couldn't pass it up as it was sold together to the man I bought it from. It shoots 3 touching regularly with my handloads at 100 yds. even with me in contact with it.

 

[mainmech48]

I have some sort of receiver sight on nearly all of my LAs. My own 1895G wears a Williams FP and a Firesight front bead. You can buy a replacement hood that's got an opening to admit light for the FO bead from Williams, Midway USA, Brownell's, etc. for about $8.00.

This combo works very well for me, especially since the advent of wearing bifocals.

I'd agree that the less expensive 5D would be just as practical for hunting. The standard FP needs a tool for the adjustment screws anyway and the target knobs are too easy to get inadvertantly outta zero in transport or afield. Besides, it's a rare thing to have enough time to dial-up and still get the shot at game, IME.