Semi-buckhorn (and even more so the full buckhorn) rear sights - in their day - were criticized for obscuring the target (game). And, as the Wicki- article says, beads were criticized because differences in ambient light could send shots off-target in any direction or combination of directions. 19th century targetshooters wasted no time in switching to aperture sights or aperture/post sight - all in dull finishes. Hunters kept using beads on rifles until the era of scopes arrived. The "hood" often offered on front sights (a la Marlin 336) was/is to protect the rather delicate front bead sight but also to reduce the effect of differences in ambient light.
Since the arrival of affordable/reliable scopes, hunters have generally been indoctrinated to sighting to Point-of-Aim. But even as late as the 1960s there was still plenty of discussion and use of "
the 6 o'clock hold"... meaning your irons (
open rear and bead or post front) were set so you held at the bottom of your target (
like the 6 on a clock face) and your shots impacted in the center of your target. Some very accurate target shooting can be done with this sight picture - as in 5-shot, one-hole groups with a .22 at 50ft.
Hunters used the "6 o'clock hold" sighting method specifically to allow greater visibility of their quarry during the moments of shooting... and also to simplify and hasten the aiming. In those innocent days hunters were not conditioned to think they should put their bullet into the rear third of the left ventricle - they wanted to "
hit the vitals". It sounds odd today but it actually works as well now as in yesteryear.
Consider a .44 magnum pistol. Today, many people would probably sight it in to hit P.O.A. at maybe 100yds., and then concern themselves with rise and drop. But it can be sighted in to be "zero'd" at 150yds. which - today might seem silly, but it isn't.
With such a setting the 180gr. HP will be...
2.5 " high at 25yds.
4.7" high at 50yds.
5.8" high at 75yds
5.5" high at 100yds.
2.7" high at 125yds.
"zero'd" at 150 yds.
... which is to say you can us the same "
6 o'clock hold" on a deer (
along bottom line of the chest) at any distance from about 30yds. to 120yds. and expect a hit in the vitals.
the "
in the field" effectiveness (quickness and clarity) is helped by the facts that you don't need to take much time to "
decide where to hold", the bottom line of the chest is quick and easy to pick out even if you have to guess at it due to tall grass, and the front leg becomes your quick/easy left-right reference.
Since I grew up with the "
6 o'clock hold" it has been natural for me to use it when hunting with my iron-sighted Ruger Super Blackhawk and it has worked very well for me on deer. It is certainly the quickest sight picture to acquire with the SBH. My Single-Six revolver is arranged the same and a hold on the midline or between the front legs of a groundhog puts a .22 magnum in lethal spots every time. Yet it doesn't blot out the vitals area thus allowing me to see when the animal makes some small, last-second change in posture that requires an adjustment of aim. If using irons
on a rifle the aperture/post arrangement is (IMO) the way to go.
As a trivia note - the "new" ghost ring" sight concept is not new at all. Writers from the first half of the 20th century often advised hunters to remove the disc from their Williams aperture sights and just use the hole left by its' removal in order to speed up sight picture acquisition. Works like a charm.
