Tang sight for a Marlin 1895cb 45/70?

[zeke2138]

Hi,
I'm new to the forum and this is my first post.
I am thinking about putting different sights on my new marlin 1895cb and would appreciate any advice I could get. I am currently leaning towards a marble's tang sight. I've been told that you have to worry about getting hit in the eye with it on a big caliber like 45/70, though. I've also been told I should go for a receiver mounted peep sight instead. How much better are any of these than the factory sights? I don't want to put a scope on it for various reasons. I plan to use the rifle for deer and, hopefully, elk hunting. I'm not into cowboy action shooting yet but am interested in it someday when I can afford the necessary guns.
Thanks for your help,
Zeke

 

[JNewell]

Welcome. You are likely to enjoy the discussions here.

Is the 1895 CB drilled on the left side of the receiver for a receiver sight? If not, you will have to have it drilled and tapped to attach a receiver sight. You'll have to have the tang drilled and tapped to attach a tang sight.

Either are (IMO) a huge improvement over the factory open sights for both accuracy and speed.

To some degree it's personal preference. I have a Winchester 92 with a Lyman tang sight and although it works extremely well as a sight (which is after all its primary mission), I don't like it a lot. It has to be erected to be used and then it's somewhat in the way. Actually, I don't like having it on the tang even when it's folded down. If you don't have a real yen to do CAS you might prefer a receiver sight. By the way, for my money, the best of those are the older, all-steel, Lyman 66 sights.

 

[zeke2138]

The reciever isn't drilled on the left side. It is drilled on top for scope mounting, though.

 

[JNewell]

Ah, I'd forgotten that possibility. I think that several companies offer receiver sights that mount on the top, all of which are very good. Ashley (XS Sight Systems now, I think), Wild West Guns and Brockmans all make excellent versions and I bet they'll go right into the scope mounting holes. If you change your mind later, you won't have any non-issue holes to plug.

 

[zeke2138]

Another thing I keep thinking of, since I'm pretty sure I want to try out CAS at some point, is something I saw in the movie Tom Horn with Steve McQueen. He has a detatchable tang sight on his Winchester '76 that slides into a socket on the tang. Do you know if anybody make one of these?
Those reciever sights all look pretty good to me, though, for what I'm doing currently.

 

[JNewell]

I haven't seen one, but I haven't looked. I looked into BPCR a few years ago and never got into it...I recall the upper-end tang sights being quite expensive (although in fairness you are buying a pretty sophisticated piece of hardware). Try googling Soule sights and see what comes up?