New to Iron Sights

I for one hate peep sights. I find them much more difficult to use effectively in low light conditions than a good set of open sights.

I always paint the ball of my front sight white. As far as the shooting mechanics go, it's the same as using a scope as far as breathing and trigger control, but there is certainly more of an instinct aspect involved as you move out to 75, 100yds and beyond. That only comes with repetition.

Open sight shooting is actually a lot of fun. I don't do it enough.
 
I shot irons in competition for a few years, Heavy Irons in 3 gun, and did pretty well. The best advice I can give is get a solid zero on a target you can see clearly. Without a solid zero you’re pissing in the wind. I used a white IPSC silhouette with a red or orange dot so I had some contrast and could get a well defined sight picture. For hunting I would use a fiber optic front with a large rear aperture. You’re eye will naturally center the front in the rear and the fiber optic will show up in less than ideal light. You must focus on the from sight and allow the target to be blurry. Relax, apply steady pressure and pin the trigger to the rear.
 
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Thanks everyone - Another thing I am interested in is 120 grains of BH209 vs 100. I know every muzzy gun is different and they all like different bullets, powder, etc and I have too shoot them all to find the right one but curious if anybody has had good accuracy with 120 grains?
 
I tried 100gr (volume) of blackhorn with a barnes 290gr. In my Accura V2 and it shot lights out so I didn't try anything else. It's taken 2 elk at 150yds. I think 200yds is about the limit for bullet performance with that charge.

100gr shot every bullet I stuffed in well. From 250gr bulk pistol bullets to hard cast
.458s
 
I started out with a Winchester 30-30 iron sights and no scope for deer and a 22 single shot, no scope for rabbits when I first started hunting. I went hunting with my dad for several years before I was old enough to shoot though I did shoot the guns for target practice, including a 10-gauge that cause me to land on my hiney in a mexican sand burr patch.
 
With open sights, you must place your shots and learn the rules of Kentucky windage and when to aim high or low. You also learn how not to flinch or close your eyes when you shoot because you lose the target then.
 
With open sights, you must place your shots and learn the rules of Kentucky windage and when to aim high or low. You also learn how not to flinch or close your eyes when you shoot because you lose the target then.

Seems that's the same for scope or irons. At least it all is for me.
 
Seems that's the same for scope or irons. At least it all is for me.

Not really. The margin for error is less least on basic iron sights. You have to compute elevation and windage on the fly where on your scope, you got that in the cross hairs. For basic iron sights, most I seen anyways, you zero it in and don't do any more adjustment after that. There are advanced iron sights out that you can adjust the same as you see Randy do for Leopold scopes, but most I seen you can't. I never made sight adjustments on my guns until I went into the Marine Corps. Just depended on good ole Kentucky windage rules.
 
WyoDoug, I do all the things with my irons that you do with your scopes. Really no difference. I use both in the field and in competition.

As for margins of error, they are determined by the target, not the sighting system. Elk have a slightly larger "margin of error" (kill zone, heart-lung area, whatever) than mule deer for instance.
 
Any more info on 120 grains of BH 209 ? Anybody get good results with that?
I use 115 by volume, then measured by weight on the scale. I use a .458 Kodiak 350gr flat nose or a Speer 350gr flat nose. MMP orange sabot for both. Dead on at 100 yards, and with the burris ballistic plex, the second hash from the reticle is 200 yards. I have not chrono'd the load but according to BH209, should be around 1900 FPS. Absolutely pounds elk and whitetail. Golf ball sized hole in and out with great blood trails.

Accuracy is really good to the point where 200 yards is a no brainer as long as the wind is stable.
 
I didn't read through all the comments but here is my advice.

I have a buddy that shoots Sharps rifles and real long range and gave me some pointers. He sights his rifle s to hit 6-8" higher than front sight. Basically 6 o clock hold. Focus on that front sight and if deer/elk is broadside, but the top of sight where the back of front leg meets the body. The body with be your elevation and the leg will be your windage.

On my knight mk85, I have a Williams peep with target knobs. I have it marked for 100, 150 and 200 yrds which is as far as I'll shoot at something living with irons anyway. Range the animal, turn the knob to correct mark and hold where was mentioned above. 6-8" high will put it right through the boiler room of any animal.

I shoot 460gr No excuse conicals in mine and they drop 19" from 100 to 200 yards but with sight set as mentioned before I can put them where they need to be and they still go 14" in the dirt mound behind the target.

I shot this doe at 96yds last year in fading light and worked perfectly.mzdeer.jpg
 
May also be helpful to have a similar (or same) open sight set-up on a .22 and put some rounds through it to master the techniques. It's cheap. I shoot a couple hundred with an iron sight at the range every year, then take it to hunt squirrels to keep my skills sharp.

This is exactly what I was gonna say. I shot everything iron sights growing up. Started with a long barrelled .22 off a bench shooting at pop cans at 50-100 yds. Shot my first two buck deer with a Springfield Model 1917 with iron sights. I don't think they were the original sights, but some type of iron sight my granddad swapped on the rifle. The first couple pronghorn I shot with a 3x9 felt like I was cheating at that point. If I was going to go back to irons, the first thing I'd do is grab that old .22 and get reaquainted.
 
Hey guys another question, when your trying to get a new bullet to group how many different weights of powder charges would you try before going to a different bullet? Been trying to get PB platinum 338 and Fed bor lock 350 with 90,100,120 grains and not getting very good consistently. My last group was the best but still not great. I will post a pic. The 5 shots that are circled, the 3 are perfect but then one shot is 5” left and the other is 5” right. This was at 100 yards 90 gr PB. Seems like at 50 with both bullets I’m right on but move out to 100 and that’s when things start to spread all over. Any knowledge/ advice would b much appreciated.
 

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There are no exact right answers. Inline Muzzy guns with bore size conicals and iron sights are as close to organic or unquantifiable shooting experiences you will find outside of flintlock or hawken style rifles. You have to learn to be intuitive and feel the gun out for what it and you like to make your relationship come together. With all that zen/focus your chi stuff out of the way, I will say I love my T/C omegas like nothing else when shooting sabots. However, I have never got any gun with a barrel end loading relief to group half as good as one without when shooting bore size conicals. I’ve bought different used guns, bought new guns, changed loads, blamed myself, but in the end my conclusion is the rifling needs to go all the way to the end of the barrel to produce maximum accuracy with bore size conicals. My opinion, fwiw(which I wish I could swallow my pride and tell you what I’ve spent to arrive at that conclusion).
 
Longtail, were 6-10 shot from a clean or dirty barrel? Both my T/C's shoot way better with a dirty barrel. Make sure to seat the projectile the same way every time. Sounds elementary and if you are doing that I apologize. Just trying to help. And in my experience ( with both my T/C's) groups didn't start shrinking until I hit 110gr of Blackhorn. 115 was the sweetspot for me.
 
Well still seeking out that perfect group and I feel like I’m chasing my tail and or not sure if I should expect better groups or be happy with what I’m shooting and know my yardage limits. As much as I’m enjoying it it is also getting to be frustrating. So after not feeling confident with Powerbelts and federal bor lock I tried the Thor 300 grain bullets. So far it groups the best but attached below are my results. I’ve trying to get my zero for 150 yards so after the first shoot I adjusted my sights but then I was high so I adjusted again but feel like I’m back to where I started or worse. Any more advice or motivational support would b appreciate d. Three photos should be in order of the 3 different times I shot. 100 yards. Should I continue to try different bullets? Should I have the QLA removed from my barrel?
 

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