Open Sights long range i.e. 500-1000 yards.

[55fairlane]

198-4x (198 out of 200, I put 1 in the %$#@! 8 ring.....almost clean)
300 yards on a target reduced to look 600.....best slow prone (20 rounds of an NRA 80) I have posted.

I am very happy to be in to company of some fine competitors in the high power rifle game, most people I know just look at me like I'm stupid when I say "nope, no scope, nor do I shoot from the bench/bi-pod"

 

[55fairlane]

Is that Antwerp CC?

I re-read your question, yes that picture was taken at Antwerp CC.....

 

[Tactically Fat]

FYI - I'm jealous of all y'all.

 

[55fairlane]

FYI - I'm jealous of all y'all.

What's there to be jealous of? We didn’t just wake up one day and be gifted with the talent to do this....find a club that offers NRA or CMP high power matches, show up , and just say "hi, I wanna learn" it does take commitment, I shot an "NRA 80" every Thursday night and smallbore couple times a month.
Fun thing here is, these kinda guys will teach you everything they know, coach you, and loan you and thing you don't have, right down to a rifle.
There are a few "clinics" you can do as well, like the small arms firing school at Camp Perry or an appleseed.
Come on out, the game (of high power/long distance) is so much fun

 

[Tombs]

The only irons I feel like I can do decent work with are the diopter sights on H&Ks/PTRs. I couldn't shoot a milsurp notch sight to save my life.

Those diopters though... They feel very close to an optic.

The furthest range I have access to is 300 yards, so it's kind of hard to get proficient in the kind of capacity I see here.

 

[Leo]

The only irons I feel like I can do decent work with are the diopter sights on H&Ks/PTRs. I couldn't shoot a milsurp notch sight to save my life.

Yes, any variety of rear peep sight is vastly easier to shoot accurately than a notch rear sight for most people. There is some advantage to a front aperature sight also. If you can focus the front ring but the target is fuzzy, not a problem. A fuzzy ball perfectly centered in the ring is centered just as good as a clear ball perfectly centered in the ring. The bullet does not know the difference.

The year I was shooting both Service rifle and Match rifle, I put a post insert in the front globe sight to be consistent. It worked pretty good until vision problems developed and I could not focus the target or the sight.

Some of those old, long thin brass tubes on ancient rifles were not scopes, but a simple tube sight. The sight alignment view is the same as a peep sight, except you never have light changes affecting your view. Also, when the barrel is hot you do not have the heat from the barrel blurring the front sight.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I couldn't shoot a milsurp notch sight to save my life.

I have often wondered why they put such horrible sights on such wonderful guns. Wouldn't even have to be peep sights. Just make the damn sights a little bigger!

 

[Tactically Fat]

I have often wondered why they put such horrible sights on such wonderful guns. Wouldn't even have to be peep sights. Just make the damn sights a little bigger!

Probably because they're generally way more fragile than would hold up to the rigors / horrors of war.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Probably because they're generally way more fragile than would hold up to the rigors / horrors of war.

How would they be more fragile if they were taller and thicker?

 

[drm-hp]

Probably because they're generally way more fragile than would hold up to the rigors / horrors of war.

The other thing to remember is that those battle sights are designed for 18 to 20 something year old eyes.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

The other thing to remember is that those battle sights are designed for 18 to 20 something year old eyes.

That's true, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have been more serviceable. But maybe it was just "they way they'd always done it" back then. I've got a lot of WWI and WWII era (and older) guns, and both the rifles and the pistols back then had teeny tiny little sights.

 

[Tombs]

I have often wondered why they put such horrible sights on such wonderful guns. Wouldn't even have to be peep sights. Just make the damn sights a little bigger!

Some people make them work with incredible effect. If you look around on youtube, there's a guy shooting a K31 at 2200 yards.

I just don't understand how they get a tight and precise sight picture out of it.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Some people make them work with incredible effect. If you look around on youtube, there's a guy shooting a K31 at 2200 yards.

I just don't understand how they get a tight and precise sight picture out of it.

Oh I know it can be done, but damn, it's hard! I love my Swedish M96. Probably one of the most accurate if not the most accurate rifle I own, but the sights just suck. I'd like to get some of the diopter sights they make for it but they're sure spendy.

I got one of the clamp-on mounts for my K31, put a scope on it, and that makes it a lot easier at long ranges for sure.

 

[SpinDrift762]

M1/M14 peep sights I can work a target from 500-700, any further and the target better be high contrast and very overweight. I’ve been trying to learn the Mauser sights on an M48 my father gifted to me, but I can’t hit much of anything with the triangle/notch sights.

 

[sloughfoot]

With my iron sighted AR15 service rifle, I couldn't get 10 ring sized groups at 300 or beyond. Until both Bill Simon and Mike Gingher both told me to go back to the stock wide .072 front blade. They were right. The narrow front sights hinder accurate work with the rifle.

Do you have a reason for the flyer?

 

[natdscott]

I’ve been trying to learn the Mauser…but I can’t hit much of anything with the triangle/notch sights.

Don’t worry: nobody can.

Such a great rifle, and they ruined it by sticking a piece of filed-down welding spatter on the front where a post was supposed to be.

ETA: and this is said despite my favorite childhood rifle being a January 1948 Remington 514. That rifle is the reason I own a September 1948 duplicate, with which I shoot 75-yard steel almost every day. 2” and 3” rounds, and a 1/3 IPSC if I am having a bad day, or lighting conditions are crap. In honesty, the 2” is pretty crappy without one of the scoped rifles, or an A2, because it’s SO small behind my front bead on the 514. It’s more manageable at 50 yards. But I’m hard headed, so…

Notch/open rear isn’t necessarily a problem, but I could NEVER get the hang of the barleycorn/inverted V front sight for ELEVATION.

As such, I don’t shoot anything with them.

 

[natdscott]

With my iron sighted AR15 service rifle, I couldn't get 10 ring sized groups at 300 or beyond. Until both Bill Simon and Mie Gingher both told me to go back to the stock wide .072 front blade. They were right. The narrow front sights hinder accurate work with the rifle.

Too wide a brush, slough. I have used 0.045” through 0.072” posts, from 50 feet through 1,000 yards, shooting Navy through berm holds. My smallest 3-5 round groups are a tick under 1/2 MOA, and were fired with BOTH 0.051” and 0.062” posts, in prone position and sling/glove testing.

Different guys see different targets, shooting side by side, and different targets may require different sights as well.

For example, shooting 200-1,000 yard aggs, and even some 600 for a bit, I was changing posts during the match. Pretty easy to do, if you remove the spring and detent.

It is well known that the Illinois Service crowd (probably the largest and best group of SR shooters in the country, other than the teams) were in favor of the 0.06x and 0.07x sights, when the A2 wasn’t an antique.

 

[sloughfoot]

I cannot disagree. I just know what worked for me. I think I I have a .062 in the front sight right now. For our 300 yard targets.

The .072 is perfect for a frame hold at 600.

I really need to make the next FWRR match. I look forward to seeing you ..

I'll probably shoot an iron sighted match rifle.

I totally agree about the Illinois shooters. When some talk, I listen...

 

[natdscott]

I really need to make the next FWRR match. I look forward to seeing you ..

I’d LOVE to make it to ANY match at this point, even to just sit and score and get donut dust on my spotting scope. The only kind of dust it has on it now is the sad kind.

It’s just a stage of life thing, and an antique house, but I do miss everything except the sunburns.

 

[Robert Richardson]

I’d LOVE to make it to ANY match at this point, even to just sit and score and get donut dust on my spotting scope. The only kind of dust it has on it now is the sad kind.

It’s just a stage of life thing, and an antique house, but I do miss everything except the sunburns.

Yeah, back in the day....... I miss being young.