Marlin 1894 Sights

[verge]

I just purchased a Marlin 1894 in .44 Magnum to compliment a Ruger Super Redhawk in my gun safe. The Ruger is scoped but I was thinking about leaving iron sights on the rifle. Just looking through the stock sights I doubt they will be what I want for accuracy. What sights are other 1894 owners out there using?

[Noah_Zark]

Welcome to the PAFOA forums, Verge.

I'm a longtime fan of Marlin leverguns; I bought my first one in 1976.

I own the 1894 in 45 Colt, 357 Magnum, and 32-20, and I've owned two of them in 44 Magnum. None of them every wore a scope; they were more than sufficiently accurate for me with the iron sights, or the rew rifles I fitted with a receiver "peep" sight.

What is sufficiently accurate? IMO and experience, on a practical basis if you can chase an empty quart-sized plastic bottle around the 100 yd berm with the open sights, that rifle/sight combination is just fine for your eyes, hold, stance, and trigger control. I have one 24" octagonal barreled 1894 Cowboy in 357 Magnum with a Lyman receiver sight that can bust orange claybirds sitting propped up on edge on the 100 yd berm, about 7 or 8 out of 10 shots. The 24" barrel and the receiver sight mounted on the rear of the receiver makes for a very long sight radius, and that contributes to accuracy. The 24" barrel by itself IS NOT any more accurate than a 20" or 18.5" barrel. But that's a different post.

Personally, IMO and experience many shooters today have the mistaken impression that accurate shooting is only possible with a scope. Modern 21st-century scopes and electronic optics are wonderful, no question. But IMO, those shooters who automatically buy a scope when they buy a rifle are missing out on a key part of marksmanship training -- learning how to shoot accurately with open sights. There is nothing to it but PRACTICE. Focus on the front sight, put the front sight in the rear notch, and line up the works on the target. Be consistent, and practice. Don't be afraid to take a brass drift and a soft-faced hammer to the front or rear sight to drift the rifle into windage alignment for where it's shooting. It's trial and error, but it's a reason to put more rounds downrange. And you if you drift-adjust open sights enough, you get really good at judging how much of a "whack" is enough.

Receiver sights were the original "accurate shooting accessory" before scopes existed. When used properly, the round peep aligns itself as you focus on the front sight and concentrate on its placement with respect to the target. That's why US military shoulder arms have been fitted exclusively with "peep" sights since the M1 Rifle. For example, there is a 16" steel gong at 440 yds at the one club to which I belong. Using the open sights on an M1 Rifle, K31 Swiss Carbine, Mauser K98k, AR15 "M4gery", M1A, or 30-30, 38-55 Marlin lever with receiver sight, I have no trouble hitting that gong repeatedly offhand, standing. My 21 yr old daughter has a 922r-compliant .223 Saiga with which she can hit that gong with the standard Saiga leaf sight at least 25/30 times. Does marksmanship run in the family? Only because of a lifetime of practice with many 1000s of rounds fired. I burned though dozens of bricks of 22s shooting rats at the town dump as a kid in the mid-60s. Those 22s and dead rats represented many, many lawns mowed and driveways shoveled, and windows washed. But they helped me secure the "top shot" spot in my recruit series at Parris Island in the fall of 1972.

You can excel at shooting with open sights and receiver sights, too. Just take the time to get to know your rifle and the open sights by practice, practice, practice. Pick out a dark spot or a place a 20 ox plastic soda bottle on the 50 yd berm and shoot at it -- the dust puff or the bottle spinning or sailing away is instant feedback on how well you are doing. Wherever that bottle lands, shoot it again. And again, and again. See if you can generate dust puffs from that same spot on the berm, time and again. Then move to the 75 yd or 100 yd berm. Then the 200. Then the 300 or 400.

See how good you truly can be at shooting, once you get to know your firearms and learn how not to rely on optics.

Noah

[Pukindog]

Go with the Marble rear tang sight rather then the Lyman because the Marble is adjustable for windage too. Not so the Lyman. Another good choice is the Williams Fool proof.

Jeff