Lever Action Iron Sights

I have used lever action rifles for most of my life. While I enjoy these rifles I also understand their limitations. The power of the 30- 30 Winchester isn’t as much a limiting factor as the sights commonly found on the rifles. Shot placement is everything and barleycorn sights are not the best bet for accurate shooting. I’ve tried tang sights and while they are interesting, they simply do not suit my personal style. In the field they had to be pressed into position to be used and were not snag free.

I never experienced the problem of eye injury from hard kicking rifles with tang sights but it certainly exists. The factory buckhorn sight isn’t well understood for accurate use and can be more precise than most realize. Keeping the front sight in the bottom of the rear notch works well for most shooters. Just the same, I have looked for something more useful and with greater accuracy potential. I am pleased that I began shooting with iron sights.

I use quality optics on some rifles and appreciate the improvement in long range accuracy potential. Just the same, for close range hunting and use against potentially dangerous animals I prefer iron sights. Among the best combinations I have ran across in some time is the new Skinner Sights Ladder Sight. It is patterned after the famous Buffington sight used on the Springfield Trapdoor 45-70 Government service rifle.

The Buffington sight earned an excellent reputation for accuracy potential in trained hands and in many ways was ahead of its time. The sight from Skinner is designed for use with lever action rifles in the 30-30 WCF class. The first impression of Skinner Sights is of quality and made of good material. The graduations are While the graduations are unmarked, they are precise. marked in bars but not numbers. I have dealt with iron sights marked in foreign measurements and in yards.

Most were highly optimistic and regulated in order to give a solider a chance of striking out at massed troop formations at 1,000 yards or more. For hunting use they are not practical. Skinner Sight markings provide a repeatable setting with the exact elevation depending on a particular load. For example, light or heavy bullet handloads yield different point of impact with a given setting regardless of what a sight’s number might claim.

I keep data in a notebook with sight settings for different ranges based on the specific load used. This is especially useful as I have more than one rifle. Sighting in rifles with optics to strike two inches high at one hundred yards isn’t difficult but different cartridges (such as 223 Remington and 308 Winchester) diverge considerably after that. The same applies here. The Skinner Ladder Sight makes adjustment easy.

If you have used factory buckhorn-type sights on Winchester, Marlin, Mossberg, Savage, and other original lever action rifles, the Skinner is a big step up in quality of manufacture, sight visibility, and adjustment. Regarding shooting, if you are used to using the original buckhorn, the Skinner is no mystery; the rear sight notch when folded is simply more well defined. The ladder component used when raised, often called the secondary sight in military parlance, is also a well defined.

I am not making an ex cathedra for a return to halcyon days when we beat the bush with an iron sighted 30-30 WCF, but if I choose to do so no amount of verbal calisthenics will convince me otherwise. I like iron sights and use them well. I also understand the limitations of iron sights. I realize their main value is in the brush and in stalking dangerous game at short range. A limiting factor is that iron sights are designed for use with a standard bullet weight.

As an example, the 30-30 Winchester is offered with a standard 150 grain load. The Winchester Power Point is a faster load than most but still uses a 150 grain bullet and isn’t difficult to properly sight in. The 30-30 WCF is also offered with a 170 grain bullet. Then there is the new Hornady Lever Revolution load that jolts a 160 grain bullet to a full 2400 feet per second. Iron sights area compromise in the use of a non-standard bullet weights.

By keeping the adjustment notch in the lowest setting you are able to properly sight the 30-30 WCF

It needed polishing/dressing before installing the new sight. for fifty yards. All iron sights don’t offer the théodicée (perfect world) but then neither do optical sights. It was not long ago a friend made the mistake of taking a scope-mounted rifle on a boar hunt in wooded territory. When the time to take the shot came, all he could see was bristle in the reticle. The same fellow took a black bear at a modest 35 yards using a scope.

He told me he would have performed better and had more satisfaction had he used iron sights on both hunts. Military rifle sights are more difficult to properly sight in as those who enjoy the Mauser and Mosin- Nagant will attest. These rifles were designed for firing at massed troops at very long range. Some of the Russian rifles are encrypted in graduations as indecipherable as Hawaiian Creole, while the much maligned Carcano is more akin to Pitman or Gregg shorthand.

In any case, these rifles may not be sighted for dead center much less than two hundred yards; they fire high at 100 to 200 yards. This is the reason sporterized military rifles were given high front sights. Some of these sights were home made but they worked just fine. Craftsmanship on such sights was between Walter Mitty and a Yanturni shoe but they usually worked. The Springfield 1903A3 was a bit better than the Mauser and the Garand much, much better than anything before.

There are not a lot of sporterized Garand rifles as those iron sights are the best of the best. What all this means is that as good and rugged and precise as iron sights are perhaps they are most useful only within a narrow field of standard bullet weights. This means about 150 grains for the .30 caliber rifles and heavier weights for the .35 and the .45 calibers. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

As an example, the Winchester Model 94 is often criticized by adherents of the 30-06 Springfield and the various .30 caliber Magnums. Now, I appreciate the 30-06, but let’s put it perspective. I didn’t progress from black powder to 30-30 Winchester and you probably didn’t either, but shooters in 1895 did. The 30-30 shoots long, flat, and hard compared to the 44- 40 Winchester. Shooters who were used to heavy black powder bullets clearly had little problem adjusting to the flat shooting new rifle.

Put in that perspective, the 30-30 is darned impressive, however, today most of us begin with the 30-30 and become upwardly mobile. The problem with an iron sighted rifle is that the sights are not good enough for even the Model 94 if you wish to experiment with different bullet weights. A hard cast 150 grain bullet at 1500 fps is a great practice load if you are able to get it sighted properly and you usually can at 50 yards. A 125 grain JSP at 2500 fps might be the cat’s meow for use against predators.

I am pretty certain we could permanently adjust the rifle for a non-standard weight but we reach a point of diminishing returns if we have to change sight settings The problem is that lighter, higher velocity bullets likely shoot higher so a taller front sight works. Heavy bullets shoot lower. Handling windage is okay as far as it goes, as long as you are able to drift the sights in their dovetail.

The problem with just holding off (Kentucky windage) is most people can’t accurately hold the front sight over and off target consistently and connecting at longer ranges demands a more exact aim. A shooter may get lucky by holding the front sight up and placing the target at the top of the front sight but consistency demands holding the front sight over and obscuring the target while holding the perfect sliver of the front sight up.

It isn’t easy and that is why long range accuracy with iron sights is something of an art. My personal 30-30 is sighted for 100 yards when the rear sight is set on the second notch when shooting Winchester 150 grain Power Point. The rifle is accurate enough for 200 yards but 150 is a more realistic limit. The sight is moved up two notches in

this case. By moving the sight to the third notch I am pretty much on the money at 200 yards, a realistic limit for the rifle under perfect conditions. Learning to use the sight without a bit of study is like opening up anew digital camera and neglecting to study the manual. I cannot tell you exactly what is needed with each rifle but sight alignment must always be consistent. The exact point of impact with diverse bullet weights differs with each rifle.

As a rule it is a smart move to sight the average rifle to strike one to two inches high at 100 yards shooting from a solid rest. This should be dead on at 150 yards with most military rifle cartridges and gives all around utility. The adjustment screw turns easy and locks up tight. Vintage Sights When we state that iron sights are best kept to 200 yards and in, perhaps those firing rifles before the common use of optical sights would take exception.

The Buffington sight fitted to the Springfield Model 1884 was intended to solve many of the problems with the earlier sights. While they appear complex—and they are compared to other sights of the era—they allowed a trained marksman to connect the low velocity 45-70 Government well past 500 yards. Early experiments were carried out at many hundreds of yards with the Springfield rifle against old ship hulls and the accuracy and long range penetration of the 45-70 was highly respected.

Using a reproduction of the 1860 Henry chambered in 44-40 Winchester demonstrated high accuracy with the Black Hills cowboy load and good results to at least 300 yards with its ladder sight, which is necessary due to the drop of black powder loads, Remember, we are not talking about hitting a deer in the eightinch kill zone at several hundred yards, rather we’re firing at massed troops or an artillery position at long range.

The aperture and ladder sights of the original Pattern 1914 Enfield rifle area pleasure to use. I once owned a rather nice P14 that someone had nickel plated. I never learned why, but the rifle was an excellent shooter with Winchester’s 180 grain 303 British load. This rifle featured a set of sights that area true rarity today. The P14 was fitted with grenade sights, quite an asset in warfare. I have no way of knowing how accurate these sights were but chances are they were darned useful.

There are not many places you can fire old military rifles for accuracy at volley range and fewer shooters today know how to use these sights. But in the day they were terrible harrows on the battlefield. Today I use iron sights for enjoyment, for the heritage, and for a sense of history. But I also use iron sights to take game and so should you. Using Skinner Sights Skinner Sights are installed by tapping into the original Winchester sight notch.

The Skinner may be a little oversize to account for sight notch variations. The dovetail notch may be a bit burred up from long use, as it was in the 1973 rifle I used. I used a small file to dress up the damaged dovetail. With plenty of lubricant applied, I tapped the Skinner sight in from left to right as neatly and straight as possible. This means placing the rifle in a heavily-padded vise and cranking it down tight so there is no movement.

A word on original Winchester ladder sights. I have examined these on 44-40, 30-30, and 38-55 rifles and all appeared identical. This means they cannot be calibrated for loads and calibers as these were diverse cartridges, although they were pretty similar in adjustment to 200 yards and easily adjusted with a lot of shooting. Effective use will depend on how good the shooter is at estimating range and corrections. Skinner Sights are at least equal and likely superior.

With the rear sight set you may use the riser in the original sight for adjustments. The relationship of the front sight and the target should not change and you should not have use Ken- Bottom: Mosin-Nagant ladder sight. The markings are often confusing. Unmarked lines work well for most shooters. tucky windage, just account for range when the elevation is set. The sight ears, front sight, and edge of the target will be in a straight line. Of course, keep the focus on the front sight at all times.

After some evaluation I find the Skinner Ladder Sight for the Winchester 1894 an excellent investment. It isn’t for everyone but it is a high quality sight. Installation is simple enough, noting that the dovetail may need to be cleaned up, the sight itself may need to be filed slightly as it is machined oversize, and care taken to install straight. Done right, you’ll end up with a snug fit. Skinner Sights area class act well worth your time and effort to explore. AG