Reply With QuoteAt close range I think in good light conditions open sights still have a place on airguns. I am amazed how many younger shots cant/ wont use them.
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Yesterday I had a go with my HW80 and BSA Stutzen - to cut a long story short this resulted in scopes being taken off and an absolutely fun afternoon shooting.
At the end of the day I'd settled on a red dot for the BSA -set up at 20 yards (BSA stutzens open sights not being the best and the red dot suits the look of the gun) and open sights, again set up at 20 yards, for the 80.
With both I could shoot mint imperials at 20 yards fairly consistently and with the 80 I'd just forgot how good the open sights are, so much so they have become my favoured sights for this gun!
I realise I could get a little more range from it using a scope, but then I'd only set that up at 25 yards. To me the simplicity advantage of the open sights compensates for the loss of 5 yards range - I really think open sights/red dots on .22 springers are massively overlooked and remain a serious option!
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At close range I think in good light conditions open sights still have a place on airguns. I am amazed how many younger shots cant/ wont use them.
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I have an old BSA Mercury Challenger in .22. Fitted on this is a red dot on a high see through mount so I can align the open sights as well. This makes for an entertaining combo and capable of taking small tin cans at 50 yards !
The dot covers most of a tin can at that range, but that`s half the challenge. I do use scopes on other rifles, but I shall keep the BSA set up, as it`s such good fun.
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Diopters are damn good fun on a springer!
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on my hw 55t yes they are awesome.Originally Posted by Artfull-Bodger
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There is just something so simple about the open sights, and the red dot has always struck me as a half way house between open sights and a scope.
I just found shooting with open sights very satisfying, I shot better than I expected and really enjoyed it. Often with a scope I expect better results than I achieve, certainly when shooting a springer!
The simplicity appeals too, I didn't set out to ditch the scopes on these guns but when I shot the BSA , which had previously been producing nice tight 2p coin sized groups at 25 yards, it was all over the place, I think the mounts had worked loose from the recoil and I was so brassed of with loosing my zero I thought the red dot would make a nice change.
The open sights on the 80 are very good and again the simplicity and ruggedness is what appeals - shouldn't work loose or get knocked out to easily!
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A long time ago I used to do some golf course rabbit control and my rifle of choice was a .22 webley Vulcan with open sights, the shots were roughly 20 yards maximum with most a lot closer, for that type of shooting a scope is a unneeded complication...
Banned
Because they are told that they need insanely high magnification zoom scopes with huge objectives, AO, IR, MilDots, et al - just to plink in a 30 foot garden - or they won't hit a thing, everyone will laugh at them and their girlfriends will dump them.....At close range I think in good light conditions open sights still have a place on airguns. I am amazed how many younger shots cant/ wont use them.
my preciousssss
Well done that man. Had a go with open sights today, and found it sooooooo hard. In my defence it was in a poorly lit basement over 27 yards
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G'day,
I have recently purchased an older UK-made Webley-Scott Patriot [.25] [full-power] which has had the rear sight removed for a scope by the previous owner, but I have been considering using a peep sight or similar for shooting rabbits. I used to hunt with a compound bow using a peep sight mounted in the bow string and a calibrated fore sight projecting about 4 inches in front of the bow. Given that most of my kills on rabbits were in the 5 - 25 yard range with a very few long kills [definitely "Hail Mary shots!] out to 45 yards, it seems sensible to me to get a good hunting rear sight and leave the extra weight of scope and mounts off an already heavy rifle.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a suitable rear [Peep?] sight for bunny hunting?
Jim.
Victoria, Australia
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Lighting certainly is an issue unless your using fibre optic sights - personally I like them, the halfway house between irons and a red dot!
With irons, its a struggle when shooting at Bisley targets as they are black, the mint imperials show up very well and explode nicely on impact. I'm going to get comfortable with the irons and then take them rabbit hunting albeit with a rangefinder and with a 20 yard limit.
I also own a .177 Gamo shadowmatic with fibre optic open sights thats currently residing with my dad. I'm now thinking about putting some effort into tuning it and finding the right pellet, something we've never really bothered with as he has just zeroed at 10 yards with bisley pest control for close range rat shooting.
Red dots are very under rated too, the parallax can be an issue, but with low mounts and a consistent hold I find them very satisfying to shoot.
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If you don't want to use a scope why not try a red dot, my hawke rd25 is ok out to 25 yards after that the dot appears a bit to large.G'day,
I have recently purchased an older UK-made Webley-Scott Patriot [.25] [full-power] which has had the rear sight removed for a scope by the previous owner, but I have been considering using a peep sight or similar for shooting rabbits. I used to hunt with a compound bow using a peep sight mounted in the bow string and a calibrated fore sight projecting about 4 inches in front of the bow. Given that most of my kills on rabbits were in the 5 - 25 yard range with a very few long kills [definitely "Hail Mary shots!] out to 45 yards, it seems sensible to me to get a good hunting rear sight and leave the extra weight of scope and mounts off an already heavy rifle.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a suitable rear [Peep?] sight for bunny hunting?
Jim.
Victoria, Australia
Do the Patriots wreck scopes as badly as I've heard?
FYI Bow hunting is banned over here
Banned
Have a look at those made by Williams - designed for sporters, rather than target rifles...
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yes have one on my Sheridan Silver Streak, very accurate in good light.
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I know where you're coming from. Open sights are the future. Try them in a HFT competition ("Open" class of course). I've never won a competition with them but I have walked off the course with the biggest smile. Great fun. It's worth a go (or several goes
The only real problems are (i) finding the 45yrd targets in the first place (good job they have strings attached), (ii) trying to focus on those 'blurry' 45 yarders and (iii) trying to make out the even blurrier kill zones on those 45 yarders.
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