Lee Loader

When my son asked me to send him a rifle for deer hunting this fall he asked specifically for one with open sights. I ended up taking a scope and mounts off a commercial 98 Mauser chambered in 30-06. Nice to have young eyes I guess. It got me thinking about what I would use on the hunt. I decided on a 1-4×20 Nikon scope on a Savage 99 in 308. It and a 1.5-4.5x20 vintage Bushnell (made by Baush and Lomb) on my 760 in 35 Rem are my go to woods rifles. Both have German #4 recticles and allow for fast target acquisition even in low light. The field of view is tremendous. What sights do others favour for the woods? Any red dot fans in the group?

Unfortunately I think everything I have to shoot is grossly over scoped with the exception of the scout rifle . It has a 2-7×32 Leatherwood on it . Everything else is fitted with 3-9×50 or higher ...... Except the 358 Win , it wears a old Weaver K4 .

For true woods mucking about I have a Williams FP on the 1895 45-70 that for a close and dirty working environment I'd take the insert out of to make it more a ghost ring than a peep .
The 92's I shot on hogs just had the factory buckhorn sight . To be really honest when it was down to a running hog I don't think I was even aware of the sights as I spent a lot of time with shotguns and that was a shoulder , swing , and squeslap kind of thing .

I have 2x red dots on 2 of my deer guns, the rebored Marlin 336 that's now a 38/55 and the 44 Mag Henry Big Boy steel. I pretty much hunt in open woods and the 2x helps with shot placement. We will see what happens when season opens.

Make smoke,

All low power scopes except for a half a dozen 3x9s on a couple 308 Wins and a 300 Sav. A majority of my rifles are bolt and lever scouts plus the Mini-30. They all wear the Weaver Classic 4X Scout. All the other rifles wear 1-3s. I have a lot of rifles and take full use of them all. Having the optics down to 3 specific scopes makes the sighting familiar and expected, nothing to think about there. The only exception is a 1939 99 300 Savage that has a K3; I left it alone. I was getting it ready for a mule deer hunt yesterday. Everything I shoot is Weaver.

Yeah, I'm sad that Weaver has recently shut their doors. I guess I won't be buying any more firearms.

No open sighted rifles, I've tried and it is tough to shoot in the low light I hunt in against the gray sky, brush, and animal. Only one red dot, a Bushnell, on the Hi-Point 4895 I recently bought. I tried a red dot for hunting twenty years ago and it did not work out for my needs.

I have to agree with RD on this... I shoot a low power vintage Japan made scope with a post redicle. our woods are so darn dark, you need something that focuses close in with almost twilight level lighting due to the amount of actual light that makes it through the canopy.. its like a dark jungle here, only place I seen that was this dark in broad daylight was durring Jungle training in South America when I was in the service... and make sure you allow time for your eyes to adjust before you start tramping around.. besides falling on your face, you will miss everything... I usually sit for around 20 min or so before I start moving in the woods.. possibly longer as I am old and welcome the rest..

I know this is an old post, but I thought I would post anyway When I first started hunting in the '50's scopes were not seen on too many rifle in the rural area I lived. Even when I purchased my first bolt action .270 in the late 60's I didn't fully trust the scope to be as rugged and easy to use as "irons". Although scopes have improved greatly regarding reliability, they have become even more sophisticated and complicated in recent years. My eye sight is above average for my age and I still prefer iron sight to scopes for most hunt. I trust their "repeatability", lighter weight, and balance they impart to rifles (especially lever actions). While I do find "aperture" sights a bit more precise, I have not found them to be a lot more precise; as most scope users trying to adjust to irons seem to proclaim. Admittedly, a scope looks more at home on a bolt action rifle and certainly is an advantage for the long range shooting done these days in the "hunting fields"; however, I seem to acquire irons much quicker and find that on most hunts in our (brushy) area I can get an aimed shot off faster and more precise than with a more cumbersome rifle with a scope. Most of my scopes are also of a lower power - 2 3/4, 3, 1-4, 2-7 for their larger field of view, longer eye relief, and lighter weight. I've had to adapt to the scope sight over the last couple of decades, and have even learned to trust their reliability after a "sight in", however, if I had to bet my life on a rifle, it would not be through a piece of glass mounted on top of a steel barrel with aluminum/steel three piece mount and rings. My .02 and biased opinion

None of the ARs I've built with scopes have I ever shot. Someone always wants them more than me. I haven't shot many centerfire rifles at all other than the few near collector grade items I shoot when I can (that I refuse to D/T). I can hit a 6" gong with my carry handle 16" AR from 200 yards so I still refuse to scope any of my vintage rifles.