Buffalo hunt and sight color

[Josh A.]

Travis, with all due respect you must be hunting at straight up noon. A globe front sight will black out an hour before even the factory silver blade. Have you tried it in near darkness?

A globe front sight is a target sight, if you want to kill something, learn to shoot a blade front and Lawrence style rear sight. The buff hunters did and they were right.

J

[nohorse]

Josh: Nice Bird! I've wanted to take one with my Sharps but it is illegal to use a rifle in Mississippi.

Everyone: I put an MVA Beech combination sight on my Hartford. Seemed at the time it was the best compromise for a traditonally styled hunting sight. The post on it is brass or nickle silver. I figured it would give good contrast against a dark target. Have any of you used one of these? If so, were ya satisfied with it? Thanks!

[deerhuntsheatmeup]

Having hunted whitetails with my '74 with Baldwin Globe front sight, I must agree that Josh is correct. The hooded front sight combined with a tang peep cuts your shooting time in the late evenings down by at least an hour. This is experience talking. good luck on your buffalo hunt. At least think about using the barrel sights. Later, David Barfield

[shooter 37]

DM
Took a buff last fall using a Shiloh hooded post. Painted the post white using gloss enamel. It wasn't pretty but it worked fine.
Good luck

[Joe Burr]

Hmmmm....how about just using a period scope!!!

[JAGG]

I use the white enamel model paint on all of my sight for hunting and on center shooting at black targets at longer ranges ! It won't work too well if you shoot at a White Buffalo though ! Don't let the paint get on the sides of the front sight or it will blur when the sun light comes from the side , put tape there till paint is dry! Very good for dawn and dusk hunting ! I found this done on an old used flint lock rifle barrel years ago and have been using it on my sights ever since for hunting ! JAGG

[nohorse]

Joe Burr: Yeah! That's how Frank Mayer did it! HmmmmI've been contemplating a scope anyway....Hmmmmmm..the wife is gonna hate this!!!!

[Josh A.]

A BPCR scope strikes me as an even worse choice than tang sight/hooded front for hunting. The scope would be even worse. Maybe a K2.5 steel tube Weaver, but not one of the original style scopes. I am sure it would be ok in the middle of the day, if you had time to fool with the settings and it had not been banged around. You could easily kill a buffalo during the day with either set-up, but for general hunting they fall far short of the barrel sights.

With some practice 250-300yd shots can be made quickly and consistently with the barrel sights AND accurate range estimation. That is about as far as I ought to be shooting at anything alive. I doubt anyone is going to better that with a scope or tang sights in normal hunting conditions, and the barrel sights are many times more rugged and reliable.

Use the tang/hooded front or original scopes for the neat-o factor, maybe even for sitting still during the middle of the day, but if you want to kill something wild and want a Sharps to get it done, learn the barrel sights.

J

[nohorse]

Josh A. : Good point and I agree. I was just thinkin' that the optical sight would provide better contrast with the cross hairs as opposed to a spirit level sight.....ya don't think so?

[crazeyiven]

Someone mentioned earlier an ivory front blade.

I have an original Winchester with an octagon barrel. It's front sight appears to be ivory.

I love shooting it. That front sight really stands out. As I get older, a sight that "stands out" becomes more important.

My Sharps has a german silver blade front sight. I like it too. I bought a globe front sight with windage, spirit level...have not yet installed it ...have been doing good with the silver.

[JAGG]

J A ! I don't think that anyone will let you shoot a Buffalo on their ranch at 200 to 300 yds ! Some i have been told only allow head shots ! JAGG

[Josh A.]

Nopony:
The optical sight would probably give you more contrast, but any of them will work in the middle of the day, it is that first/last 10 minutes of daylight that seperate the boys from the men.

Jagg, I don't know about buffalo ranges, I can't remember anyone ever telling me where I could shoot anything. Never shot a buffalo, so I could be wrong. I might shoot one square in the ass if someone ordered me to do something else. I dunno.

With that said, unless I was certain that the hunting would not get interesting or difficult, I would learn the barrel sights. They are a better tool than the others.

J

[rdnck]

Josh--This one reminds me of the story about the horse that died of thirst at the water hole simply because after being led there, he wouldn't drink the water.

In a slightly different vein, an elk or buffalo at a known distance from 400 yards in is an absolute gimmie for barrel sights and sitting cross sticks for a man who knows his rifle and how to shoot it. Most guys just don't shoot that well or often enough to be able to do it, and have never seen it done. If they can't, they don't think anyone else can either, and become prisoners of their own substandard expectations. Keep shooting straight, rdnck.

Chairman
Caddo Lake Chapter
FES

[nohorse]

"In a slightly different vein, an elk or buffalo at a known distance from 400 yards in is an absolute gimmie for barrel sights and sitting cross sticks for a man who knows his rifle and how to shoot it"..that's exactly what the topic started out as..what barrel sights are best for buffalo and I suppose Elk. As you implied; the right sights contribute significantly to the "gimmie" shot. I think you voiced an opinion for the penny, right?

Josh..It's Nohorse; not that I don't appreciate a little Texas humor.

[Josh A.]

Rdnck, just trying to help. I can't even imagine how much of a pain it would be to try to manage one of those small diameter scopes in a set of Malcolm-ish mounts while hunting. Way to fragile and finicky, not to mention trying to hit something running with it. A vernier style tang sight is about as bad.

It would have to be a pretty sedate hunt for either of them to be much use. I'd be willing to bet that scopes were all but unused during the buffalo harvest. I'm guessing that barrel sights killed most of the buffalo.

J.