Are peep sights a thing of the past on a lever gun?

[Matthew Clark]

During break in class I give the students 15 minutes to have a soda, use the head, take a walk to stretch or whatever. A few are sportsman as am I and we often have discussions about guns, hunting, target shooting etc. during their break.
Last Thursday I just happened to have a student ask at what distance I would sight a scoped 30/30 win in at. When I replied I don't own a scope for any of my lever guns but use peep sights, his reply was an honest; " You use what, what's a peep sight"?.
I proceeded to explain but wound up showing a video on YouTube to get my point across. If it's not on YouTube it isn't real you know. Lol!
That individual was not the only student out of the 16 in class who had never heard of or seen a peep sight. I was a little surprised by this.
Am I a dying breed who still use peep sights? I have to think they are still somewhat popular or they'd just stop making them.
I explained that I Ican shoot a peep sight just as accurate as a scope out to 50yds. and almost as accurate at 100yds. The advantage of the peep for me is faster target aquisition from muzzle out to 100yds. and that's what woods range hunting is all about.
I had to prove myself to them this weekend at the range with my 94 Winnies and 336cs. They were amazed and had to try it. I think a couple of them have converted, shooting better groups with a peep than they did their own guns with scopes. A bit of an unfair comparison really because I reload with Leverevolution and Sierra bullets for ammo that is tuned to my guns and they had factory ammo.
What sealed their acceptance was busting Tootsie Pop suckers off a pegboard at 25yds with a 9422 lever Winnie and a Williams peep sight. That's a target about the size of a quarter. That puff of sugar flying through the air on every shot they squeezed off made believers of them. It's a lot of fun!
Point is at least they are now schooled in history and use of peep sights a bit and will hopefully pass it down.
Anyone else still using peep sights on anything!?
Happy shooting!

 

[troy fairweather]

i believe peeps are the best option for lever guns, the proper scope can be effective on a lever but there are very few scopes that will fit and be useful. even 100 yard shots are easy for most shooter, with the insert removed they can be super fast out to 50 yards. at longer range they work fine. my best kill with a peep was a button buck i shot at just about 250 yards with my marlin 35 rem. deer turned and started moving in a different direction, i was sitting on a big pine tree root up about 30 feet above the 7 or 8 deer. they were jumping over a small creek when i was moving down the hill to the right. i stopped and saw a good shooting hole in the trees, the last deer stopped to jump the creek. i remember just pulling up and shooting it was like a instinktive shoot, i do remember the picture in my head when i fired, the front sight pin was above the deer with the bottom of the round mid way up the shoulder.

the deer dropped there with a perfect high shoulder shot. that's why i think peeps are the best for lever guns. the nice thin with peeps and young shooters that never seen them, the think there some kind of new high tech sight. so no i don't think peeps are a thing of the past. and when can sit in on you classes, they sound fun lol.

 

[mustanger98]

I shot my first deer out near 100yds looking through a Lyman #2. The 1/8" front bead looked like a basketball covering the lungs which were handily destroyed.

 

[Matthew Clark]

that's why i think peeps are the best for lever guns.

I couldn't agree more. They really work for me. I even use them on a 1917 Enfield sporter 30/06 for mixed cover whitetails.

so no i don't think peeps are a thing of the past. and when can sit in on you classes, they sound fun lol.

Well thanks for being another fellow sportsman who still utilizes some of the older technology. Sometimes, "if it works don't **** with it" mentality really holds up. I might even have educated a few youngsters about that today.

Lol! I teach automotive technology so if you want to work on cars and talk about guns, come on in. We're a community college so tuition is pretty descent. I could use backup in some of our discussions on firearms, kids these days! Lol! This is our logo.

 

[troy fairweather]

wish i had the money for college, but i got 2 years in high school, in heavy equipment. i have worked a few years on road trucks and cement mixers a few on tractors and farm equipment. the farm stuff was when i was working for a water well driller that farmed and collected tractors and car. in the slow winters we would restore cars and tractors. last car was 70 roadrunner. back to peeps, the best thing is that they feel natural when you shoulder them, they seem forgiving to.

 

[Matthew Clark]

back to peeps, the best thing is that they feel natural when you shoulder them, they seem forgiving to.

That's the great thing about them, they automatically center in your vision.
I got my first taste of em on a Browning T Bolt years ago, then again in the Army. I had vision in both eyes then but now I swear they are even easier to use since I lost sight in one eye at age 24. My shooting eye of all the luck. Had to switch to lefty, point being both eyes are automatically open. No fight for dominance promotes auto focus. It's like pointing an extension of my arm, very natural.
I really like the sight picture also. Some scopes, not all, feel to techy to me in the sight picture.

 

[EO1]

I have peeps on all of my rifles but 1. A scope on a lever just defeats the handiness of the rifle.
My grandson has been indoctrinated that a rifle simply cant be shot without a scope.

 

[LRDGCO]

A what gun? Is that like something different to an AR15?

Yes, they are a dying. I recently scoped a Marlin 336 to my own horror - with a vintage Weaver K3, at least. However, I am after a Lyman 21 repro for a Winchester 1895 and I have peeps on a a Savage 340 in 30-30 and a Krag Sporter.

 

[Matthew Clark]

recently scoped a Marlin 336 to my own horror - with a vintage Weaver K3, at least.

That scope will at least look and feel approprite to the idea of swift handling close quarters work and is of usable power.
Happy shooting!

 

[troy fairweather]

That's the great thing about them, they automatically center in your vision.
I got my first taste of em on a Browning T Bolt years ago, then again in the Army. I had vision in both eyes then but now I swear they are even easier to use since I lost sight in one eye at age 24. My shooting eye of all the luck. Had to switch to lefty, point being both eyes are automatically open. No fight for dominance promotes auto focus. It's like pointing an extension of my arm, very natural.
I really like the sight picture also. Some scopes, not all, feel to techy to me in the sight picture.

i have always shot with both hands, mostly because my dad is lefty and its just more natural to shoot the same way when a gun is handed to you. i am right handed, but had to shoot lefty for about 2 years. i got a chemical in my right eye and lost most sight, for about 18 months. after that sight got better, but i am 28 now and the right eyes vision seems to be degrading faster then the left. i have very bad astigmatism so red dots and holographic sights are just about useless the first few seconds after looking thru them. peeps not a problem.

 

[troy fairweather]

A what gun? Is that like something different to an AR15?

Yes, they are a dying. I recently scoped a Marlin 336 to my own horror - with a vintage Weaver K3, at least. However, I am after a Lyman 21 repro for a Winchester 1895 and I have peeps on a a Savage 340 in 30-30 and a Krag Sporter.

ya if i scoped a lever the old weavers would be high on the list. the leupold 1-4 should be good to. my friend had a 21 laying around, i will ask him if he still has it and would sell it. my dad had maybe 5 or 6 original and 2 or 3 repros, but sold them after getting hurt.

 

[Matthew Clark]

i am 28 now and the right eyes vision seems to be degrading faster then the left. i have very bad astigmatism so red dots and holographic sights are just about useless the first few seconds after looking thru them. peeps not a problem.

Another great thing about peeps is you only have to focus on the front sight to aim. It automatically centers with your eye in the rear. No fuzzy sight picture. I'm hoping age won't destroy my peep ability.
I'm 55 now and buckhorn sights and bifocals go together like oil and water. Lol! One fuzzy,one clear, never both clear.
Holographic sights still work for me, I have one on my turkey scatter gun and an NEF Handi Rifle in 45/70Gov. That astigmatism is tuff stuff, wife has to deal with it. I at least don't have that to contend with.

 

[JEB]

my 336 30-30 wears skinner sights and I wouldnt have it any other way.

 

[Matthew Clark]

my 336 30-30 wears skinner sights and I wouldnt have it any other way.

I have a Skinner on a Henry lever 22 mag that came stock. With the gold beed front sight on a hexagon barrel, it makes for an awesome sight picture.
Some of the Skinner sights I've seen mount in the rear sight dovetail, that seems really far forward to me. However others that use them claim great success. They are very pleasing to the eye in any case.

 

[troy fairweather]

the skinners look nice, i have not owned any because i have a good stock off lyman and williams peeps. mostly for marlins and winchesters. i got a few for mausers and 2 for FN's. i have the sx sights on my marlin 44 mag there pretty good but pricey now. if i had a mill, i got a few ideas for some peeps.

 

[Matthew Clark]

if i had a mill, i got a few ideas for some peeps.

A bit off subject but speaking of Mills, I've been tossing around the idea of that little mill on harbor freight. We have a store right here in Sedalia. The video reviews are rather mixed on good and bad. The machine tool instructor at the college is a good friend and I've been meaning to get his opinion on it.
If it's worth a hoot, I think I'm going to get one and make a few things myself.
I have a gunsmithing degree, just never hung a shingle. No money in it in small towns. Plenty of work to do, just nobody wants to pay the price for work done right. So I chose fixing cars instead.

 

[eastbank]

the plain fact is it seems not many want to put the work in to lean about open-peep sights any more. they just go to a scope first,(there are places for scopes) and I have them and its hard to beat the right combo of rifle and scope. with my peep-receiver sights I like a flat post instead of a round bead and think they are trouble free sights when set up right and used. they realy shine for me in very bad weather and close thick cover and the rifles seem to be easier to hand carry and shoulder quickly. some of my lever actions with peep sights, I have several Remington pump rifles with reviever sights and to me they are the best sights for them.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I have a gunsmithing degree too and guess what my day job is?

Meckanik. Heavy equipment, landscape equipment, vintage autos, and on a very bad day, modern autos.

I unfortunately have put in the time to learn peep sights and I can still shoot better and easier with any low power optic. I like 2.5x scopes but I am delving into the mini reflex sights lately. That is some lever gun travesty there.

However, I am good enough with peeps to be minute hog at 100. My vision is just terrible and has been since birth.

I prefer the Williams FP with a Marbles or Skinner front patridge.

 

[Matthew Clark]

I like a flat post instead of a round bead and think they are trouble free sights when set up right and used. they realy shine for me in very bad weather and close thick cover and the rifles seem to be easier to hand carry and shoulder quickly. some of my lever actions with peep sights, I have several Remington pump rifles with reviever sights and to me they are the best sights for them.

I concur with your findings, as I believe most folks who use peeps would also.

I don't hold a preference of round bead or flat blade front sight. I have both and like both. I even have a few with the fiber optic inserts. Red or green doesn't matter, I'm a bit color blind anyway, they really pop out visually in deep cover for quick sight picture.

I find practice with consistent check to stock weld a great advantage, I don't know if people actually practice that anymore. I think they have become too dependant on their very expensive optics and have forgotten basic rifleman skills. Then they blame the scope. Eye relief, clarity, reticle or whatever. I get "Here, shoot this thing and tell me what you think" all the time from young would be marksman who can't hit the broad side of barn if they were inside and all the doors closed. Most times I'll shoot close to MOA or less to their bewilderment. Not because I'm a superior human being or special in any way, I just use basic skills taught to me years ago when handed a rifle and was instructed what to do.
That's a whole new subject about parents and their children I won't start here. I'm getting off topic, sorry.
Anyway glad to hear I'm not alone in the peep sight loving department.

That is a fantastic collection of lever guns my friend! Congratulations on your acquisitions.

Happy shooting!

 

[Matthew Clark]

I have a gunsmithing degree too and guess what my day job is?

Meckanik. Heavy equipment, landscape equipment, vintage autos, and on a very bad day, modern autos.

Lol! We just have to be fixing something while we earn a living don't we?
Those very bad days are every day for me. Modern automotive technology is very advanced. I'm waiting for the customer complaint of " My automatic fanny scratcher is working properly, it's to rough and it hurts"! I'm only part kidding, they already have fanny massagers for heaven's sake.

I prefer the Williams FP with a Marbles or Skinner front patridge

I too like Williams peeps. The front sights you mentioned are great. I don't really have a preference there as I have stated.

Well good luck and thanks for commenting on this subject. I appreciate many points of view, helps a fella not be so stuck on his own theories about things. Other people have opinions about things that we can all learn from.
Happy shooting!

 

[doubleh]

I have been using peep sights for many years and have them on a bolt action, a single shot, two lever action rifles, and three muzzle loaders. I tried one Skinner peep and really didn't care for it. It resides on a shelf because he wouldn't let me return it.

There is no way on earth I can shoot peep sights as accurately as I do scopes. I can get close up to 50 yards but close, not equal is it.

 

[40-82]

.
Am I a dying breed who still use peep sights?

Yep. You are. Look at a pre-World War II catalog and their offerings of iron sights and then look at Brownell's or somewhere modern and see the difference in offerings.

Having said that, older designs like the Williams Guide Sight, the older still Climbing Lyman, these are things of joy. If the contrast between the target and its background is good, you may actually be able to shoot faster and better with the old apertures at stunning distances. For fast and close, I'd always choose the aperture over the telescope.

The one thing the aperture will not do is match the illusion of confidence the telescope gives. Particularly, with the inexperienced, there is a natural tendency to believe if you can see it, clearly and sharply, you can hit it.

A time may come when my eyes fade to the point that hunting means telescopically sighted rifles only, but I'm fighting it.

 

[JeffG]

It's not that peep sights aren't effective, they just don't make the sporting industry buckets of money.

 

[Matthew Clark]

There is no way on earth I can shoot peep sights as accurately as I do scopes. I can get close up to 50 yards but close, not equal is it.

By no means would I want to insult you, but I am inclined to believe you are a more "experienced" shooter. Would you say that the use of peep sights has become more difficult with time? I am 55 now and exhibit no problems with peep sights but I am concerned as that I gain "experience" as time goes on my ability to use them may decline.
I much prefer the peep sight to a scope on a lever gun intended for heavy cover and woods range work. It would sadden me to have to go to a scope or reflect sight of some sort.
If I have misread the situation I humbly appologiz. I really wasn't trying to insinuate anything, just trying to listen to the voice of experience.
Happy shooting!

 

[brutus51]

In my humble opinion putting a scope on a lever gun is akin to putting ketchup on a prime rib.
I'm an old guy with failing eyesight but all my lever guns are equipped with Williams peeps, wouldn't have it any other way.