2 Marbles Tang Sight Questions...

[cshold]

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[missionary5155]

Greetings
Have a couple Marbles #2 . I like the windage adjustment.
Spring... let you know in 20 years. A correctly made spring will not go loose. If they did some of my 150 year old pocket watches should never wind up. But they do just fine.

Peep... If I am going to be stalking about river bottoms where I hunt I do remove mine. The human eye naturally seeks the center. Under 50 yards I dought you could quick shoot any beter in or out.
If I am going to sit a stand it would depend on light conditions. The darker it is the larger peep hole I want. Again it will also depend on the range involved. A bright day looking out across 100 field that small hole will help. Carry it in your pocket and see what works best for you.
Mike in Peru

[JerryB]

My 1950 94 30-30 has a Marbles tang sight put on in 1958 and I keep it down. I can see no weakening of the spring, it pops right up when I depress the sight.

[Shasta]

I have been a fan of Marble's tang sights for some time, so I'm going to offer my two cents. Don't worry about the spring! It's less likely to get damaged if you store the rifle with the tang sight folded down. And even if the spring does get soft, causing the elevation stem to get a bit too floppy, it's very easy to disassemble the sight and either put a shim under the spring, or better yet just put the spring in the jaws of your vice and give it a little squeeze to elevate the spring's peak fold and renew the tension.
Now, as for the aperture, my experience is that the threaded hole in the stem without an eyepiece inserted is too big for a good hunting sight. But.... those sights come from the factory with three different eyepieces! The one with the largest hole is about right for hunting purposes. My favorite and preferred alternative is the Merit adjustable eyepiece, but at around $60 a pop, they are not cheap!

Now just to prove that I really do like the Marble's tang sight....















SHASTA

[AJMD429]

Carry it in your pocket and see what works best for you.
Mike in Peru

I saw a feller who had holes drilled in his buttstock to hold a couple spare apertures (not sure why anyone would need more than one when afield, but he's shot more deer than I've even seen in my lifetime, so he must know something )

[Shasta]

Re-reading your original post and pictures, I see that your sight is one of the old originals that really has no relation to my previous post that deals with the current production Marble's sight. Were I you, I still would not worry about keeping the sight folded when not in use as this is the safest way to avoid damage. I don't know if the current production apertures will fit the early sights, but either way, it will depend on your personal preference as to whether the hole in the stem without an eyepiece inserted is too big. Have you tried putting a few shots on paper without the eyepiece screwed in to see if it suits you at all?

SHASTA

[Sixgun]

I keep all of my original tang sights open, but I really don't know if it's necessary or not. Remember, those springs are 60 or more years old so.....it's your call. When putting the guns in a case for traveling to the gun club, wherever....that's when I fold them as it's usually only an hour or two.

Apertures? Keep one in as Shasta said, it's too big for hunting without one, especially if your over 40. For silhouette shooting or target work, I use a .065 to .075 hole. For hunting, I screw in a .075 to .090 depending on the sun and the clouds. You don't want a hole too small or you can't get a bead on a running animal.-----6

[Model 52B]

The standard Marbles apertures are, .032, .055 and .102.

For general shooting, I tended to favor the middle one, while on overcast days or in heavy woods where there was less light and shorter ranges, I went with the large one.

I personally found the ghost ring that results from removing the aperture to be too large for all but very close range shooting, or shooting in near dark conditions.

I also found the small one to be to small for anything other than punching paper on bright, sunny days.

Now, that's all past tense as I switched to a Merit #4 Hunter aperture awhile ago. I paid $54 and it's been worth every penny. It adjusts from .10 to .125 in 11 steps, and it's got the same 1/2" external diameter as the smaller Marbles apertures so it's still easy to shoot with both eyes open with it on moving targets. It's finger adjustable so you can look through it and stop it down until the view gets a little "grainy" looking then open it back up a couple notches.

[cshold]

Thanks all for the great feedback

[Pete44ru]

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FWIW, I store & transport my tang-sighted rifles with the tang sight folded, to preclude any accidental damage.

Further, since I always switch the rear bbl open/iron sight for a folder (giving me two zeroes), I hunt with the tanger folded down & the bbl sight "up" incase of a suddenly-presented game shot - only folding the bbl sight & raising the tanger if/when a longer-renge shot on game presents.

I use the aperture/insert only for zeroing - I remove it & shoot thorigh the resulting ghost ring for all my hunting.


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