Useless Front Sight Hood

Iron_Marshal · Post by **Iron_Marshal** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:07 pm

My new Marlin a a front sight hood. It has snagged on EVERYTHING and has popped off three times. I have never had a rifle with one before and I am about ready to throw it in the trash. Anyone else have trouble with these things?

iceman · Post by **iceman** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:22 pm

I have no problems at all. First thing I do is remove the hood and put in my desk drawer. I reinstall when and if I sell the rifle.

gcs · Post by **gcs** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:56 pm

" I am about ready to throw it in the trash"

I think thats where mine is.

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:00 pm

I've kept the hoods on every lever gun I've owned that still had it's factory front bead sight.
I've taken the hoods off of every lever gun I've owned that had a sourdough or blade front sight installed.

In neither case have I ever had one lick of trouble with them. You just gotta pay attention to where the gun, all of it, is.

Joe

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:02 pm

Lose that puppy in a drawer somewhere......Too many dang things to look at in a sight picture, IMO.....

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:30 pm

I take mine off and put them away. Then, when it is time to sell the rifle, I put it back on when I ship it.

Pete44ru · Post by **Pete44ru** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 7:15 pm

What's a front sight hood ?

;mrgreen:

Iron_Marshal · Post by **Iron_Marshal** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:40 pm

O.K. ...

So get rid of the hood. Got it.

But, (playing devil's advocate) it came on the rifle. Is it good for ANYTHING?

Besides getting snagged on everything and popping off at inopportune times of course.

Post by **Hobie** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 9:45 pm

Supposed to protect the front sight. I get rid of mine, too. Got some in a box somewhere. But, since I don't sell many guns, and buy used guns sans hoods anyway, I just don't worry about it...

Iron_Marshal · Post by **Iron_Marshal** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:03 pm

Thanks Hobie...

Thanks everyone...

That troublesome piece of spring steel is going into the gun safe.

kimwcook · Post by **kimwcook** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:11 pm

A short story about a Winnie '94 30-30 with a front sight hood. I was about 14-15 years old and I was using the front sight hood kind of like a peep sight. We were hunting horseback, sheathing our rifles in scabbards during the rides between here and there. Well one time we got there and I pulled the rifle out, jacked a round in the chamber, pulled the hammer back and put it on it's safety notch. We went hunting. We didn't go far when a nice four point mulie (eight point eastern count) gave me a beautiful broadside shot. I pulled up, and lo and behold the hood was gone. It totally ruined my sight picture. I took an educated guess and, you guessed it, I missed. Off goes the buck and my mind was made up at that time I'd never use a front sight hood as part of my sighting picture. Second I'll never use one in the field. It was pulled off and left in the scabbard when I pulled the carbine out.

95fan · Post by **95fan** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:04 am

Irish_Cop wrote:O.K. ...

So get rid of the hood. Got it.

But, (playing devil's advocate) it came on the rifle. Is it good for ANYTHING?

Besides getting snagged on everything and popping off at inopportune times of course.

IMO it is only good for selling with the rifle

The first thing I do on any marlin is take that hood off and put it back in the box where it will reside for the rest of its days.

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:26 am

3 of my Win94s still wear theirs; but I have a collection of 5 or 6 others that are holding space in one of my reloading bench drawers. I keep them in a little box of screws, and other spare parts, so at a glance I can recognize the little box as bone fide spare parts. Unlike the little box next to it, which is full of parts for guns I no longer own, or I just can't identify!

gcs · Post by **gcs** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 6:31 am

One more point, if you replace your rear sight with a peep, you'll probably need to replace the front sight with a taller one, I had to with a FP, as have many others by all reports. Then the hood won't fit over the sight.

Pisgah · Post by **Pisgah** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:24 am

IMO, the only use for the sight hood is that someone thinks it looks cool. The ones I haven't intentionally removed have been lost in the woods when they snagged on a branch or a vine.

ohwin94_61 · Post by **ohwin94_61** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:58 am

Had a friend that was hunting during a heck of a snow storm. His sight picture was snow the winter elements filled between that front sight and sight hood

The deer ran off while he was clearing the snow

gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:19 am

I used to keep the hoods on my rifles until I found out so many levergunners removed theirs. Now I take them off and put them in my box of gun bits. I think I shoot better without them but I would like the look of my guns better if they had blade sights. To me the fronts sights don't look right now, either with or without the hoods.

slowhandscotty · Post by **slowhandscotty** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:40 am

If anyone is looking to get rid of some extra sight hoods I could use one or two due to losses. Let me know. Thanks