Aging eyes and the 35 Remington

[earlmck]

We "middle of Oregon" shooters get together once a month to slay steel buffalo. One of our shoots is the "big lever" (any rifle cartridge with cast bullets in an old lever) and I have never done well in this particular competition. I shot my Marlin 336A 35 Remington last month and once again didn't score with the top dogs.

Marlin35Rem0144.jpg

35Rem210Leepc0152.jpg

I know we are all struggling with "aging eye syndrome" here. My manifestation is that those wonderful tang and receiver peep sights that treated me well for 50 years have lost their wonderfullness for me. My eye no longer automatically centers the front sight in the circle and I have to consciously try to center it. That "conscious centering" seems to work less well with each passing year.

The day we shoot the big lever we also shoot "military bolt" (Nugents and Krags and Springfields and Mausers with the Swedish Mauser being the one that usually kicks butt) and "military single shot" (mostly trapdoor Springfields). And then after a lunch break and flag/target/light reset we shoot the "Little Q" (pistol-cartridge levergun or single shot). Since I belatedly figured out that I shoot better with the open sight than I do with the peep I have done reasonably well with my Springfield 1903 or trapdoor (both of those give you the option of peep or open). And for the "Little Q" I had to grind an open notch in the top of the peep aperture just to be able get enough elevation from my receiver sight to reach the 500 and 600 yard targets, and I have always been among the top scorers here.

So today I finally got around to putting a notch in the top of the aperture insert on the 35 Remington.

RearSightView1.jpg

Kinda' fuzzy but you can get the idea -- 6 O'clock hold on the bottom of the big white spot we put in the middle of the buffalo.

AimView1.jpg

Now to see if the kid can finally make a respectable score with the "big lever". (shoot to be held weekend after next).

[Blaine]

With ghost ring, and a dab of neon green or orange you can forget trying to center anything. Look thru the ring, and use a six o'clock hold. I do as well with that as a 4 MOA Red Dot. Naturally, YMMV

[Catshooter]

Good luck!

[AJMD429]

.
I love the Marble's Bullseye.

It is as fast as a red dot but as easy to see as a ghost ring, and potentially as precise as a fine aperture sight.

[earlmck]

With ghost ring, and a dab of neon green or orange you can forget trying to center anything. Look thru the ring, and use a six o'clock hold. I do as well with that as a 4 MOA Red Dot. Naturally, YMMV

.
I love the Marble's Bullseye.

It is as fast as a red dot but as easy to see as a ghost ring, and potentially as precise as a fine aperture sight.

Yep. I too used to be like that. Took a few years to realize my eyes don't do that "natural, automatic centering" thing that they used to do. This is my attempt at adapting to that loss.

Am I the only olde phart on the forum who has lost his center?

[Pitchy]

Nope your not the only one, the only peep sight i can use is the one on my Garand and i don`t know why must be the distance from eye to peep.
Yep now with my right eye giving out it only gets worse.

[piller]

Being born nearsighted, and being legally blind without glasses since about 2 years old, I am finding that my vision has improved slightly since I passed 55 years old. I can now watch television without glasses from as much as 10 feet away for the first time in my life. It is still blurry, but not a blob of jelly. As a 5 year old, my Mother used to laugh at me for tripping over furniture. I couldn't see my feet. I can now count my toes while standing barefoot. Very fuzzy, but they are no longer indistinct.

[Bill in Oregon]

Earl, that looks like the simple solution to a complex problem, and I had not heard of this fix before. I am getting to where I may need to try it. I hope you outshoot Brownie and the rest weekend after next.

[earlmck]

So here's my report on the shooting results of the sight modification.

In the "Big Levergun" portion of our shoot last weekend the fancy new sight didn't work me any miracles. Shot third place behind Brownie and Butch, (11 out of 20) which is just about my average performance to date. Might have lost a couple points because I didn't have exact sight settings for the notched sight to start with, though I'd taken a measurement of how much higher the groove is above the aperture and so was pretty close. I did get 4 out of 5 at the 500 yard buffalo though, which was my best target. So maybe I just need to keep at it.

For a load I was using the Lee version of the RCBS 205 grain round-flatnosed bullet; powder coated, pushed along by 23 grains of 5744 for about 1750 fps. For some reason I don't have as clean a sight picture as I'd like: I'm wondering if I should JB weld a piece of regular open rear sight to the aperture insert in place of the little groove cut with dremel tool.

[Nath]

Cool idea.

I'm long sighted and struggle with aperture sights. I don't get a ghost ring as they call it. I get nothing! So I prefer now, the sights on the barrel.

[Carlsen Highway]

I am having trouble with rear sights, so went to a receiver aperture, and now I am having trouble seeing the front sight clearly unless it is on a 24 inch barrel or further out. So now my beloved .44-40 '92 carbine is unshootable.

I can still shoot a .303 alright, and have a peep sight to put on it.

[marlinman93]

At 72 I still shoot iron sights, but for several years I've had an optical illusion of a dark wedge shaped V that I see in the rear peep aperture of all my tang sights. It gets worse the smaller the aperture opening is, and if I use a Hadley disc and switch to larger openings it gets less obvious, but the larger opening makes it tougher to get as accurate a sight picture. I've learned to sort of ignore the black V shape, and concentrate on the rest of the picture, but it is annoying.

[AJMD429]

I am having trouble with rear sights, so went to a receiver aperture, and now I am having trouble seeing the front sight clearly unless it is on a 24 inch barrel or further out. So now my beloved .44-40 '92 carbine is unshootable.

Several optionns to consider:

1. a fiberoptic front sight (I prefer the green or yellow though vs the too-bright orange)
2. a pinhole aperture on your [shooting] glasses - easy to trial-run and make yourself - the aperture needs to be small and 'crisp'
3. a 'globe' front sight like the Lyman - it is easier to pick up visually and the center insert choices are numerous
4. a red-dot or holographic sight to replace both front and rear - anachronistic and heretic, but they often work very well
5. a low power compact scope - the Redfield 2-7x ones have kept many of my rifles shootable vs useless ornaments
6. you might try going from rear 'aperture' to the Marbles Bullseye, as it is larger and makes it easy to just find/focus on the front

[Old Savage]

Here are some options from Skinner Sights

https://youtu.be/ik-Otom1Ens