New Tang Sight -- I can see!

[earlmck]

Last week fellow levergunner eboggs listed this virtually new Marble's tang sight for older Winneys. Happens that a few years ago, in a moment of extreme weakness (some beer on board, new juniper-cut contract in pocket, big gun show with lotsa people elbowing each other) I bought this old M94 rifle in 32 Special. Fairly crappy-looking bore and I was really after a Marlin 336A of that caliber to go with my others of that persuasion. But like I said, "extreme weakness". And with the 26" bbl it holds real nice off-hand, just kind of waiting for you to touch off the shot.

Open sights, of course (the one they made especially for the 32 Special -- fondly known as the "hog trough" sight). Actually pretty neat sight (ugly but neat), but these old eyeballs can't really see well enough to use an open sight anymore, though in really good light I was able to shoot a fairly decent group with it, leaving me with the idea that maybe the bore isn't as bad as it looks.

So ebogg's listing prompted me to remember this old beast stuck in a corner of the garage, and I did the "I'll take it!" thing.

The sight arrived this morning: mounted up easily, and here is what we have:


The original open sight

HogTroughb8603.jpg

The new tang sight mounted

Tang8608.jpg

I left the open sight in place while I roughly adjusted the tang for windage and elevation

LiningUp8609.jpg

And with the old open sight knocked out, I can finally see to shoot!

NewSightArrangement8611.jpg

Now to load up some shells and see if I can hit anything. If not, the idea kicking around in the dusty areas of the brain is that this would be a pretty nifty candidate for a JES rebore to 38/55. But whichever way I go, I do like the way this tang sight improves my vision of things. Though I may improve vision a bit further by replacing the front with a green fiber-optic. That'll make the eyeballs pop!

Did I hear somebody say "heresy"? But sheesh, it's not as though it is a beautiful classic Marlin: it's just a danged old clunky Winny with a dinked-up stock.

[Borregos]

I just love tang sights with my old eyes

[Pitchy]

Very nice.

[Snaketail]

You'll love that Tang sight. If you have to change the front sight too - remember to tap it our left side to right side. The left side of the barrel is your left side when you look through the sight.

I started using a tang a year ago and it has made a lot of difference in my shooting (it got better).

Good choice.

Michael

[Griff]

Tang sights REALLY help the eye. I have 4 rifles with tang sights on them, and have about 6 different apperatures from about 5/16" down to .045" (about 3/64th of an inch). That one and even the .090" one have about 1-¼" round outside diameters and keep the front sight in focus along the target so it makes a big difference in what I'm seeing. That big outside circumference blocks out a lot of extraneous garbage... and some light, so they're a full daylight deal.

[ollogger]

If every one of my choices turned out that well after adding alcohol id still be drinking
looks like a nice out fit Earl!!!!!





ollogger

[bmtshooter]

The fiber optic front sight will REALLY make a difference.
Great combination for those of us with "more experienced" eyes.

[Sixgun]

Earl,
Pay attention to the size of the hole in the aperture. As we age, the hole needs to be larger. If you see "spider webs" in the hole, it needs to be opened up. At my age, I like an .070 to .080 diameter hole.-------------6

[Model 52B]

Sixgun is on the money.

I've always liked the aperture sight, since my military service and service rifle competition days. And my first Model 94 got Lyman No 2 as soon as they started making them again (1995).

Now that I'm pushing 50 real hard, I NEED a tang sight to be able to use iron sights. In my younger years I liked the smallest Marbles .032" aperture, but now I seldom use it preferring the .055" aperture in day light and the .102" aperture in low light.

Swapping apertures is a pain and now I'm a big fan of the Merit #4 Hunter adjustable aperture. It finger adjusts from. .022" to .125" in 11 steps giving you more adjustment range than the 3 Marbles apertures and it is not much larger or heavier than the regular 1/2" diameter Marbles apertures. On any given shooting day you can stop it down until you get the cob web effect, then stop it back up a couple steps and you're good to go with the optimum aperture for the light conditions.

[earlmck]

Pay attention to the size of the hole in the aperture. As we age, the hole needs to be larger. If you see "spider webs" in the hole, it needs to be opened up.

Swapping apertures is a pain and now I'm a big fan of the Merit #4 Hunter adjustable aperture. It finger adjusts from. .022" to .125" in 11 steps giving you more adjustment range than the 3 Marbles apertures and it is not much larger or heavier than the regular 1/2" diameter Marbles apertures. On any given shooting day you can stop it down until you get the cob web effect, then stop it back up a couple steps and you're good to go with the optimum aperture for the light conditions.

Thanks for the good advice, guys. I've been so tickled with my new sight I thought all the apertures were great, except that I'd need real bright light to use the dinky one. Maybe I should pay a little more attention to this subject and get her dialed in. I like the sound of that Merit you have, 52B.

[El Chivo]

another suggestion - get a globe front like the Lyman 17.

Then you can use a large aperture and still get great accuracy - the ring of the globe can be aligned inside the aperture circle and its easy to see if it's centered since they are close in size - a ring within a ring.

[Sixgun]

Earl,
If you want to sell that original 32 Spl rear barrel sight, I'll give you this for it.---6

[earlmck]

Earl,
If you want to sell that original 32 Spl rear barrel sight, I'll give you this for it.---6

If you're serious, 6, then you've got it.

[Sixgun]

Earl,
I'm in the sack and I'll pm you the particulars tomorrow. I have a takedown 32 Spl. That needs one of those sights for originality.-----6

[1894c]

earlmck -- i love receiver sights too, really helps...like them better than a scope (never used a tang sight, but that looks like a good choice)...i've tried the fiber-optics they really work, thought they were a gimmick, i was wrong. i too am not a big fan of the Win.94, way too many screws, but i like your choice in caliber (give me a Marlin all day long)... :)