Favorite Type/Brand of Peep Sights

[Iron_Marshal]

I sold an AMT .380 DAO backup and have a few dollars in my pocket. I am looking to buy a peep sight for my Marlin 1894SS. Any suggestions? Ease of instalation is high on my list.

I saw a Marbles bullseye that caught my eye because it appeared one would be able to track moving objects well due to the extreme open sight, but it looked a bit too large and childish and seemed like it would snag on every piece of clothing and tree limb. I want a solid sight with a decent sized aperature.

I regularly shoot one of those "ugly black rifles" at work and the small rear peep is giving me more and more trouble as I get older.

Well?

[iceman]

I use Williams on my Winchesters, but for a Marlin I would suggest you check out Skinner sights.

[nemhed]

I just got a Skinner sight for my Marlin 1894 in 44 mag. I really like it's steamlined nature and it didn't require adding holes to my new Marlin. I have a Williams FP on my Marlin 1895, it has a wider range of adjustment than the Skinner, but that only matters if you're shooting a wide range of ammo at a various ranges. Either of those sights have removable aperatures, so can be used as a ghost ring. I have a Williams 5d sight on an Enfield but I like the positive click type adjustment of the FP better than the 5d's screws.

[AJMD429]

Please see this post if you want to see lots of 'peep' sight pics, on guns, and with 'through-the-sight' pics, as best as i could take them. You may find it helpful, I hope...

Lots of Pics Here --> http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... 80#p246623

For the Marlin 1894 44 Mag, I've found my hands-down favorite is the Williams FP, and I mount them in the FRONT two scope-holes, which makes one-hand carrying more comfortable, and gives me plenty of sight radius, and nothing is back near the hammer in my way. I use the aperture to sight in, but remove it and find that with the nice little gold bead on those factory front sights, a 'ghost ring' rear still gives me better accuracy sometimes than even a scope. They do make 'twillight' apertures, if you're so inclined, but I prefer no aperture and just the 'ghost ring' you get after removing the aperture.

Note that the Williams FP comes in two types that fit the Marlins - the "336" ones fit the top scope mount holes, and the "94" ones fit the side holes that only SOME Marlins have pre-drilled. If you have two little holes on the left side, that one works fine (it is the kind shown on my post above on the stainless 92 Puma), but the top-mount ones are totally no-gunsmithing, and work perfectly with the factory front sight as well.

You can barely even see the Williams FP (top-mount type) on this photo - that's how "low profile" they are. They adjust with positive clicks for repeatable settings for both windage and elevation. Put a dab of locktite on the rear screws of the sight but don't turn them in tight, by the way. Target knobs are available, but seldom needed unless you do long-range silhouette competition or something.

This factory web-site photo has 'target knobs' which I don't prefer, but shows how the screw holes on the 336 model are on top for the Marlin scope holes.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Get the Skinner if you are a hunter. Sight in and forget it.
If you are an experimenter with loads and bullets and will need to adjust often, Williams FP is the way to go.

[RKrodle]

I can highly recommend XS sights. They have front and rear sight sets that you can buy for the marlin 1894 and they work well. I like the white line post that come's on the front sight. I have them on a couple of marlins and a set on my Winchester 94AE Trapper. They come with two different sized peeps and you can buy one threaded to accept the Williams peeps.

[O.S.O.K.]

I will second the XS sights on the Marlins - that's what I have on mine. I also like the Williams ramp type aperture sight for a less expensive option. Further, for the 92 clones, my pick is the Marbles tang.

[AJMD429]

Or you could use the XS rail to make a "Night Scout" rifle like I did with my .357 cal 1894...

http://www.midwayusa.com/mediasvr.dll/i ... mid=971684

Probably not what you want for normal use, but it filled a niche we needed on the farm...

[piller]

The Skinner sight for the 1895GS that I have is great. For target work or longer ranges just install the smaller aperture, for moving animals, take it out and use the ghost ring aperture.

[Iron_Marshal]

I first saw the Marbles sight on one of Doc AJ's other posts. If I remember correctly he mounted one on his daughter's rifle. I wonder if they ever experienced any problems with the larger sight snagging on anything? It seems as if accuracy may suffer due to the shortened sight length, compared to a rear mounted ghost ring, although it IS mounted at the same location as the original rear sight and I DID like how OPEN the sight picture was. It appeared to be mounted rather high. Doc, did you need to replace the front sight and did it affect the cheek weld?

Several of you seem to favor the Skinner or the XS. The Skinner seemed solid and appeared to have a low profile. To those of you who have installed one, did you need to replace the front sight? The XS Looked more like the ghost ring I want, but the height of it seems like it may force me to raise my head up and break the cheek weld I use.

The Skinner was more reasonably priced than the XS, but is this a case of "you get what you pay for?"

[O.S.O.K.]

All of the receiver mounted aperture sights need a taller front sight yes. This is true of the XS and Williams models I can say from my own experience and the Skinners are also placed similarly.

That's one of the advantages of the tang sights which can be adjusted lower.

[Iron_Marshal]

But what about cheek weld? I like to stay low on the butt stock.