I need some help with a sight picture (semi buckhorn)

[barbarosa54]

Is there anyone knowledgeable about the semi buckhorn sight system as used on the Rossi 92? If ANYONE could either send a photo or draw and upload an image and send it to me of the sight picture one should have for say shooting at say........50 yards as a starter with my .44mag version I would sure appreciate it.[/b] I don't have a TON of ammo in this chambering yet and dont want to spend a fortune on wasting ammo trying to figure out what my sight picture is supposed to look like. I realize you put the top of your front sight on the base of the target but where in the rear sight should the front sight be located? Do you fill the bottom notch on the rear sight and have the "dot" of the front at the top of that verticle notch or do you center the front sight in whatever can be imagined as the midldle of the entire rear sight inlcluding the "wings"? I sure would appreciate some help and if you can email me at dmath76@hotmail.com with the picture of perhaps leverguns.com will notify me if I get a response......I am BRAND NEW to this site as you can probably tell and other than experience as a kid with a Daisy BB gun, I am new to the world of the lever action rifle........other than a scoped Savage Model 99 I had for years which of course doesnt "count". PLEASE HELP ME IF YOU CAN.......just found out that there is a check box that will notify me if a reply is posted so just someone provide some helpful info for me if you would be so kind. I do have some fairly hot loaded .44mag ammo on hand but want to keep its usage to a minimum. I do have 500 rounds of lead SWC on its way so......please reply when you can find the time.
Thank you so much.

[Pete44ru]

.

Welcome to the forum, barbarosa !

I hope this helps you.

[Les Staley]

Welcome to the sickness! May you have a blast with it. There is no known cure. If your Rossi has a brass bead front sight, put it in the small bottom notch of the rear sight, so you can see all of it, and put the bead on the target bullseye. I like to block out the lower half of the bullseye, and put the bullet in the center of the bullseye, (at the top of the bead). If your eyes are good it will be no problem. HTH

[plowboy 45]

I hope that part bout the 99 don't get you in trouble
Welcome



PLOWBOY

[BAGTIC]

I have probably a dozen little lever actions (Marlin, Rossi, Browning) and the first thing I do with all the sights is to take a file to them I file of any ears and create a straight sided flat bottomed notch just wide enough to allow a little light to show on each side of the front blade sight. This Patridge style sight used with a flat top post front is the best open sight made for these guns though a peep is even better especially as one gets older.

[gundownunder]

I find the buckhorn sight system to be rudimentary at best. It may work fine for minute of deer but I have shot thousands of rabbits and no deer, and these days most of my shooting is targets and silhouette so I need something much more accurate.

I'm with Bagtic on this one. My 32-20 is my only open sighted rifle and it was done with flat top and opened up notch before I got it, and I like it that way. These days with my old eyes I prefer peeps but I need to keep at least one open sighted rifle for classic caliber competition.

If you were talking about an original antique Winchester I'd use John's instructions, but for a Rossi I would grab a file and get to it.

[Griff]

and Welcome to THE Forum.

Hope this helps. Everybody does it the same... or will when

I generally drop the rear sight to the lowest notch on the elevator, then sight thusly:

I put the entire post or bead down into the slot at the base of the buckhorn. Good luck!

[Blaine]

and Welcome to THE Forum.

Hope this helps. Everybody does it the same... or will when

I generally drop the rear sight to the lowest notch on the elevator, then sight thusly:

I put the entire post or bead down into the slot at the base of the buckhorn. Good luck!

Griff, isn't that a semi-buckhorn? I've seen some that the horns nearly touch. I've heard (but don't know if it's true) that they can be used as a crude ghostring.....??

[Malamute]

I do like Griff said. Totally ignore the ears or horns. Top of the front sight level with the top of the rear sighting notch, and point of impact right on the top of the front sight. I used to like buckhorns, now don't after using them some. I prefer the flat topped rear sight if its open sights. Some of the semi-buckhorns aren't too bad, if they don't cover up too much of the world out in front of you.

I don't quite get using the ears/horns as an aperture. If not using the sighting notch, I'm just looking over the sights like a shotgun, doesn't take buckhorns to work well. Its always worked well for me on moving targets, peep sights are also so used for fast shooting or movers. Longer distance can be done like long distance pistol shooting, raise the front sight in the rear notch with the target still on top of the front sight. The amount of front sight to hold above the rear sight is trial and error (or could be called experience).

The older Winchester information was that the steps of the rear sight elevator was intended to be used for various ranges, in 50 yard increments, They had different elevators for different types of cartridges. I don't think anyone uses rear sights that way any more.

[Griff]

[quote="BlaineG[/quote]Griff, isn't that a semi-buckhorn? I've seen some that the horns nearly touch. I've heard (but don't know if it's true) that they can be used as a crude ghostring.....??[/quote]Well... yes it is! But, it's what I had a picture of. And I use it just the same as a full buckhorn. Using a full buckhorn as a ghost ring is "iffy", at best.

...I don't think anyone uses rear sights that way any more.

I still do. The steps are pretty good as 50 yard increments if your ammo is "right". For my factory loads, and original Winchester sights, no matter the model, the 2nd step and the front sight held to the top of the rear sights' slot, I'm just about dead on for 100 yards. Sometimes it pays to open the slot up a little so your windage is easier to gauge, some of those slots are pretty narrow compared to the width of the front sight.

[barbarosa54]

My thanks go out to the folks that sent me info on how to use these......awkward semi buckhorn sights. I believe I am going to try to replace them with some sort of peep sight set up with different aperatures, larger for field hunting and smaller for impressing myself with holes punched in paper. When my case of inexpensive wadcutter ammo gets here I MAY try to see if I can "master" the semi buckhorn but if I cannot then some other sighting system will have to be installed and used. I am VERY familiar with the peep sight set up, even changed out the rear signt on one of my AK's for a Williams peep sight set up with tremendous results. I just need a signting system that will properly place a shot as using a .44 mag on the REALLY large whitetails we have in this area requires a perfectly placed shot as I sure get no thrill out of making my game linger in their demise. I had used an Inland M1 carbine for my easy "go to" deer rifle and the new Inland rifles have superb peep sight set ups and they are simply ncredible recreations of the old battle carbine. I managed to drop on tag filler with a single well placed shot using cheap imported soft point ammo. Took out both lungs and removed the top of the heart so the freezer filler never knew what hit him. He was no truphy kill but was a sizeable ammo which will keep me in both frozen and jerked venison for quite some time. I used my doe tag using my old 110 Savage in .30-06 with similar terminal effect. I always really try for proper shot placement and feel that if I don't quickly dispatch my intended game then I have failed in doing my part properly. That is one reason I wanted some advice on how to use the semi buckhorn sights as I don't want to spend a fortune on throwing ammo all around my sighting in target while trying to figure out how to use the semi buckhorn sights that Rossi for some reason used as their choice of rear sights for their Model 92. I will MOST CERTAINLY get the situation under control before I ever attempt using the rifle on game.
Thank everypme tjat replied. If anyone else has pictures of the proper sight picture for the Rossii 92 semi buckhorn sights, continue to send whatever you may have. I sure appreciate the assistance and again thank everyone that has already replied.

[ollogger]

Hi & Welcome!!
to simplify my shooting with my Rossi I put a receiver sight on it to match up some of my other
Lever guns, to many different bbl sights kept me shooting all over the place



ollogger

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

My thanks go out to the folks that sent me info on how to use these......awkward semi buckhorn sights. I believe I am going to try to replace them with some sort of peep sight set up with different aperatures, larger for field hunting and smaller for impressing myself with holes punched in paper. When my case of inexpensive wadcutter ammo gets here I MAY try to see if I can "master" the semi buckhorn but if I cannot then some other sighting system will have to be installed and used. I am VERY familiar with the peep sight set up, even changed out the rear signt on one of my AK's for a Williams peep sight set up with tremendous results. I just need a signting system that will properly place a shot as using a .44 mag on the REALLY large whitetails we have in this area requires a perfectly placed shot as I sure get no thrill out of making my game linger in their demise. I had used an Inland M1 carbine for my easy "go to" deer rifle and the new Inland rifles have superb peep sight set ups and they are simply ncredible recreations of the old battle carbine. I managed to drop on tag filler with a single well placed shot using cheap imported soft point ammo. Took out both lungs and removed the top of the heart so the freezer filler never knew what hit him. He was no truphy kill but was a sizeable ammo which will keep me in both frozen and jerked venison for quite some time. I used my doe tag using my old 110 Savage in .30-06 with similar terminal effect. I always really try for proper shot placement and feel that if I don't quickly dispatch my intended game then I have failed in doing my part properly. That is one reason I wanted some advice on how to use the semi buckhorn sights as I don't want to spend a fortune on throwing ammo all around my sighting in target while trying to figure out how to use the semi buckhorn sights that Rossi for some reason used as their choice of rear sights for their Model 92. I will MOST CERTAINLY get the situation under control before I ever attempt using the rifle on game.
Thank everypme tjat replied. If anyone else has pictures of the proper sight picture for the Rossii 92 semi buckhorn sights, continue to send whatever you may have. I sure appreciate the assistance and again thank everyone that has already replied.

Idealy the front brass bead should be centered in the half-round notch there in the bottom of the Rossi tall semi-buckhorn. But, shooting too high is pretty common with the Rossi 92’s particularly the round barrel carbines and the ranch hand. This is mainly because Rossi tries to do a one size fits all and the rear sight that comes on it is just too tall. They sorta work for the 357m guns(which they sell the most) but not such much for the 44 mags 16" and 20" round barrel carbines. Mostly because of muzzle rise associated with the heavier loads.

Sounds like you are favoring the peep sights. If this is a late model Rossi with the ugly add-on safety you might want to kill two birds with one stone.
This one will replace the safety, and usually work just fine with the rossi front.



Adjustable Bolt-Mounted Peep Sight Safety Replacement

[barbarosa54]

Ger ready folks, this turned into an incredibly overlong and rambling posting. I didn't get much sleep last night and for some reason once I started posting this......well. as you will see I got a bit carried away.
Well, my weather delayed semi wadcutter .44mag ammo finally arrived. I guess when the temps get above 5 degrees I will attempt to try to figure out how to use the semi buckhorn sight that came with the 20" round barreled stainless Rossi 92 I have. If I experience the VERY high shot placement that some have experienced using these sights I will either go with getting a gunsmith to mount a pickatinnie rail somewhere atop the rifle and use one of my EoTechs..........or more likely, to keep the rifle somewhat authentic looking I may opt for a tang mounted sight with a peep and experient with different sized aperatures. Maybe keep a tiny holed version for purely paper hunting and a larger one for the actual taking of whatever critter I am after. I need to go through Brownells catalogue and see if one of those side mounted "caliper" adjustable sights are still sold. I cannot remember what rifle I had but I had an old Redfield set up of that type on some rifle in my distant past and remember getting great results. Looked kinda awkward but it wouldn't look nearly as awkward as hanging one of the old EoTech 512's I have laying around atop the lever action rifle. Pretty gun and I would like to keep it looking as "Cowboy" as at all possible.....which brings me probably back to the tang mount. Need to determine if the old front sight can still be used or if another headache will come about in replacing that in such a manner as to keeping it solidly in place once whatever new sight is installed....yet still adjustable. Been really busy working around contractors hours as they replace the windows and patio doors in our home in the dead heart of a Wisconsin winter. Yep, first stop will be to look through the newish Brownell's catalog I have and see what options they have and go from there. I will of course first try to see if I can get some service out of the factory supplied semi buckhorn........I simply haven't a clue. Haven't taken the rifle out in the frigid temps to see what kind of group or where my shots are landing with what is now extremely pricey hunting grade ammo I have had laying around for a few years and my case of SWC just arrived. I have a Super Blackhawk that I will purchase a box of the least expensive ammo I can find to practice with that awesome revolver. It is a "Talo" edition also in stainless and it features a 3.35" barrel (advertised as a 3.5"). Even got Rudy Lozano of Blackhills Gunleather to make me a nice paddle rig for that sweet single action. That company sure does make a great custom holster at "across the counter" prices all made exactly "gun specific", wet moulded to an actual gun like the one you are ordering the holster for. I highly recommend that company for anyone looking for a superb quality holster for ANY gun you might have and if you are a shoulder holster fan, Blackhills Gunleather can provide you with the finest example and most comfortable example of such a rig that I have EVER worn. I even had a paddle holster made for of all things an SAR K2, the 14+1 .45acp version and it was BEFORE EAA became the distributor for Sarsilmaz firearms. Talk about having to cinch your belt on tight, load one of those all steel Turkish pistols to its max capacity and get ready to spend your day leaning to your left. That pistol is by FAR the most underrated double stack firing full size .45acp handguns available, is a true tack driver with a superb factory trigger and an unbeatable sighting system and currently CDNN is virtually giving them away in the $360 range. Super high quality firearm with perfect fit and finish to EXTREMELY tight tolerances and the pistol is incredibly easy to field strip for maintenance If it weren't for some reason blighted by its country of origin or because it has SAR as part of its name, it is easily an $850-$950 pistol. I have two of them, one still new in the box that I hope to sell or trade for someday. I am in dire need of a good either multi purpose or "tactical" type 12 gauge shotgun as a small disaster destroyed my old "baby" Mossberg, an ancient shotgun I had since high school (a plastic bottle of rust remover simply split open and laid to waste that shotgun, damaged an old Rossi Overland and ruined thankfully only about 150 rounds of various .38 spcl. and .357 mag ammo I had clumisly stacked in individual boxes on the floor of a steel closet so a trade of my new K2 for a great either multi purpose or say a 20" "tactical" style 12 gauge with preferably ghost ring or rifle sights is probably my biggest need. The SAR K-2 that I first purchased is one that I have shot the living daylights out of, running well in excess of 2500 rounds through it, mostly inexpensive Wolf hardball 230 gr. and have YET to have a single failure to fire/function. Even using the Wolf ammo the gun groups unbelievably at 30 feet, the gun is capable of shooting a LOT better than I am. Do some research on the pistol and at the price CDNN currently is selling them for, GET ONE!! As a bedside gun they CANNOT be beat, as a glove box gun they CANNOT be beat. The only downsize is that they weigh about as much as a 1911 if a 1911 held 15 rounds of .45acp. Heck, the pistols even come with fully adjustable no snag rear sights and the Sarsilmaz factory is not only one of the most modern and "hi-tech" in the world but is also one of the largest. They supply a lot of foreign military and police department/law enforcement agencies and "over there" the company has a superb reputation. I saw in some gun mag an article where the writer got a walk through of the factory and even as experienced as he was he was astounded by the Sarsilmaz factory. I got my first K-2 before EAA became their distributor and picked it up at a gun show hafing never heard of the gun before. I was happy with the price arrangement we came to and the guy threw in some magazines that after Obama's first personally caused "panic buying frenzy", the mags were back then selling for close to $50 each!! I got mine well before Obama's first and VERY profitable for the gunmakers original taking advantage of a nutbag on the loose with a firearm act of a typical libtard. That was the one that led to the virtual dissapearance of the .380 round and which led to the overpricing of the .22LR round, something that is still effecting us all to this day. The K-2 I asked to handle at that gun show just "felt right" and I prefer it in EVERY way to the single Para Ordnance P15-45 I have left (and if you get a K2 they will accept the Para P14 mags by the way........or so I have been told, I honestly for some reason have simply never tried the interchange out....another thing I have to try). I will probably keep my P14 even though I have shot it very little, it is a gorgeous pistol, is all stainless and since it seems "de rigeur" to own at least one 1911 type handgun, if I have to have one I might as well have one that carries a lot more rounds than 7 or 8. The Para even fits in holsters made for the lower capacity and more traditional 1911 variants and I have collected several holsters for that design. I have also taken advantange of every sale price on P14 magazines so I am stocked up both holsters, mags and ammo. I even have a 500 round case of that carbon spewing Tula Ammo that is so remindful of the original old Bear and Wolf ammo of over a decade ago. Long before Wolf especially VASTLY improved their ammunition making it burn as cleanly as virtually any American made ammo and just as consistently. I have shot a lot less Bear ammo but I have shot the Bear ammo of over a decade ago and have fired the more recently made Bear ammo and they too have VASTLY improved their powder and even Bear has begun coating their ammo with the polymer coating and is slowly casting away all of their lacquer sealed primers that did tend to lead one to take a chamber brush every 1000 rounds or so to remove that stuff. For Wolf, that problem is now long a thing of the past and their ammo not only burns cleaner but the rounds "feel" hotter loaded than the original loadings that still have people thinking that Wolf ammo is the same Wolf ammo of long ago. It is now a superb round whose price allows for a LOT of shooting for ones dollar. The only loser is the reloader. But why reload if you can buy new as cheaply as you can produce a reload? And no need to worry about the Russian Govt getting ahead from taxes obtained from the sale of the ammo. From everything I hear, that countries version of the Mafia gets that money. Hell, that hellhole of a country is run by incredibly organized crime. Putin is an organ grinders monkey....a puppet for a fairly well run "illegal" enterprise. But how is something illegal if everything is run that way? That is why we are all glad that we only have to put up with our current Marxist for a maximum of 8 years. If we screw up and elect that skank Hillary, then as down the drain as this country will go we will have nobody to blame but the people around us that were stupid enough to elect that incredibly ignorant and unqualified buffoon that currently sits in the "big chair" in the Oval Office. Hopefully now our "white guilt" is assuaged and the people of this country will vote for someone that can undo the unbelievable damage that Obama has brought to our country, our trade policy and to our military readiness. I am still trying to come to grips with the 2008 Presidential election outcome. What the heck was everyone thinking? A ticket based on "Hope and Change"?? Well, I hope we can recover from 8 years of Obama caused madness and all I have in my pockets is change.......and a key fob for my incredibly FORCED FUEL EFFICIENT vehicle.....a truck and a car that, when I open the hood I cannot recognize 90% of whatever the hell all the stuff and plumbing is there for and does! Hell, on our car I have to remove a 13 bolt cover to access my 4 spark plugs. Why? Probably as an effort at forcing me to take my vehicle to the dealership to simply change/inspect my spark plugs of all things. Heck, it is virtually impossible for me to change my own oil. To do so I have to provide for a good 24" of clearance for a swing away cover to be partially unbolted so a hinged "door" can be opened behind which lives my oil filter. You almost have to have a lift to change your own oil!! I wish they would have STOPPED when they got fuel injection down to an art form and after they perfected electronic ignition. But then again, I also wish we could still use the abundant and inexpensive coal we have to continue to generate electricity. Something our "great leader" has done everything in his power to attempt to eliminate. God help whoever replaces this complete Socialist idiot we have in office today.
But back to my Rossi. I hope to keep getting advice and especially photos/drawings of sight pictures of the actual Rossi model 92 sights. I got a GREAT price on the SWC ammo on a 10% off plus free shipping offer from Freedom Arms a while back. Shoulda bought another case of their XTP ammo but it was shortly after Christmas and I sure didn't want to run an unpaid balance on my credit card so my cash was strapped from buying my Grand kids stuff they probably never used 15 minutes after we left following Christmas dinner......or broke most of whatever it was we ended up buying for them. Strange story with my Grandkids. My Son was really "living the life", had a great job as a shift foreman at Cascade Paper, had been married for about 5 years, had just had a second baby girl in November of 2013 and ended up passing away in his sleep at the age of 34 from something the Doctors call "Serotonin Syndrome". In other words he fell into such a deep sleep that it became......well, permanent. Seems that the stresses of working 10-16 hour days, sometimes 6 days a week to keep the household full of useless and "state of the art" electronics and kids toys and keeping both him and the Wife in new pickups and cars led him to a Doctor that put him on a low dose of something like Zoloft. Working at Cascade and like the rest of the crew "manning in up" and foregoing the use of a particle mask, he developed a dust caused chronic cough. To treat that he apparently purchased some OTC cough syrup that contained various unpronounceable chemicals but mostly alcohol.........with the end result ending in a very premature death. THANKFULLY I had continued to pay for (and occasionally get reimbursed for), some life insurance that the Navy provided for him at a very low price, a term policy that cost VERY little for the amount of coverage. Anyway, it was enough to provide his wife with a carte blanche funeral that my Son would have despised but at least she did allow him to be buried wearing his prized Dallas Cowboys Team Jersey with Roger Staubachs name across the back as well as his number 12. That he would have liked. The fancy service with the billions of flowers both loose and mounted he would have pitched a fit about......as he would the "big feed" provided by some cheesehead catering company from this area of the country. He always simply wanted a simple graveside service with NO "viewing", he always thought that rather ghastly and simply hated funeral altogether. Cremation was something he did not want because like me, we both grew up in mostly rural environments where one burns their trash.......or at least the burnable part of said trash. That is "rural recycling", you separate the burnables (yep, including plastics), from the non burnables and you carry the burnables out to the burn pile and you toss the unburnables in the back of your truck to throw into the Post Offices dumpster.......or that is how it was done here. Of course when he got married the wifey wanted to move to a "suburban" type setting with every other house looking alike and with the new (to him), curbside garbage pickup. Thankfully where he moved wasn't overly strict as to recycling so if you happened to put a bottle of can in your paper bin the pick up guys would merely toss it in the correct part of the truck rather than slap a notice on your door re-explaining how the whole "planet saving" recycling system works. We lived for a short time in Washington State and even though it was a number of years ago they would go ballistic if you didn't play their recycling game EXACTLY as procedure demanded. What it is like there now is probably beyond belief. Accursed libtards!!
Yep, gonna figure out some sort of sighting system that will get me printing hopefully at least 4 inch groups at 100 yards if I take my time. I have already done a complete action job on the rifle and have a roughly but safe 2lb trigger on that Rossi and the trigger breaks clean and crisp on a snap cap so now all I have to do is either master the semi buckhorn rear sight or figure out some peep arrangement that I hope will maintain the awesome looks of the rifle. I do agree with the "add on looking" safety set up Rossi uses. It sure beats the cross bolt system that Winchester forced upon the public for years but looks too much like the forced add on safety one finds on a surplus imported Tokarev pistol for my tastes. Why the companies thing a safety is even required on a lever gun other than half cock is beyond me, I guess even Brazilian based companies have a legal department however so I will blame the unseemly but thankfully mostly out of sight butt ugly safety on Taurus/Rossi attorneys.
Please if you find the time and have the ability keep sending pictures or good drawing of the actual semi buckhorn system found on the Rossi 92 and please have it show where one places the front sight in the open portion of the rear of the actual system that Rossi utilizes....with the open rectangle at the bottom opening up to the cavernous semi oval shaped interior of the semi buckhorn. It would sure save me some money and keep me from placing a too soon order for another 500 round case of hard cast SWC from Freedom Arms (though if they run a similar sale again I will order more than I did the first time when I bought a single 500 round case of the SWC and I believe about 5 boxes of 50 rounds of their XTP...and how that stuff might perform in a hunting situation I will probably gauge when I dispatch my first Coyote of which this area is badly plagued by. I can also use it to help with our racoon problem but those critters are a bit too small to determine the true terminal capabilities of the XTP round that Freedom Arms offers. Hell a SWC would probably tear a racoon in half or come darned close. Freedom Arms isn't really known for "hot loading" their offerings but from the ballistics chart their website provides some of their ammo is loaded decently enough to harvest a deer as long as I do my part properly.
Thank you again everybody for what you have already sent. I have gotten some good information, some of it conflicting which is to be expected with a rifle that is available in various calibers and barrel lengths and even barrel design. When I bought this rifle I truly wanted an octagonal barrel but they simply were not available in that caliber/barrel length and in stainless steel. But looks wise, I am EXTREMELY happy with the rifle I got. The fit and finish are WAY beyond my expectations and even before the action job, the lever worked great and the trigger wasn't too bad, a bit "crunchy" maybe but that probably would have gone away with some break in. Hell, I don;t know what this tricked out trigger/lever action will be like once its broken in.....already it is beyond belief! Thanks again for all the responses and the effort and time involved. I honestly appreciate it!!

[Les Staley]

I'm sure you have something to say, but could someone give me the book review? I'm retired and I still don't have time to read that much text. Thanks

[Griff]

I'm sure you have something to say, but could someone give me the book review? I'm retired and I still don't have time to read that much text. Thanks

His son died unexpectedly, and needed to vent.

My condolences barbarosa.

[Malamute]

Please if you find the time and have the ability keep sending pictures or good drawing of the actual semi buckhorn system found on the Rossi 92 and please have it show where one places the front sight in the open portion of the rear of the actual system that Rossi utilizes....with the open rectangle at the bottom opening up to the cavernous semi oval shaped interior of the semi buckhorn.


... Hell a SWC would probably tear a racoon in half or come darned close.

I'll start by saying totally disregard post number 2, it seems to be confusing you. It has no application to the basic use of the sight.

The small sighting notch is all you need to concern yourself with, the buckhorn ears should be ignored entirely. Settle the front bead or blade into the small notch, with top of bead or blade even with top of small sighting notch, like any basic barrel sight and use the tip of the front sight as the aiming point. See what happens from there.

If the ears of the buckhorn were filed completely off flat, it wouldn't change the use of the small sighting notch in the slightest.

SWC loads wont blow much of anything up, they kill well, but damage less meat than hollow points. I've shot quite a bit of small game with SWC 44 loads. They kill coyotes ok to so-so. I find hollow points or soft points do more to stop them.

If changing the sights altogether, I prefer the side mounted receiver sight. They've been around in various forms since the late 1890's I believe. The general style we have today has been around since the 1920s or so. I find the Lyman 66 to be nicer looking and more old style looking than the Williams. It takes two small holes drilled and tapped on the left rear part of the receiver. Most guns were so tapped from the factory for a long time. It seems to have fallen out of favor the past few years. I haven't needed to change front sights on any lever guns to use the Lyman 66 type receiver sights including the tiny Browning 92 carbine front.

[Les Staley]

Thanks, Griff. Barbarossa, sorry for your loss. Your son was too young to leave his family. My sympathy goes out to you and family. Les

[Carlsen Highway]

OKay let look at this for a moment.

If you have a Rossi rifle with a buckhorn rear sight, then I believe you will have a brass bead front sight. This is a little bit different from the carbine that
has a flat blade and notch rear sight.

The front sight bead is used like this - it is put down low in the notch so that you can clearly see that you have the whole round bead sitting exactly in the bottom of the notch. Positioned this way your elevation is always the same, and meanwhile the eye will naturally centre the bead left and right inside the notch It is very easy to see this, there is no guessing whether you have it right.

Most people try and make the top of the bead come in line with the top of the notch - this is not how it should be done. (Thats what you do with a flat front blade instead). Put it in the bottom where it will sit. Dont float it up in the air at the top of the notch.

You can see from my drawing that I made here:



I love using open sights and have experimented a lot. The bead and open rear can be a startlingly accurate set up, and you can use it just as well with the bead on your rifle and small notch in the centre of your buckhorn rear sight, as I drew in the middle picture above.

The standard Winchester 94 ''rounded'' rear sight and front bead, are excellent general open sights.

Many people dismiss open sights, as being inaccurate or for ''short ranges'' only. People in particular regard the open express sights only good for shooting charging animals at ten yards or so. This is rubbish.
It is perfectly possible to shoot one inch groups at 100 yards with these type of sights, if the rifle is capable of it. Here are a couple of example targets I have at hand shot with a BRNO bolt action with a factory bead and notch rear sight, and a .30-06 Springfield with a wide- open V express sight and bead.
Both are accurate rifles, and lose nothing to having open sights on them.



Out of interest the flat bar on the right hand side I only discovered a little while ago from an Elmer Keith article that was talking about old British express rifle sights. This was a opular sight in the old days, and |I found it also recommended in a book by an old market hunter in the US from the 19th century. Now, you would think you would have trouble making a rear sight work that had no notch at all wouldn't you...
I experimented by filling the notch on my BRNO so it was flat. I then fired the same one inch to 1.5 inch three shot group that rifle always does with it's normal open sights. I later put a white line down the middle like like the British rifles used to have, although I dont believe its necessary, the eye naturally centres the bead, same as using a peep sight.

On game these sights are used with both eyes open. At the range you can close one eye.

Now - here the other thing - where should the bullet go, assuming we are talking about a rifle that will be used for hunting?

WEll people always say that the point of impact should be at the top of the bead, and that you should use a ''six oçlock'' hold. Again this is really for flat blade front sights.
With a bead when aiming at target, yes you should balance your bulleye on the top of the bead, this is for precision in target shooting - the same way you will be shooting of a benchrest. And if you are only shooting at targets then you would have the point of impact be about three inches over the top of your bead.

But for hunting the bullet point of impact should be adjusted till it lands right through where the centre of the bead is. Effectively that means landing about 8 -12 lower than the bullseye) This is because when you aim at an animal, you should cover the deer with the bead and shoot through the centre of it, keeping both eyes open so you can see the whole animal.

I found that when hunting it was instinctive to use the bead this way, almost like using a red dot sight. |When I resights my rifles this way, I found myself no longer shooting high on game in the heat of the moment, and also it gave me more confidence, because it felt quite unnatural to try and shoot a deer by aiming underneath where you want to hit it.
My researched into people who used open sights and front beads a lot (such as WMB Bell) convinced me that this was how it had been used successfully by others in the past.
So when you out at the range, you need to aim with a six oclock hold, but take care to adjust your sights so that the point of impact will fall where you judge the middle of your bead would be. You can do this by looking along your sights with both eyes open at your target and seeing what area the bead covers and then going forward and marking where the centre would lie on the target...takes a bit of imagination, but you can do it.



I recommend this method with confidence to everyone who uses a bead front sight and a notched or V open rear sight.

[1894]

1st , welcome to the forum ( home you didn't know you had ) !
2nd , So very sorry for the loss of your son at such an early age.
3rd , That 99 defiantly does qualify here.
4th , It is ok to vent here.
5th, that post above your long one , by Steve Young , there is a reason he is called The Rossi Specialist . I doubt there are very many ( if any ) more qualified folks out there for those 92 s.
That rear peep is probably just what you need.
http://store.stevesgunz.com/index.php?m ... ducts_id=5