Proper Use of Buckhorn Sights

[Trench]

Howdy. I bought a .36 Pedersoli Frontier Rifle in the spring in for squirrels. They come with full buckhorn sights. My question is, what does a proper sight picture look like through a buckhorn sight? As of now, I filed my front sight down to bring my shots up. When I look through my sights the top of the front post is flush with the top of the notch in the rear sight..like you would with most sights. Do the buckhorns serve any sighting purpose?

 

[boar]

They just had a post about them,day or to back. Thats the way I shoot mine.I think the buckhorn was made for a fast shot on a running target,kinda like a open peep, not sure. Dilly

 

[Trench]

Thanks. I'll do a search to find the string.

 

[cowpoke1955]

I have a .45 cal. Blue Ridge flintlock. I had the same problem with the factory front sights when I filed it down. I replaced the front sight with a thinner German silver blade. You can find them at Dixie and Track of the wolf. It gives me a better sight picture :thumbsup: .

 

[CoyoteJoe]

The sight picture you describe is correct, the "horns" serve no purpose but to rip gun cases, clutter up the sight picture and by making the sight taller they make it more likely to be bumped out of alignment. Buckhorns are OK on the range but for a quick shot hunters often fail to get the front bead fully down in the notch, especially in dim light, and thus shoot high. It was a late nineteenth century fad. The best thing to do with a buckhorn is cut off the horns and file it to a broad flat top with a square notch.

 

[Bountyhunter]

I have full buckhorn on one .54 rifle that I use as a rough service rifle. When I'm back in the rough country and dont want to scratch up my pet rifle, I use this one. I happen to like the buckhorn sight. Full buckhorn, not semi-buckhorn. The full buckhorn comes up like an antelopes horns and almost touch making a ghost-ring of sorts that is really fast for me to pick up. The semi-buckhorns stick up and snag. I agree with CJ on those.

I think that it is all in what you want to do. If you really use the rifle to hunt, then you might get to like the buckhorn sight. If you just punch paper, then,,,,,its your call.

 

[windwalker_au]

The sight picture you describe is correct, the "horns" serve no purpose but to rip gun cases, clutter up the sight picture and by making the sight taller they make it more likely to be bumped out of alignment. Buckhorns are OK on the range but for a quick shot hunters often fail to get the front bead fully down in the notch, especially in dim light, and thus shoot high. It was a late nineteenth century fad. The best thing to do with a buckhorn is cut off the horns and file it to a broad flat top with a square notch.

i have to disagree with you on this i use mine like a ghost ring peep sight with the top of the front blade sitting in the center of the full buckhorn my marbles full buck horn has a removeble insert where the u notch is and you get a big gost ring peep it is exelant in low light i can see the game clearly.its no different than useing a gost ring peep
bernie :thumbsup:

 

[rebel727]

I agree with Bounty and Windwalker. I use mine as a ghost ring peep, works fine that way. :thumbsup:

 

[brubincam]

-----HEY---I like mince pies also---good snack--- :thumbsup:

 

[Deadeye]

Great pic, great sight, front sight in notch-25 yds. front sight between horns 300 yds. depending on load. where to put front sight for intermediate distances is learned by lots of shooting. For short range jump shooting the ghostring is hard to beat.

 

[Trench]

I see the advantages of a buckhorn sight now. However, 300 yd shots are out of the question for my .36 :grin: I ended up cutting of the buckhorns and enlarging the slot in the rear sight. Those horns were horrible for getting a good sight picture on squirrels.