Purpose of buckhorn sight

[Keith T]

What if any was the idea behind the buckhorn sight?

Especially the full buckhorn. I shoot with one on a custom reproduction. I seem to do ok. But they seem to cover up a significant portion of the target. Somebody must have thought that there was an advantage to the design.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Having tried one I think the purpose is on the same lines as the tail fins on a '57 Chevy or the piece of bowling ball spliced onto the forend of a 1974 Remington 700 DeLuxe. Style.

That, or someone with buck fever figured if he saw less of the animal it wouldn't disturb him as much.

 

[necchi]

The theory is a low light sight picture,,

But like Stumpy, I'm convinced they're there to completely prevent the shooter from aquiring the rear notch and front blade at the same time, and perhaps in many circumstances amaze the shooter with their beautifull shape so much so he forgets to look for the intended target! :haha:

 

[brawny man]

I read a modern article that claimed hunters on the plains used the full buck horn sight for elevation purposes on extreme distance shots. They would center the front sight between the horns. It would be interesting to know what yardage your gun would hit at with that sight picture.

 

[rawhide]

they were used for long range shooting kind of like a meter sight that the brits used on the enfield 303s. oh and the wings on a 57 chev is to make it go faster...

 

[Vaino]

Buckhorn sights were a fad and along w/ many other fads, didn't last long.....Fred

 

[mykeal]

Naw. The fins give you better gas mileage. YMMV.

 

[Deadeye]

One shot and rawhide know, Elevation, your bottom notch might be 50 yds. center of the horns might be 100 or 150 yds. between the tips might be 250 or 300 yds.and if you shot one enough with the same load you'd learn where to hold for whatever distance you were shooting. As trajectories became more flat buckhorn sights were no longer required. In the west where ranges were long are where they were used the most. Very quick sight to use at shorter ranges, front sight anywhere inside the circle would be a hit.
Deadeye

 

[gordy]

Glad to hear others have found them to be a problem , over the years I heard many praise both the full and semi buckhorn . L never could master the use of one ! :hmm: :grin:

 

[William O.]

I prefer the primative full buckhorn sight over anything else, and I hate peep sights.

 

[RugerDog]

I think it was just some practical joker who envisioned people in the future debating its merits as 'historically correct.'

 

[Birddog6]

The Buckhorn sight was developed so a guy shooting at a deer could truthfully say that deer DID have horns on it when he shot. :rotf: :idunno: :bull:

They do look cool when you sight down a rifle when looking up at the sky. Otherwise, I find them totally useless.........

Keith Lisle

 

[rafterob]

I have yet to shoot at a distance where I would need the horns of my buckhorn sight, but if I was back on the plains of the Dakotas I would find a use for it. As far as obstructing the target view, I don't have that issue. At 25 yards I probably have at least a 3' wide view and that expands exponentially as distance increases.

 

[Richard Brinkman]

I have often wondered if they were not to provide some protection for the rear sight notch too? As riding on a horse as well as some long range help?

 

[Snow on the Roof]

If you notice they are historiclly on plains rifles. Full buck horns where used for long range shooting, pretty simple. The low notch is cut for short range ie: 50 yards, a midline point is for mid-range shooting say 100 yards and the horn tips for longer ranges, 150-200 yards.
If you check out R.J.Renner's Underhammer website you will see he sells a modified version of the full buckhorn he calls "the horn peep". For those of us with aging eyes the horn peep is used as a large peep sight where the shooter places the front sight in the center of the horns, much like a ghost ring sight.

John