Receiver sights??

[strob2000]

I can't bring myself to put a scope on my 1894 cowboy rifle, so I've been looking into receiver sights. I've been specifically looking at the Williams 5D or Foolproof sight. Anybody have any experience with these or can make another recommendation?

[I_Like_Pie]

Yes...If your gun already has the two small mount screws on the left side of the receiver (it should) you are good to go! Make sure that if you order one you get the right flavor as there are also top mount ones floating around.

I have shot both the Williams 5D and the more fancy versions with the click adjustments on a 39a, a 336, a benjamin 392, and a 10/22 with much success. It feels weird shooting them at first because you wouldn't think that they would produce good groups, but they sure do.

Only catch I have noticed is that peep sights work because the human eye has a terrific knack for finding the brightest point that happens to be the center of the aperture...When the sun starts to fade or if there are a lot of shadows it can shift the POA a small bit....not enough to effect hunting accuracy however.

They of course will be better than the stock iron because you have one less plane to focus on, but if you are hunting with it...still hard to beat a good 2-7x power scope or red dot despite the odd mix of old and new. I have a Marlin Guide gun with an Ultradot 25 mounted on it. It is odd, but like your 1894 the setup makes it the quickest "to shoulder" gun made. Almost as fast as a trap gun to get a lock on your target.

[Guest KarlS]

I have the 5D on an old Marlin 336. I liked them well enough over the years but needed to be brighter in lower light. I had the reciever drilled and tapped and changed out to the WGRS and added the ghost ring apature with the two green fiberoptic dots. Then I got the right hight front sight and changed over to a red fiberoptic in front. WOW. Much faster than a scope and you have to be blind not to see them. They will even work in low light but not as bright. Liked it so well I took the scope of my Omega and did the same thing.

[wareagle]

I've had a couple of receiver sights on my 1894S. I never liked the mounting setup on any of the ones that I tried. I just pulled the Williams WGRS from mine and replaced with a Leupold VX2 4x20. The WGRS would have been the best, but I did not want to tap top of the receiver.

Edited October 22, 2009 by wareagle