Tang Sights

Maximizing the performance of your Rossi firearm.
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zippy
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Tang Sights

Post by zippy »

I saw this excellent description of tang sights posted by member Model 52, and thought it would be helpful in this directory.
Model 52 wrote:I'm 51 and rely on progressive readers for pretty much anything except distance vision.

I am not a fan of optics on a lever gun as it screws ups the lines, the handling and the balance, but I've found that a good tang sight will do wonders for middle age accommodation.

I have several lever guns - a pair of 9422s, a pair of Model 92 rifles in .357 Mag (20" and 24") a 24" Armi Sport Model 1892 takedown in .45 Colt, a 20" Rossi 92 carbine in .45 Colt, a Model 94 Trapper in .45 Colt, a Model 94 carbine in .30-30 and a Big Bore 94 in .375 Win - and all of them have either Marbles or Lyman Tang sights.

I also have a Model 1885 High Wall in .30-30 with a Marbles Tang Sight and a 1874 Quigley Sharps with a Soule style tang sight.

I gravitated to tang sights naturally after a couple decades shooting service rifle matches and small bore matches with M1's, M1A's, AR-15s, and an Anschutz 64 Match with receiver mounted aperture sights.

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When you look through a small aperture, it effectively increases the depth of field for your eye, just like a small aperture increases the depth of field for a camera. That basically increases the range of distances where your eye can focus on an object, and on a rifle an aperture rear sight will bring the front sight into sharp focus even with middle age accommodation issues.

My preferred set up on a Model 92 rifle is the Marbles Standard Tang Sight with a Lyman 17AHB globe front sight using both the Lyman and Lee Shaver inserts under different conditions.

For example, if I'm shooting at a round bullseye target I'll use a suitably sized round front aperture in the front sight to allow just a bit of white around the bull. If I'm shooting at more generic targets with good contrast and good light, I'll insert either a front post insert or a crosshair insert (with the Lyman inserts being a little thicker and better in low light and the Lee Shaver insets being more precise in bright light. Under uncertain field conditions where the light may be low or the back ground contrast minimal, I'll use a fairly large Lee Shaver round aperture stacked with the yellow disc from the Lyman set. The hole in the Lyman disc fits a number of round apertures well and leaves a clear center with a yellow background outside the circle. It's fast and accurate on pretty much any target and you won't lose the target in low contrast, low light situations.

I also prefer to use either the Merit #4 Hunter or #3 Target adjustable apertures. They give a wide range of adjustment (slightly different in the 3 and the 4) that adjust in 11 finger adjustable steps that let you maximize the aperture size for the light conditions. Basically, you just dial the aperture size down, until the image starts to get darker ad grainier, and back up a step. In a hunting situation you can leave the aperture fully open for maximum field of view and light conditions and stop it down if needed on a longer shot where you have a few seconds to set up the shot.

Below is my 20" Model 92 rifle in .357 mag with a Marbles Standard Tang sight, a Merit #4 aperture and a Lyman 17A front sight.

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Here you can see the Merit #4 Hunter aperture, and the adjustment tab that engages the serrations around the edge to provide the 11 steps in the adjustment range. Accuracy with this set up is right at 2.5 MOA at 100 yards with either Federal 158 gr JSP at about 1870 fps, or hand loaded Hornady 125 gr XTPs at around 2200 fps. Both are accurate to 200 yards and I have no reservations using them on deer sized game out to about 170 yards, which is the zero distance I use for both my 20" and 20" rifles:

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A tang sight also works fine with the standard front sight, you just lose a little flexibility and some of the potential precision on some targets. Here is my 24" Model 92 rifle with a Marbles tang sight with the slightly larger Merit #3 aperture and a blade front sight (although I have since added the Lyman 17 AHB to it as well):

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My 23 year old marine days of shooting 10 shot 1 MOA groups with an aperture sighted NM M14 are definitely behind me, but I can still shoot 1.5 MOA groups with my 1885 with the Marbles tang sight, Merit aperture and a Lyman 17AHB front - and that's using inexpensive 150 gr plated bullets. The 30" barrel doesn't hurt anything either when it comes to focusing on the front sight:

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