# Can't make up my mind



## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I have a Marlin Cowboy Action in 44 mag. For a couple of years I have had a Marbles tang sight on it. I like the site, but I am going calling bears for my son in Montana. If something comes from a direction he can not shoot and it wants to taste me I want something with a fast sight picture. I like ghost ring sights, but my old eyes don't see them very good.

Because I could not find a ghost ring that I liked I made my own. Today I grabbed a chunk of brass bar stock, a piece of flat metal for a dove tail, cut the point and the threads of a 125 gr field point, drilled a hole through that, silver soldered it to the dove tail, and put it all together.

The problem: I can't decide which one to go with. Maybe both. The ghost ring is windage adjustable, but is permanently set at 100 yards. I could set the other one at 200 and just flip it up. Then again I'm not going to shoot on this trip unless the bear is ten yards and closing. I may just give up and carry the pistol since I don't have a license anyway, but I don't want to get swatted around the woods either.

So the question is which would you go with?


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## Burly1 (Sep 20, 2003)

That's an interesting solution you have come up with, and economical to boot. Re: the old eyes, this might peak your interest.

http://www.xssights.com/store/rifle.html

I have been nothing but impressed with the quality of goods from this company.
Burl


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Take em both off, drill and tap the end of the barrel, and put a bead on!

Than, just let em get reallllllll close! :lol:

If your having trouble seeing the ghost ring, you could try moving it forward on the weapon. The ring will be quicker than the peep, thats for sure.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Burly1, I have been looking at the XS in Brownell's. They look nice, but I thought I would give this a try before I buy the XS. I think I will make another and let it extend off the back 1/2 inch. It will not bother the hammer, but it will bring the ring closer to my eye, and allow me to add elevation. The screws are so close together on the base that the dovetail has to be removed to get at the screws. But this one is compact.

I tried just removing the aperture from my tang sight, but the metal ring is so thin it just disappears. If I move a sight to far forward then I loose the advantage a peep has of increasing my depth of field. Does anyone know where that guy lives that coined the phrase "golden years"? I want to choke his ***.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Have you tried making another of your handy dovetails into just a standard v-notch rear sight? Than move that forward on the gun? It may increase your depth of field, opening things up a bit, while allowing you to still see the rear sight.

That brass block is handy, you could make all kinds of "rear sights" on dovetails for that.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I have the original buckhorn sight. Open sights like that do not help depth of field. In peep sights the smaller you make the hole the better the depth of field. It works much like the aperture in a camera does for depth of field. However, it works only when close to the eye. Because ghost rings blur out I thought I might be able to still use one. That's why I had to make this one with thicker sides. 
I am able to see it ok, but I was hoping for better. Once sighted in I may have to mark it, take it off, and drill with the dovetail in place. The distance between the screw holes is so close that the dovetail goes in over them. If I redrill I could take that sight off whenever I feel like it. 
With the heavy tube style this is what it looks like from the back.


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## NDTerminator (Aug 20, 2003)

Damn, I admire the hell out of guys who can build stuff like this. Were I to even try it, yet another memorable trip to the ER would soon follow... :evil:


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## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

Might look at the lyman # 2 tang peep sight. When you remove the apture on it there is still a good chunk of metel to peer thru. I have one on a Model 94 whinny that works real well for me.

 Al


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