Rear sights on your smoothbores

[kev308]

Hello all, I was wondering who uses a rear sight on their smoothbore? I removed mine many years ago so I could shoot at the NMLRA events.

I was thinking of putting one on the gun for hunting season but I'm not sure
Was curious how you all shoot yours.
Thanks, Kevin

[rollingb]

kev308,.... Welcome to our TMA forum.  :rt th

[amm1851]

Quite a number of original trade guns were fitted with rear sights. Mine doesn't currently have one but I am thinking about having one installed.

[Maven]

kevin, My GRF 20ga. trade gun lacks a rear sight, and truthfully I don't miss it.  However, I did cobble one up from a pc. of ancient O scale brass rail (as in model railroading).  I used generic Crazy Glue to affix it to the bbl., but found I was no more accurate with it attached than without it.  Before you alter your bbl. or tang, think about making one and trying it.  If you don't like it, you can simply remove it.  Btw, another advantage of this [method] is you can experiment with how far forward the sight needs to be for you to get a clear/focused sight picture.

[kev308]

Maven, this gun came to me with a rear sight so the dovetail is cut.
Otherwise there's no way I would alter the barrel.
I'm just kinda kickin this around.....nothing is set in stone
Kevin

[prairie dog]

To each his own....

However, I use my trade gun as a shotgun as much as a round ball gun.  When wing shooting I find a rear sight a major distraction.  (Had a removable rear sight on a turkey gun once. Couldn't hit a clay target while that sight was on the gun)

When shooting round ball I use the slot on the tang bolt as a rear sight simply by setting the front blade centered on that slot.  It works well enough that I bang gongs out to 75 yards with no problems.  

I like the versatility of a trade gun with no rear sight.  When I want precise long distance shooting I take a rifle.

[Eric Krewson]

I put a rear sight on the turkey gun I built, I wanted to have a positive reference in the heat of the battle when a turkey comes in, same for when I am shooting a round ball at a deer.



I have to say, if I shot this gun more I probably wouldn't need a rear sight but I don't get out with it much. Seems like I am more into building them than shooting them. I can shoot at my house but it rattles my neighbors windows for sure so I don't shoot as much as I would like to. The closest public range is 50 miles away.

[KHickam]

Tried it both ways - not much difference in accuracy for me

[amm1851]

I picked up some thin rare earth magnets and I plan to experiment with using those to attach a rear sight on my Northwest gun.  That way if there's no appreciable difference in accuracy,  my barrel will still be intact.

[Hanshi]

My smoothbore fowler was ordered with a rear sight; it takes all the effort out of switching from rifle to smoothbore.  I shoot a lot more ball than shot and don't do any wing shooting.  Shot is reserved for other critters such as bushytails and turkeys; but I'll admit the last time I went turkeying I took my rifle.  I don't shoot in smoothbore matches, either.  The rear sight puts ball right on and shot about a couple inches lower.  Easy peasy.

And, Kevin, welcome to the forum.

[RobD]

i prefer a rear sight on a smoothie, but most woods walks or matches don't allow smoothie rear sights.  i have a new fowler coming and ordered it without a rear sight, to compete in my club matches.  if i need a rear sight i'll experiment with neodymium magnets - there's a neat one that's about 3/8" square with a 1/8" hole dead center.

[prairie dog]

I ran a trade gun match for the past three years.  It was limited to flintlocks but we allowed rear sights just so we would have enough participants to host the event.   The course consisted of an equal number of round ball targets (steel gongs & bowling pins from 25 to 75 yards) and clay targets from a trap thrower.  We included one target for buckshot as a separate "fun" poker match.  

It's a small sample, 12 to 15 shooters, but I expected the shooters with rear sights would do better on the round ball targets and those without rear sights would do better on the clay targets.  Which is why I set the course with equal numbers of clay and gong targets.

Results from all three years; the overall winners were those with no rear sights.  
The best round ball shooter used a short canoe gun with a rear sight, but he did so poorly on clay targets that he didn't place overall.

On the course of targets for round ball the shooters with no rear sights did just as well as those who had rear sights.  On the clay targets those without rear sights did much better.  

I admit that all the shooters had done more round ball shooting than wing shooting and the first year the clay shooting was rather poor.  The second year all shooters were much improved at the clay targets.

My observation is on round ball shooting out to 75 yards a rear sight offers no advantadge.  

In wing shooting our shooters with no rear sights did considerably better.  But other factors besides rear sight could be in play here.

[rollingb]

prairie dog,.... thanks for that interesting post! :rt th

[Hanshi]

Prairie dog, you just deflated my balloon.  But I still like my rear sight; it helped me make a nice running shot on a doe just a few years ago.

[kev308]

Thanks for all the replies guys. And for the welcome to the forum.
I shot this smoothbore, it's a TOTW fowler 62 cal, for many years with no rear sight. At one point in time it was the only muzzleloader I shot. There are alot of dead squirrels at the front end of it also.
I started shooting it regularly again and have noticed that my point of impact at 50 yards is lower than in the past. Maybe it's because my eyes are that much older, or I'm just not holding it like I used to.
Whatever it is I was just kicking around the idea that a rear sight might help.
I think for now I'm just going to keep shooting it as is (gee won't that be a chore! ha-ha) and see how it goes.
But I'm still interested to hear your opinions on the subject.
Thanks, Kevin