Vintage tang sights

BB57 · May 21, 2021

I’m a big fan of the vintage Lyman and Marbles tang sights on lever guns.

Roughy 30 years ago when Lyman started making their No 2 tang sight for the Model 94 again, I was excited. Until I got one. They just were not up to the old standard. When marbles started making tang sights again they were arguably a bit more repeatable in terms of adjustments, but they also lacked the graceful lines of the originals.

My favorites are the vintage Lyman tang sights with the flip out small aperture, and the locking lever.

As I have gotten older tang sights have become a must have item on a lever gun, at least if I want to maximize their accuracy potential. That’s important to me as the pre-64 winchesters are accurate. I’ve owned five in .30-30/.30 WCF and still own four of them. All five have been capable of 5 shot 100 yard groups of 1.25 to 1.5 MOA, when a tang sight is installed.

My 1926 26” rifle pattern Model 94 has the above pictured Lyman 1A DA tang sight on it. With the 26” barrel it provides a 32” sight radius and allows for excellent accuracy.

At 50 yards on a no wind day, it shoots around 1.25 MOA and yesterday at 50 yards produced this .628” group:

This afternoon with a gusty crosswind from the right it produced this 5 shot group at 100 yards:

I also shot some groups at 190 yards once the wind settled down a bit including this one:

In short, it’s a great sight for a vintage Winchester rifle that will still shoot great by lever gun standards.

vonn · May 21, 2021

Very nice show and tell. Tang or peep sights are my favorite iron sights.

Rpg · May 21, 2021

Nowadays few shooters appreciate aperture sights.

weatherby · May 21, 2021

I liked the thread.
I only have one lever action.
It is equipped with a peep sight.
I don't even know what to expect accuracy wise from a lever it has been eye opening thus far.
It also has what I think is a Beech front sight and I think that helps also.

Scharfschuetzer · May 21, 2021

Tang Sights

That's a very nice set up on that Model 94.

While most of my lever guns carry either Lyman or Redfield aperture sights, my Savage 99 in 30/30 caliber has this nice Marbles all steel tang sight.

I also use blade front sights for a military sight picture much like an M14 or and M16, which for me enhances accuracy.

gregintenn · May 21, 2021

A good aperture sight gives up very little to a scope in my opinion. They make a lever rifle much better handling than a scope too.

dwh · May 22, 2021

I wish I would have discovered aperture sights earlier than I did. I’ve made up for lost time though. I have 15/16 lever action and single shots with aperture sights.

2152hq · May 22, 2021

Love the tang 'peep' sights. I have a few Marlin 97's with them, a couple Winchester leveractions, a couple single shots, Savage pump Mod 29 .22 w/a factory fitted tang peep sight and even a 1910 Mannlicher Schoenauer w/a Lyman Bolt Peep.
I have a few early sporter Mauser, Springfield, Remington rifles with factory fitted rear aperture sights. Most are Lyman 48.

ISCS Yoda · May 22, 2021

Oh, yes, aperture or peep sights, you pick the name, are by far my favorites. I don't think I have any good pictures.....

Well, you can kinda sorta make out the Williams peep sight on this Model 94:

iscs-yoda-albums-long-arms-picture16785-pre-usrac-winchester-model-94-30-30-williams-peep-sight.jpg

I have a Smith Enterprises tang sight on my Navy Arms/Rossi Model 92 that was my go to gun for cowboy action shooting. Very accurate!

dsf · May 22, 2021

I have a Remington 81 and Winchester 71 with tang sights. The 81 attaches to the rear of the action and the 71 rides on the bolt. A bit unusual.

I was also disappointed by the new Lyman tang sights. Especially the ones that use a base attaching to the tang with a single screw to which the unit is attached. Neat idea, but on anything with recoil doesn't leave any place to safely put your thumb.

If there are any Garand or M14/M1A fans here, Lyman, Williams, etc shanks thread 7X32. Drilling a sight ladder & threading to accept apertures is easy & inexpensive, makes shooting them a bit easier on the eyes.

Ivan the Butcher · May 22, 2021

In the late 90's I was in a Vintage gun shop (everything pre 1898), in a junk box was a Marble's tang sight That looked similar to the Lyman in the first picture. It wouldn't stay up dur to a broken spring, so they sold it to me for $5! While I was talking to the two owners, I unscrewed the elevation barrel all the way off and got to the coil spring that holds the sight in the upright position. I removed the spring and reversed it (moving the tail 180 degrees), replaced the barrel and it worked fine. They offered to double my money on it! Someone had reassembled it wrong, it always pays to look for things like this.

I bought a used Shiloh Sharp's (Farmington, NY) and It came with MVA Vainer sites (4"), but in the box of accessories was some junk site that wasn't click adjustable, and locked in place by turning the eyepiece. One of the gun nut I know insisted I sell it to him. I said $75, he said OK and tried to put it on a old Remington RB, and twisted it all up. Some people shouldn't be allowed to own tools!

Ivan

Ruger 13 · May 22, 2021

I’m a vintage sight fan too! That Ranch Hand brush guard on the front of the truck is made in the town where I live!

s&wchad · May 22, 2021

Excellent thread!
I love the two Winchester 94 Rifles and the Savage 99H (Barrel Band Carbine) shown.

dsf said:
I have a Remington 81 and Winchester 71 with tang sights. The 81 attaches to the rear of the action and the 71 rides on the bolt. A bit unusual.

Those are great aperture sights, but they're really not tang sights. Manufacturer terminology is pretty straightforward, but it's worth touching on the differences.

Tang sights mount on the upper tang. Marbles, Lyman and King produced some dandy's! Winchester provided one or two drilled and tapped holes for tang sights going back to 1800's. Most tang sights only offer elevation adjustment and windage was accomplished by drifting the front sight (if possible). Manufacturers did produce some Windgauge tang sights that offered windage and elevation adjustments. They can be quite valuable.

Receiver sights can mount on the left, right, top or back of the receiver, depending on the design of the gun. They're more rigid than tang sights and typically offer windage and elevation adjustment, but the sight radius isn't as long. On most of their lever guns, Winchester didn't drill and tap for a receiver sight until after WWII. They eliminated provisions for a tang sight, just before they started drilling and tapping receivers.

Winchester offered the Bolt Peep as an option on the Model 71, on the Model 64 (.219 Zipper) and on the Model 65 (.218 Bee). The bolt peep's had different graduations for these rifles, based on the ballistics. It was a sleek design, but it was expensive to produce. Winchester dropped that option and started drilling receivers, just after WWII.

............

Ivan the Butcher · May 22, 2021

For those that want the Original Design sights for you guns, Montana Vintages Arms produces them today. Original Design, Original Quality, Original Function, but at slightly higher than Original Price!

Ivan

weatherby · May 22, 2021

S&WChad do you own those bottom two rifles ?

If so the hate is strong

Drm50 · May 22, 2021

I’m a firm believer in aperture sights. Tangs are excellent for target shooting. On most Lever action rifles they aren’t the best for running game.
For me the grip you have to use is un natural. I run Lyman 66s on my levers. On a Old JM 1895 the click adjustments come in handy and return to 0 nicely.

tndrfttom · May 22, 2021

BB57 touched on the aesthetics of the new-made Marbles sights. He's right, they are rather clunky looking!

I bought a Marlin 336CB in 38-55 to use in Cowboy side matches. I wanted a tang sight with windage adjustments so the Marbles was the obvious choice. It works well - repeatable adjustments, lots of windage adjustment and well-defined "clicks" but it takes up a lot of room on the tang making it hard to grab the wrist of the stock. I just didn't like the design and so I removed the tang sight and just put on a receiver sight.

s&wchad · May 22, 2021

weatherby said:
S&WChad do you own those bottom two rifles ?

Those were all mine. I owned the Model 65 .218 Bee (bottom) for almost 2 decades, but sold it a couple years ago after a guy in our antique arms club made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Same guy also bought my Remington Model 8 F grade.

I do still have the 71 Deluxe and the other Winchesters shown.

BB57 · May 22, 2021

Ivan the Butcher said:
For those that want the Original Design sights for you guns, Montana Vintages Arms produces them today. Original Design, Original Quality, Original Function, but at slightly higher than Original Price!

Ivan

The original price on that Lyman 1A DA was $4.50. I’m not sure when the sight was made but the Model 53 and 55 were introduced in 1924 so it’s no older than 1924. But the buying power of $4.50 in 1924 was equal to $70.28 in 2021.

I’d buy these sights all day long for $70. As noted MVA sells a new version of the Marbles tang sight for the Model 94 for $225. That’s roughly three times the 1924 price correcting for inflation, but I suspect MVA is operating on a much smaller scale than Lyman was back in the day.

I have the Marbles sight on a couple of my Model 94 carbines and I try to stay with the original period sights on them. But I have one more that needs a tang sight and the MVA version is tempting.

Xfuzz · May 22, 2021

Here is a Winchester 1910 SL that had these Marbles Sights
when I bought it.
The 1910 is a first year production so no clue when the sight were
switched.
Anxious to shoot it.
Thought the front sight was a bit different....

Vintage tang sights

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