Back to the scope

[8lbbass]

Have been trying both the factory iron sights and a NECG receiver & partridge sight on my 527 1-12 twist,   223 for a while.  For looks, IMO and handling I like them a lot but for me the iron sights make it a 100 yard rifle and the ground squirrels have better than a sporting chance.  I've had fun trying the iron sights but I over estimated my potential with them.

[david s]

I have a couple of lever action gopher rifles. When the grass gets to tall and in some areas I basically only see gophers up on rocks I use the two lever guns. My Browning 65 in 218 Bee has a Marbles tang peep but my Winchester 92 in 25-20 just has the factory open sights. With both rifles the front sight pretty much covers the whole gopher at about 80 yards. Both rifles are accurate enough to make farther hits but when you totally cover the target it makes hits tough. I like open sights a lot but they do have limitations. An awful lot of the buffalo hunters put scopes on there Sharps or Remington single shots for this reason. I use a fair number of 223's, all are scoped in one form or another from a 1-4X on a CZ Full Stock up to various 6.5-20X scopes on others. Maybe you should consider something like the Warne QD rings, open sights when you want and the instant option of a scoped setup. My CZ Carbine in 7.62X39 has a NECG's brass blade front that still need's to be filed for height but also wears a 1.5-5X in Warnes QD rings. This works out well for me. When ever i settle on a proper load for this rifle I'll file the front sight for a 150 yard zero and call it good. Gophers at 80 yards off hand have more than a sporting chance when I'm shooting.