Most sporter rifles these days are made without iron sights since just about every hunter uses a scope.  Time was, iron sights were the norm and scopes unusual.  When this changed, gun companies saw an excuse to reduce costs and removed iron sights from their products.  This made some sense from the customer’s view point because most scopes are installed with rings intended to remain on the rifle, so they couldn’t use the iron sights even if they wanted.  Now, though, quick-detachable scope mounts are both available and affordable.

You should give serious consideration to installing iron backup sights on your scoped hunting rifles.  Tactical rifles have them, so why not all your guns?  It just makes sense.  While modern scopes are tough and reliable, they can, and do, break.  Imagine your angst if your hunting rifle’s scope took a hard knock while in a remote area and lost its zero–permanently.  Your hunt would grind to an abrupt halt.  So much time and money down the drain.

Now, imagine such an event, but rather than pack up and go home, you just popped the damaged optic off the gun and went about your business with the bomb-proof iron sights.  You’d have a smile on your face, and in all likelihood, meat in the freezer.

There are many iron sight types on the market, most made for AR rifles, and receiver sights for conventional guns.  Trouble is, those types do not interface well with a scoped sporter rifle.  There is one iron sight, however, which will work on any conventional rifle–express sights.  These have a rear leaf sight mounted on an island which secures to the barrel and a front sight attached to a barrel band.  You can install these yourself, although this project requires some basic machine tools many well-equipped home shops have.

Here’s a video from Midway USA which teaches you how to install express sights on a bare barrel.  Once you’ve completed the project, you’ll feel confident you can take your hunting rifle anywhere and come out on top.

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