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Aperture or buckhorn

5K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  coaltrain 
Afternoon Ron,

I just picked up my first Henry, a H001TM model chambered in 22 mag. I have the same question that you have raised. I plan to use the buckhorns that came on the rifle for awhile but I just ordered one of the Skinner peeps that replaces the barrel mounted sight.

I'll post my impressions back here once Iv'e had a chance to compare the two. I picked up two additional apertures as well, one size smaller than the standard and one size larger than the standard aperture size that Skinner uses. We'll see.

Best of luck with your rifle.

John
 
Evening Ron,

The barrel mount Skinner came today for my Henry. Took about 5 minutes to install and the dovetail on the sight fit snugly but pressed in smoothly with no filing required. It is locked in place with a small set screw.

I fired about 10 rounds to make sure I had the windage dead on and got the elevation adjusted well enough to consistently hit a 4" steel gong at 50yds offhand.

Tomorrow, I plan to set up some paper targets and dial it in some more. So far I like the sight but I was shooting in bright sun today. Tomorrow, I'll take things out in the woods and set up where there is mostly shade and see how it works for my eyes in those conditions.

Here are a few photos of the new sight on the rifle.







The two holes in the top of the barrel were under the factory buckhorn sight. I have a pair of filler screws ordered to fill them but I also plan to contact Skinner to see if one of his Henry Octagon sights will fit this rifle. I wasn't sure from his web site. That sight uses those two holes to mount a different peep just ahead of the receiver. It would add about 2 - 2.5 inches to the sight radius. Not sure that makes a whole lot of difference but I want to explore the option anyway.
 
Good morning Ron,

Well I put the paper targets up at 25yds and made some adjustments to elevation until I was shooting sub 1" groups off the bench. The I moved the target out to 50 yards and fired several 5 shot groups. With my old eyes I was only able to shoot 1.5 - 2" grups at that range but It was a lot of fun. I believe the rifle will shoot much better but with the front bead size against the black target background I couldn't do any better. I really don't want to put a scope on this rifle...It's so nice to tote around in the woods as it is..

More on my current setup. I have the Marbles brass beaded front sight blade that Henry ships the rifles with. At 50 yards this covers a 3" target circle. I tried several different sizes of aperture from .70 thru .125" and also with no aperture installed. The Skinner site indicates that the barrel mount peep comes with the .125" aperture and that is the smallest that is practical with the forward mounted sight. I agree. With the .70" aperture installed it was difficult to impossible to get a good sight picture. I found the .125" to be pretty good in the sunny conditions in my back field but too dark for my eyes in the shaded areas in the woods. I pulled out the aperture in the shaded areas and was able to quickly acquire my targets using just the peep stem like a ghost ring.

I'm going to pick up one of Skinners front 3/8" wide Patridge sights in the same height (.450" )as the current Marbles front sight and see how I like that next. On my octagon barrel the front sight just fits in a dovetail cut in the top of the barrel.

For my experimenting I have been using the Federal 50gr loads, #757 . These are 22 WMR . I know your rifle is chambered for 22 LR. These Game-Shok rounds are not as flat shooting as some of the other 22 WMR ammo I have but I like the round for my purposes.

Looking forward to hearing more about how you like your rifle and what you have decided to do with respect to a peep.

Regards, John
 
Thanks North Country Gal,

The stock set of sights that came on the Henry I got was a Marbles, adjustable rear full buckhorn sight with a white diamond and brass beaded front sight blade. It was not bad but I wanted to experiment a bit ....Skinner also offers a receiver mounted peep for the Henry rimfires but it's likely that one would need to play around with a different front sight height than the stock front sight. I didn't want to bother with that exercise. I've done it before with my Marlin 39AS and it's not hard to do, but for now, I'm not going there.

John
 
Thanks for the good info BFPGW.

I have one of the Skinner Patridge front sights on order now and just got word it has shipped. I believe that blade is .070" thick but I need to go review his site info. I'm having fun experimenting around with different options and will take your advice regarding trying out switching from 12 o'clock hold to a 6 o'clock hold while I'm at it.

Now if I could just find a few more boxes of 22 WMR :biggrin:

John
 
Still having a bit of fun experimenting with different rear sights on my Henry. The latest is a Marbles and I like it so far. I replaced the original Marbles brass beaded front sight with a Skinner Patridge blade of the same height.



I find this latest rear sight easy to use. Targeting is fast, field of view is very good for me and it works well with the Skinner Patridge front sight. I'm able to hit my steel spinners and pop up targets at 50 and 75 yards with regularity.

The sight picture I get with my eyes/glasses is interesting. The front sight is crystal clear on the target and the rear inner ring appears as a light grayish (fuzzy) ring with the front blade centered in it. The heavier outer ring seems to help drive my eyes to the center and is open enough to give good view of the area immediately around the target. I've never used a rear setup like this and it is growing on me.

I also have a Marbles front sight with the red fiber optics bead in it to try out but I am truly enjoying the current combo and will shoot that for a while longer.

I'm just having some fun trying out different combos to see what I like best!

The Henry has functioned perfectly so far with a bit over 300 rounds fired so far.

Hope everyone has a chance to get out and enjoy some plinking with friends and family.

John
 
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