I know alot of people use quick release mounts so they can use their irons. How often does one really do this. Just curious how often this happens..

The "Gogher special" was born out of the very same question.....Gogher special was the result of Gopher shooters supply of Faribault Minnesota getting winchester to produce M-70 featherweights with bare barrels. I got caught up in the craze because it made sense.....why pay for irons when you wanted a scoped rifle.....and it's still going strong today.

In answer to your question....only once in my 40+ years of hunting did I need a backup....my scope went bad due to a fall against a rock and I was fortunate enough to have a spare scope and resighted to gun.

Here's the better answer: It only needs to happen once while you're in the mountains on a horse and there's nothing within miles as a backup. Having that set of irons keeps you hunting where without them .....you're done.

Today, all my rifles have irons again.

On my recent trip to Tanzania when TSA opened my gun case to inspect it they would not let me close the case, they had to. As a result the elevation adjustment cap on my Swaro scope made the trip snug aganist the hinge of my case. The result was the cap was jammed down on the threads so it was jammed/stripped. No way to really get it off without cutting or hammering the cap. Thank God the scope did not lose zero as a result of the beating it took so I didn't have to remove the cap in Tanzania. But I still had the option of open sights if the scope would have been off and no way to get the cap off to adjust the elevation. So I guess I almost needed backup sights...............JJ

I've never needed the iron sights on any of my rifles in over 25 years of shooting and hunting.

George
P.S. I don't even sight them in in most cases.

I've never needed the irons on any of my scoped rifles. I like the quick release mounts so I can easily carry a spare scope, but I've never needed that either.

quote:

Originally posted by grizzinater:
I know alot of people use quick release mounts so they can use their irons. How often does one really do this. Just curious how often this happens..

I'm the exact opposite. All of my rifles are iron sighted, but I like the option of using a scope on occasion.

Gary

Another advantage of a scope in QD mounts is that you primary and spare scope can travel in your carry on. I use QD mounts if possible even on rifles that do not have iron sights.

You can hunt for 100 years and not need to use anyhting but a scope if you don't hunt a lot in that 100 years!!

I would not own a DGR without irons...end of story and its paid off big time on buffalo...when I go in the bush after a wounded bull, I want only irons...

In fact I pretty much operate on the opposite approach than most..I use irons and carry my scope for emergencies like a Kudu at 300 yards or so while hunting buffalo or whatever...and I just as soon have a good peep sight as a scope for hunting DG in Africa...I will add that my QD scope bases are hand lapped and fitted to a surface ground receiver to insure return to zero...

These iron sights have worked great for me. It is set up as a ghostring, very fast to use.


Hog Killer

I use my iron sights frequently in Africa. All my DGR's wear quick release rings. My typical MO is to take the initial shot with the scope on low power (1.75X). If the animal doesn't fall within sight and runs off into some thick stuff, I immediately remove the scope and stuff it into my pocket or hand it to someone. From that point on I'm using open sights.

Geronimo

I stepped off a rock one time and banged my scope lense on a sharp pointy rock that was next to the one I stepped off of and shattetred the rear lense.

Irons came in pretty handy that day. I've seen more than one scope get mangled on horses, four wheelers, in bush planes during falls etc.

If you've never busted a scope you just aren't hunting very hard or you're seriously lucky. One or the other.