Just curious what you guys think about a ghost ring sight or a leupold fixed 2.5 on a 458win mag for bear protection and following up a wounded bear. this would be in alder thickets and very brushy, which one would you choose and why?

What sort of ranges are we talking? Anything much over 100m and the scope will win. Right up close, I think I'd want a good set of express sights.
Maybe a Ghost ring, with a hi-viz bead front sight would suit you?

As a Non-Resident, whatever is on the guides rifle would suit me fine, 'cause it won't be me going after that wounded bear!

Cheers, Dave.

I really like a ghost ring sight for quick shots out to 75-100 yards. They are at thier best at 25-50 yards though.

I also really like the scout scope setup. A 2.5x scout scope in quick release mounts and a good set of ghost rings are probably the best setup you can get. I have a 1.5-5x20 in quick release on my 375 H&H with ghost rings. On two of my rifles I have tritium front sights for low light situations. I have a heavy german post on my 45/70 and I think that is the best for really quick shooting. Here are two of my ghost ring and scoped rifles, I don't have picts of the 375 right now.

The top one is a p17 Enfeild chambered in 9.3x62 with 2.5x leupold scout with duplex reticle. Original battle rear sight drilled out to a ghost ring with a gold bead front sight. Kevlar stock and hard crome finish. 286gr partition @ 2400fps.

the bottom one is a marlin guide gun with spray on bedliner stock finish and a few wild west guns aftermarket parts, lever loop, bear proof ejector, magazine tube cap, ghost rings with tritium front sight, light mount and surfire 9p flash light, with 2.5x leupold scout scope with heavy german post. 405gr Kodiak bonded bullet @ 1925fps.




In a bear protection situation shots will most likely be under 50 yards and I think the ghost rings really rule at these ranges. I normally keep the scope off my rifles when expecting quick close shots, like tracking wounded game. I keep the scope in my pack most of the time or leave it in the truck if carrying my guide gun while fishing.

I know that a 2X is ok. A 3X is marganal. I used a 4X and you had to have right on the bear
at 20 yds. I would guess that how far away you are is what makes a difference.

quote:

Originally posted by grizzinater:
Just curious what you guys think about a ghost ring sight or a leupold fixed 2.5 on a 458win mag for bear protection and following up a wounded bear. this would be in alder thickets and very brushy, which one would you choose and why?

If your 458 is a Winchester or can be modified to a M70 pattern; why not use the Brockman/Talley QD base/rings with the pop-up peep. combine this with the Brockman tritium post front sight.

You could use the scope for longer precision shots and for low-light shooting. You can use the ghost peep/tritium post for any follow-ups.

I'm not the biggest fan of scout scopes. I have a couple of such rigs and have found that they are subject to much stray light in low-light shooting situations limiting their usefulness. I much prefer a standard reciever mount for precision distance or low-light scoping and ghost ring or express sights for close quarter follow-ups.

Gary

TheBear_78
Nice looking guns. The flashlight on the 45/70 is a great idea. Both of those guns look really slick.
Hard chrome is a good finish but I would probably paint the guns to cover the shine.

How have the Noslers performed on bear out of the 9,3x62?

Grizzinater

I think I would opt for the 1x4 Leupold. The FOV at 1X is over 70 feet. I ordinarily would not even consider open sights but I see by your location you are in SE AK and knowing how it rains there you might be better served on a nasty follow up with a ghost ring and a fiber optic front sight.

Mark

grizzinater, just my opinion. All in all if you should make that a bear rifle for up close alder country shooting I know a scope can work and the same for peep sight of any make but I would strongly opt for Express sights that are ranged for 25 yds dead on and at 100yds. Scopes have their advantages and quite on the other hand a disadvantage. Go with quick release and express.
Some /terrain here are impenetratable when you walk and surely with a scope it is a hazard and you can say the same for peeps. Hard to sort out anything with a peep in close quarters. my .02

Griz-

I would agree with you on a standard sized peep, but the ghost rings are much easier to sight with. I am a lot faster and more accurate with ghost rings as opposed to open sights, you just look at the front sight and animal and the rear will take care of itself.

NE450
I haven't shot a bear with the 9.3 yet but it did a great job on moose this year. I took a moose at 270 yards with it. I imagine it would work equally as well on bear. Another great thing about the flashlight is that the center of the light is just about poi so it makes aiming in the dark a snap.

I have the brockmans pop up peep on my 375 H&H and really like it. That is a every well designed sight. I have a 1.5-5 leupold lighted VXIII on it and am having it worked on right now. It is getting ultralighted, going for a loaded weight of 7.5-8lbs. Had it chopped to 20".

I have shot a 383lb black bear, several deer and wild pigs, kudu, and a waterbuck with my 9,3x74R double rifle. i have used both the Woodleigh 286 Soft and the nosler Partition with excellent results. I really like the ballistics of the 9,3x74/62 [very similar].
Your enfield looks pretty slick.
I am also a big fan of the 45/70, still have my No1, sold my Marlin to my nephew, but my brother has a Marlin Guide Gun that shoots like a target rifle.
I use a Blaser Tracker [19 3/4" bbl] for my close cover bad weather rifle.

When I built my 458 I started out with iron sights and tried both open V and ghost ring for speed and accuracy. the v was slightly faster at very close range but the peep better at any distance past twenty-five yards. After having two wounded bears get into the brush just as it got dark because i couldn't see well enough to see to shoot I tried a 2 1/2 Leupold compact and have never looked back. At spitting distances I can look over the scope and point shoot as fast as any iron sight and at any other distance the scope wins hands down. I even did another speed test and the fastest of all was a 1x on the 1-4x Leupold but the little 2 1/2 x was not much slower and more accurate.
Twenty years and a lot of big bears later I haven't changed my mind.

I agree with 458. Scope is faster once you have it set up correctly, i.e. eye relief. Single plane sighting is faster than trying to line up front and back. As we get older our eye sights tend to degrade especially in low light conditions. As a matter of fact the world militaries are pretty much switching over to optical sights as they are proving themselves more reliable.