Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

The Rossi Model R92, a lightweight carbine for Cowboy Action, hunting, or plinking! Includes Rossi manufactured Interarms, Navy Arms, and Puma trade names.
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medezyner
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Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by medezyner »

I just picked up my 92 in 44 mag with a 16" barrel. I can't believe how light and easy handling this rifle is. Ok, at 4.8 lbs how could it not? Anyway, I haven't had the opportunity to run it, but I can already see (or not see) that the sights aren't going to work for this blind bat! I need this brain pool to help guide me in a good direction. I've got it narrowed down to a Marble Bullseye rear with fiber optic front sight or a micro red dot (maybe Burris III) on a Turnbull barrel mount. Not interested in glass right now. I'm leaning towards the marble bullseye, but I've hunted wth a red dot on a 44 mag revolver and you can't beat them for clarity and field of view. I like that the bullseye will retain the rifles classic looks.
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Re: Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by HarryAlonzo »

Between the two, I'd pick the red dot. I have the NOE rail on my .44, and a Burris Fastfire II is one of the red dot options, although I prefer the tubular red dots on a carbine. The Turnbull is a much more discrete mount than the NOE, if you're willing to commit to a single optic. As far as irons go, my preference is apertures. I have a Marbles tang-mount on the .44.
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Re: Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by Ohio3Wheels »

Don't have a 44 but do have a 45 Colt and a 357. I have a Marble new version tang sight on the 45 currently with the stock front and with my old eyes it's good to 50 yards or so in the woods. The 357 still has the stock sight but when some other projects are expenced it will get one version or the other of the tang sight. I will likely change out the fronts for fiber for quicker pick up in the woods.

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Re: Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by mikld »

I tried the "Bullseye" rear sight on my 44 Puma, but it was not much better than the stock Buckeye sight. I wound up mounting a Williams Receiver sight and a taller front sight on mine. Works pretty good...
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Re: Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by medezyner »

HarryAlonzo wrote:Between the two, I'd pick the red dot. I have the NOE rail on my .44, and a Burris Fastfire II is one of the red dot options, although I prefer the tubular red dots on a carbine. The Turnbull is a much more discrete mount than the NOE, if you're willing to commit to a single optic. As far as irons go, my preference is apertures. I have a Marbles tang-mount on the .44.

Did you find that the NOE rail put the dot too high? The Turnbull seems like it would keep it lower; more like iron sights.
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Re: Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by medezyner »

mikld wrote:I tried the "Bullseye" rear sight on my 44 Puma, but it was not much better than the stock Buckeye sight. I wound up mounting a Williams Receiver sight and a taller front sight on mine. Works pretty good...
From what I've been reading, the bullseye sounds interesting, but not everyone is is thrilled. I guess i need to keep it simple and use what I'm comfortable with. Marbles #95 sporting rear or the folding leaf could be what i should try. Pair it up with a fiber optic front and see how that works. Thanks!
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Re: Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by HarryAlonzo »

medezyner wrote:
Did you find that the NOE rail put the dot too high? The Turnbull seems like it would keep it lower; more like iron sights.
Oh, yeah, it certainly boosts the whole line of sight, to the point where a cheek pad was a must. If you want to stay clean, sparse and traditional, the Turnbull mount looks like the ticket.

You've mentioned that you haven't had a chance to run it. I'd recommend shooting it to find the POI, and that might influence your decision on a front sight height. Maybe install the rear sight of your choice first.
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Re: Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by Ranch Dog »

Has anyone installed the Turnbull FastFire Barrel Mount on a Rossi?
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Re: Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by mr surveyor »

Ranch Dog wrote:Has anyone installed the Turnbull FastFire Barrel Mount on a Rossi?

how much work to fit it into the Rossi dove tail?


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Re: Deer hunting sights for 44 mag

Post by 9x80Drilling »

Uh oh! RD is causing me to spend even more money on my 92!!! Fortunately, that's a good thing. I'm ordering a Turnbull FastFire barrel mount.

Here's the progression of my use of sights, and observations of how my eyes have changed over the years. Hopefully, it may help someone. Keep in mind I'm an avid bird hunter and for years preferred the fluidity of taking my big game animals quickly after seeing them, especially if they were moving.

As a kid in the 50s and early 60s, I used a Savage .22 pump with tang mounted peep. For 20+ years after that my big game rifles were traditionally scoped. I tired of not being able to shoot a deer because I was carrying a shotgun, or to shoot a flushing bird because I was carrying a rifle.

So when I discovered drillings in the late 80s, the answer to that dilemma was apparent. After missing quick, relatively easy shots on both the largest racked mule deer and bull elk I'd ever seen while hunting, I mounted aperture sights on my drillings. This worked for 26 years for the harvest of more than 75 whitetails, muleys, elk, caribou. During the latter part of the first decade of the 2000s I began missing or wounding animals with the peep sighted drillings that heretofore I believe I would have killed cleanly. There was no accuracy issue when target shooting, only when shooting game in the varied conditions of lighting, background, moving vs. standing targets, all those other variables we encounter in the field.

So, I bought a Rossi 92 in .45 Colt. What! A cursed repeater after years and years of using single shot rifles!? Ha ha. The first season ('95) I shot it with a Williams receiver sight and factory front successfully taking an antelope and several whitetails. The next year I'd mounted a NOE rail and had the choice of using a 2x7 Leatherwood scout scope, the receiver sight with fire sight front, or an XS Ghost Ring mounted at the back of the rail. I only fired at game using the scope setup. I missed several gimme whitetails and shot 4 muleys, none of which were clean kills. I rezeroed the scope in the field. When I got home I found that the rail mounting screws were loose, allowing the rail to move about. Rats! Rookie mistake! Fortunately, we recovered all my wounded game. Our dogs helped us with that.

Now I'm ready to try a holographic sight for quick, accurate target acquisition on moving game. I bought the Sightmark Ultrashot Plus first. It's too bulky for my taste; I really appreciate the QD feature and the two colors and 4 choices of apertures. I'm waiting right now for Midway to ship a Burris FastFire III. The Turnbull Barrel Mount rather than the wonderful NOE would yield a more compact unit. So, I guess that's next. "It's only money."
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