#IronSights

Tyler Grey spent thirteen years getting told no. No, this won't work. No, sights don't work that way. No, nobody will want them. The fact that Saberdyne Systems launched the NDEX Indexing Sight System just now suggests he stopped asking permission. NDEX is a rear-sight-only system that removes the traditional front sight post entirely, forcing a philosophical reckoning with how pistol shooters have been trained for the better part of seventy years. The mechanism is simple, the implication is not. If front-sight focus is doctrine for precision shooting, what happens when you design sights for stress response instead of range conditions?

This week for Fudd Friday, I need your help. I drew a deer tag for Utah’s “restricted rifle” hunt. The rules are simple: the rifle must be manually operated and only equipped with iron sights. If you were going on a mule deer hunt out west and had to take an irons-only setup, what would you pick? Let’s discuss.

These days, hunting rifles usually sport as clear and crisp optics as a hunter can afford.  The vast majority of hunting rifles now sold either don’t come with iron sights or have no provision for mounting them. For most hunters and hunting situations, a magnified optic provides more precision, a clearer, closer picture of their quarry's vitals, and aids in continued target verification (though initially finding and identifying one’s quarry is always best done with binoculars or a spotting scope).