The Joys (and Otherwise) of Aperture Sights

Still Useful After All These Years

- Terry Wieland

It the tender age of 15, cherishing my first high-powered rifle and determined to be prepared for any eventuality that might arise when hunting deer, I found myself at the gun counter in Pilon Marine trying to explain to the salesman that I wanted to order a Williams 5D receiver sight for my spiffy Marlin 336.

The year was 1964, and hunters in my neck of the woods (the rather remote woods that comprises central Ontario, Canada) could be divided into two groups: The Avant Garde who could afford riflescopes, and others whose level of ballistic sophistication was so low that they used the primitive open sights that came on every factory rifle. These, they believed, were good at any range to the limit of their eyesight. For that matter, those who bought scopes and had them mounted in the store assumed that they, too, were sighted in. It’s a wonder anyone ever hit a deer at any range.

There was no way I could afford a scope, but I was a dedicated reader of hunting magazines and they all insisted that a good receiver (aperture) sight was almost the equal of a scope in most circumstances for most hunters, regardless of what the local gun dealer might say. It took some persuasion, but my salesman finally agreed to order one.