I have a couple of Buffalo Classics which I enjoy shooting a great deal. I love them for targets, but I have never been too fond of the sighting arrangement for hunting purposes. I have tried a scope on one of them, but to me it didn't look or feel right...I have lots of scoped hunting rifles...the BC's cry out for iron sights. I now have Williams Foolproof apertures on both guns, equipped with target knobs. It's the front sights that have been bothering me. The simple post inserts are the best for hunting, at least for my eyes, but they still left a lot to be desired.
Then, at a local gun show a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon the perfect answer. I found a front sight called a Dockendorfer. At a glance, it appears to be a standard globe front sight, and mounts in the dovetail cutout the same way. However, instead of interchangeable inserts, it has a crosshair made of fine gold- or brass-coloured wire. This is permanently installed in the middle of the sight, and at a slight forward-leaning angle so that the top of the "reticle" is slightly closer to the muzzle than the bottom. Finally, the top of the bodytube of the sight has a large cutout window, complete with a sliding metal cover that can open or close to allow varying amounts of light in to illuminate the crosshair. When the window is open, the angled crosshair catches the light and shows up extremely well against a black target or other dark background like a deer in shadows. Close the window, and now the crosshair appears black and gives excellent contrast in bright lighting conditions. No tools are required, it's a simple friction adjustment, loose enough to easily do with your fingers, tight enough that recoil will not change the adjustment.
I've been playing with it for a couple of days now and I am in love. It might be no better than a standard globe for most target shooting, maybe even not as good for longer range on smallish targets. But for hunting it is perfect. The fine wire crosshairs, combined with the long sight radius on the BC, allow you to quarter a target the size of the heart-lung zone on a deer with ease and precision at far greater ranges than I would ever shoot at a deer. This little gizmo is well worth picking up if you come across one. I think it would also be great on an aperture-equipped .22 for hunting or target.
If I have just "discovered" something that everyone else already knows about...my apologies.
