XS vs. Skinner

[Minnow]

Hello all:

I just received a brand new 1894 in .44mag/special as a gift from my father & mother. I am looking for an aperture sight and have reviewed both. I however have used neither. I have a 50.00 gift card plus 20 off a 100.00 purchase from Cabela's, so I figure I can get the XS's for essentially 30.00. On the other hand the Skinner sight looks appealing. What way should I go?

[Jacko]

The beauty of whole range of Skinner sights is their rugged simplicity and value for money . You have the option of interchangable apertures that to my knoweledge the Ghostrings do not and they cost a lot more money .

I have Skinner's dovetail mounted peep sight and brass front blade on my Marlin 782 .22 magnum in preferance to a scope and Skinner front blades on my Marlin 1894 .44 mag and my Rossi .357 , cant fault em .

I did fit a Williams Foolproof to my 1894 that I equipped with a set of target knobs but with the benefit of hindsight would have been just as well served with a Skinner 1894 sight for a lot less money as I failed to take into account the Williams has a lock screw just like the Skinner which renders the easy adjustability of the Williams Target knobs a mute point .

I did have a rear dovetail mounted Skinner peep on my Rossi but swapped it out for a Tang sight for the much longer sighting radius and fashionably "classic look" . I really liked the Skinner on the Rossi model 92 but the Tang sight has been a revalation .

Go with the Skinners , set them and forget them , great sights and great service . Invest the gift vouchers into some ammo or reloading gear perhaps

regards Jacko

[Rangr44]

Either top-mounted receiver peep, the XS or the Skinner, will also require that the front sight blade be replaced with a higher one (approx .100" higher than issue) to be able to zero your rifle, since those peeps are above the issue barrel sight's line-of-sight - and if not replaced will shoot too high with the peep adjusted all the way down.

It's an excellent time to change the front sight type to another that you may like better than the issue front (YMMV) - like a Gold Bead, an Ivory Bead, or a Fibre-Optic Bead.
Replacement front bead sights are available in both a small/fine (1/16") diameter and a larger/coarse (3/32") diameter, in all the mentioned materials, from Lyman/Marbles/Williams.

If you change your own front sight, just don't bang it out, w/o first supporting any ramp/base - at the peril of shearing off the ramp screws.

Also, don't forget to order (or make) a dovetail slot filler blank, for when the rear barrel sight is removed to give a clean sight picture.

The XS can be ordered with it's ghost ring aperture threaded for insert apertures, that install just like any other peep sight - which many folks find better for hunting if removed and used like a ghost ring anyway.
The small apertures are better for zeroing and/or target shooting - but they are much slower to acquire in a rapidly-developing hunting situation.

Both of those sights are a "set & forget" type, since they're not set up for EZ or constant sight adjustment changes, as would be needed for some shooting games, like silly-wet.

The Skinner receiver peep is available in either brass or blued steel for the same $$, depending on your druthers - and Dr.Tim will work with any customer to ensure they get exactly what they want ( he has a contact section on the Skinner website, which he keeps a sharp eye on).
I have had several transactions with Dr.Tim, and he is great to deal with.

Dr. Skinner will also make an appropriately-sized, new/higher front sight blade, too - just ask (they're on the website too)

If you decide to buy the XS @ Cabela's, and can't get the threaded ghost ring through them, XS' Customer Service will most likely let you swap out the ghost ring stem for a threaded one - or simply send you a threaded stem as they did for me.

To be at it's fullest/best effectiveness, a peep sight should be as close to the eye as possible, why a receiver-mounted peep is better than a barrel-mounted peep - although many like them for their novelty and ease of install (like being able to use the issue front sight).

.

[Minnow]

Thanks for the quick responses. The XS system has a .230" ghost ring and comes with a .191" aperture also. The Skinner ghost ring is .200" and comes standard with .096" aperture, but other sizes are available. I'm not sure which companies aperture size makes more sense when it comes to sighting in and hog/deer hunting.

The thing that I like about the XS system is the front sight with the "stripe", and the fact that I will not have to file on the XS front sight in order to get the correct height . It seems like it would be easier to sight a hog at night than the black post or white/gold bead sights. The price difference is about $15.00 more for the XS vs. the Skinner "set".

[jmm1245]

I have that same gun and I put the XS sights on it. In fairness, I havn't used the Skinner sights but a lot of people on GBO have and I've never once heard anything bad about them. I went thru the same question you are dealing with now and bought the XS system because Midway USA had them on sale. It took a few rounds to zero the gun but after that, I love sights. The purpose of these sights is to quickly put the front post on what you want to hit. If you use them correctly, you shouldn't see the rear ring at all. That being said- pick the one that works for you, you can't go wrong.


Joe

[Minnow]

Thanks gentleman!

I ended up picking up the XS set and got them installed just before Christmas. The machine work on these sights is very nice. The install and instructions were very easy to understand and The sight picture is great. I put on a spare GI "Silent" sling that I had laying around. I'm tickled with this rifle and can tell it will be one of my favorite rifles to shoot.