I plan to do some deer hunting this coming season using open sights and was wondering what some of you consider your effective range without using a scope.

I'll be hunting some thickly wooded public land where shots may be no more than 20 or 30 yards at best. Some may even be as close as 10-15 yards. When hunting in such close quarters, I feel more comfortable using my more compact 30-30 lever gun with open sights.

Thanks in advance.

With iron sites I'd definitely keep it under a 100. Suggest spending some extra time at the range shooting from a standing position at different distances. Your targets should tell you pretty quickly what your limits are.

Open sight 30/30 i'm good to 100yrds.

That depends.... A few years ago I took a deer sized cardboard box cutout and put it in a field of dead grass at 150 yards and walked back to the vehicle not looking at the target. When I turned around I had trouble seeing it. By resting my lever action on the hood I finally shot about a 6" group.
I think around 70 yards might be a maximum range for a lot of people. That's if you are in a brushy or wooded area. First you need to see some antlers, and with a lot of underbrush some fork horns might look like does. A target range in the wide open is entirely different, very long ranges are shot by the military with open sights. For a while I had a peep sight on a Model94 that was great on the range but in the woods at sundown I couldn't see through the peep, the hole was too small.
Because I had trouble seeing antlers I ended up using Pronghorn 2 1/2X fixed scope for short range (under 100 yards) brush situations. The field of view is pretty wide so you can get on target fast. If my eyes were good enough I'd use open sights, they make for a more compact rifle and are rugged and durable.
The type of open sight makes a difference as well. On a target range I want a very narrow V rear with a wide flat top with square corners. This helps so you don't cant the rifle. For the front I like a hood and thin blade. If I was going to tote the gun around Alaska I'd change to a wider front blade, no hood, with a 45 degree angle in back and a U type rear sight. Faster on target.

I can keep my smoke pole inside a baseball all day at 50 yards. At 100 yards the bead on the blade sight covers the majority of a deer so that is kind rough furthest shot with it was a nice hill country 10pt at about 70-75 yards and it made me nervous but all went well.

Brother just bought a 45-70 lever gun we shot it at about 60 or 70 yards at the ranch resting off a fence post and were able to keep the shots within a softball pretty easily and that was the first time we fired the gun. With a little practice I wouldn't hesitate to push it to 100 yards.

The Marlin that I'll be using has a hooded front sight.

I will be hunting areas along an old road that's thickly wooded on both sides. I've found several heavily used trails and will choose setups back from the road where they should be moving more slowly as they approach it. It will be the type of hunting where the deer will appear quickly if you're not lucky enough to catch the sound of a snapping twig or faint steps on dry leaves. Just a good, quick, and safe aim and fire.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Pretty subjective question in my opinion. I think really on depends on the shooter. But I would assume for someone to even consider it they would probably be pretty a decent shot with them.
If it were me, I would keep it under 75yrds to be on the safe side. I would hit the range and practice with them before I went out though.

In the days before AR I hunted with an open sight rifle many times. Since AR came into effect I need the scope to figure out if the antlers are wide enough...that being said I kept to a 75-100 yards maximum range...

rick

Paint the front bead with lithium paint so that it glows a little in dim light.

The very best open iron sight for game I've ever seen is a Battue Sight used in europe for hunting in the deep woods on running game. It's a longish narrowing ramp V and front blade arrangement, that your eye follows naturally....like looking down the V to the front blade the same way it would look through a open top trough, correcting itself ( your aiming point ) without thinking about it when the sides are uneven with the centering of the front blade. Gun fit & quick mounted snap shot cheek weld is critical too.

I'd put one on a short barreled bolt action any day - doesn't interfere with a scope - or use a bigger "Ghost Ring" & lithium front sight.

I also bought an inexspensive Alpen Kodiak 1.5 x 4.5 Heavy Duplex for this job on Flea Bay as my eyes are not nearly as good as they were anymore that will most likely go on the 308 "rough ground" gun I bought last spring & Zero'd at 100 yards - where the paralax is set for on a CF Rifle scope...and the least expensive Vortex, called a Crossfire II has a lit Red Dot & cross hair option on several scopes too. But a BP/Shotgun scope is usually paralax adjusted for 75 yards.
Ron

Where would I find lithium paint?

With a peep and good light I'm comfortable out to 150 yards. But that drops down to around 50 at dusk. With regular open sights things get fuzzy for my eyes and something like 75 yards is the max.

That Marlin is a good lever action. Very accurate. I use 170's. I started with the Model94 but switched over to the Marlin. The screw that holds the lever in place- you can take that off in 10 seconds and then pull out the bolt- so you can clean the gun from the breech rather than the muzzle. The sights that come standard on that rifle are fine, I wouldn't change a thing if you are hunting in brush/woods. As stated, with a telescopic sight and a bench rest you can get about anyone shooting tight groups. Just put in some practice with the open sights and you'll be fine.

haven't shot mine in 15 years but back in the day I was comfortable to 150 yards. On a new lease this year that is much thicker so out of the case she comes...probably won't even consider anything beyond 100 yds...don't know for sure, need to get to the range and see if my eyes are still good enough to do it....

I had a gunsmith do one of mine long time ago, back when nite sights for handguns were just coming out.
Ron

100 yards in good shooting light.

In decent shooting light I can hit the swinger at the range (6" round plate) consistently from the bench with iron sights. Bag under fore arm and elbow on bench. Blind or sticks I feel comfortable the same way. Honestly though as I age and my eyes are hissing me off the low light kills me.

75 yards with a pretty spicy 45 colt 250gr hardcast. I can not shoot it in low light.

Henry lever action 30/30. Comfortable shooting out to 100 yds

shoot for what you've practiced for and feel comfortable with. I'd think most folks could go 50-70yds with no problem. BUT....if you haven't practiced for that....even that might cause problems.

if you're well practiced...I'd say shoot at whatever distance you are comfortable. the scope doesn't make the bullet perform any better.....only the shooter.

With good eye sight and practice, 100 yards was no problem, but that was a few years ago. you should be good at less than 50 yards, with enough light.

Usually goes something like this