Best way to protect match sights

[Viperdoc]

I am trying to learn a little about match rifle shooting, so I now have my sights mounted. However, they seem really fragile- do most shooters leave the sight on the rifle in the case, or put them on and off? A good sight might not change zero, but seems like a lot of wear and tear.

How about the front sight?

 

[nfhjr62]

Are they service rifle or NRA match sights, if service rifle sight covers can be had from many places, if match i personaily remove them.

 

[memilanuk]

Some of them, like the RPA ladder front sight, you do need to pull off as they are made from a fairly soft metal and can bend if you bump the cased rifle against something. The good thing is that they (usually) bend back fairly easily if you are careful... DAMHIKT!!!

HP shooters tend to be more paranoid, from what I can tell, about taking sights off the gun than say, small bore shooters. You certainly need to experiment a little and find how repeatable your setup is i.e. if you take the sights off and put them back on and crank on your 800yd elevation... is it within your normal call, or is it off?

If you find you can remove and replace your sights reliably, a small Pelican case (Sinclair Int'l carries them, among others) with the foam padding makes a nearly ideal container for your sights and all the little 'accessories' like wrenches, extra hoods, filters, etc. if you're inclined to use such things.

 

[navyrad8r]

+1 on what memilanuk said.
These sights are expensive! i spent $1k last year at perry and bought a right site for the front and a PNW for the rear. i was carrying around them in the "trash" bag that was from the sale and while recovering from the pain (still traumatized by the way) my buddy said you need to get a case. i was stretched and financially hemorrhaging already and another $85 for the pelican case from Sinclair was the perfect fit. It holds all the other silly crap you need as well. just make sure the case you choose actually fits your stuff. The right sight would not fit in the $65 case (of course). As far as repeatability, the higher end sights will be fine, just take care of them. Be careful putting them on and off watch for cross threading and don't force things to line up. If they don't just "line up" you may have forgotten something!
Mid Thompkins told me that i bought Pretty Near Warner (PNW) and that they will be just fine if i take care of them. I just could not afford the Warners. Good luck to you and shoot well!
cheers,
Doc

 

[Viperdoc]

Thanks for the advice. Even in a well padded soft case, the sights looked pretty vulnerable. My temporary solution is a Lapua blue box with some foam inside, with the sights inside an old cell phone padded case.

Now I just have to figure out how to shoot!

 

[memilanuk]

Another option might be to shop around mil-surplus stores and/or sites... as an example, a friend of mine with 'connections' gave me a small hard case originally designed for stowing some sort of night-vision apparatus. Slightly bigger and heavier than the Pelican cases described, i.e. built like a brick out-house Take a wild guess on what I store in it now ;D

 

[DaveWhite]

+2 on the Pelican boxes. In one box I have a Warner rear, Sam Gates rear, anschutz front and rear, RPA ladder front, Riles front, and three Ghemann adjustable rear apperatures and polarizers. God forbid I should ever set this down and walk away from it, which is why I bought one in YELLOW!

MTM is now making some much less expensive boxes along the same line, not perhaps as robust as the Pelican boxes