Hello, fellow shooters -- I'm new on this site, and I'm hoping someone can teach me a thing or two. I have an 1894CS (.357) which I really like for deer hunting. Don't gasp -- no long shots, I'm patient and in the swampy brushy area where I hunt in Maine I take my deer at bowhunting range, 20 yards or less. I had always used a Bushnell Trophy shotgun scope, set at about 2X. Well, you know how gun people like to tinker around and I got this idea that the little carbine would really look nicer and feel better with a receiver sight. I used a laser to rough sight it in. But when I started shooting (Federal 180 gr Cast Core), I had a hard time getting on the paper, seemed the shots were all heading way to the left. When I finally got zeroed in the aperture was so far to starboard that it really shook my confidence -- never had (or noticed) this problem with the scope, of course, and thought I was a pretty good shot. Okay, it seems to shoot consistantly with this configuration ... but it bothers me. One shooting friend told me not to worry, that's what adjustable sigths are for ... but I'd feel better if I understood this discrepancy ... any ideas?

Is your front sight centered in the dovetail? Too, you can drift the front sight (opposite direction you want to move the point of impact), to help compensate for the awkwardness of the receiver sight being moved all the way to one side, thereby kind of splitting the difference.

Don't let it shake your confidence. If it shoots well, it's just a matter of coordinating the adjustment of both the front and rear sights to make things come into balance.

Let us know how things work out.

God Bless,

Maybe your front sight is off, and shooting with a scope you never noticed. Try see if the front sight moves or wiggles.
You can try moving the front sight to the left somewhat, so as to have the rear more evenly centered.

If you do play with it, try removing the bolt, putting the rifle in a padded vise so you can look down the barrel at a wall or something for reference. Mark the wall. Your iron sights should be close to that same point of aim. At least athwarships, to use the nautical terminology (side to side) and either dead on or a bit lower than your bore sight. About 2" at 50 feet. that should be close enough to start. Thats what your laser sighting device should have done. Either you did something wrong using it or it is not to be trusted.

Good luck. And post if you solved the problem.

The Federal load should kill any deer that needs killing, at quite a bit beyond bow range.

I basically shoot the same thing in a Blackhawk and it has accounted for several deer.

The .357 in a rifle (with the right bullet) is really deadly on deer.....

Torque,

I was at a gunshow a while back and saw a factory Ruger Number One in .458 Win with the rear sight adjusted way to the right. The gunsmith assured me the gun was factory, and it was not too awfully rare to have an iron sight off-set that way in many brands. He had targets with the rifle.....two inches at 100 yards. I love Number One's but didn't have $$$ that day even with the bargain price. :-(

Take your rifle out this summer and jump shoot some groundhogs with it (walk through a meadow, and shoot when you kick up a 'hog at what ever the distance). A great confidence builder, and great practice for deer season. If you can hit a zig-zagging groundhog you'll surely be able to hit a deer at the same range. If there's going to be a problem with the sight, it will surely show up before deer season rolls around again.

Lobo in West Virginia

I'm hoping someone can teach me a thing or two.
I have an 1894CS (.357).... I'd feel better if I understood this discrepancy ... any ideas?

Hi Torque;

I had the exact same problem you are experiencing with an 1894 in 44 Mag. In order to get the rifle to hit on target with a peep sight, I had to move either the front sight or the rear sight way over. (I ended up splitting the difference and moving both the front and rear a good bit off center.)

As I inquired about this problem on the 1894 section of the now-defunct MarlinTalk, quite a few fellows responded. I was told a number of times that Marlin quite often doesn't get the front sight dovetaill cut on the exact center of the barrel. When I examined mine closely, that was indeed the problem.

Although I like just about everything else about this little rifle, it is disappointing that Marlin couldn't get the front dovetail centered.

I ended up just putting a very compact 2.5X scope on mine and I've lived happily ever after.

Take a look at your front sight and I'll bet that this is what you find.

Jerry.

Hey Lobo, I think we might have been at the same gun show. Small world. A hello from Morgantown.

Bill C.

Thanking everybody who responded! Those Federal Cast-Cores are going to run into a little $$$ but as soon as the ground dries up, I'm just going to head down to the pit and shoot through a box or two. It's strange, the front sight really does look centered, and the laser bore-sighter checked out, but as long as I can hit my target at a few selected distances -- hey, who can argue with that? BTW, I just purchased one of those Mobile Rest Portable Shooting Systems -- not quite a shooting bench, but more support than a bipod -- and I can't wait to try it out! Thanks again and a "good shooting" to all.