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If a sight-leaf is marked with a particular distance, you can be sure it was test-fired at that distance and the sights carefully filed-in to place the bullet on the mark.

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The early hunting literature is rich with tales of satisfying shots made with open-sighted doubles and stalking rifles, both in the highlands and the far-flung out-posts of Empire, and they are no less accurate today than during the hey-day of British gun-making a century ago. For some reason, the shallow-vee express sights, and British doubles generally, are often accused of mediocre accuracy at best, when nothing could be further from the truth. Admittedly some specimens have suffered greatly from the ravages of time and ignorance, but the majority of surviving examples have been well cared-for and are capable of delivering 'every satisfaction' as far as hunting accuracy is concerned.

In practice, I rarely deploy the flip-up sight-leaves on sporting rifles, as they are so infrequently required in the hunting field. Nevertheless, it is reassuring to know that when a long shot is called for, these marvelous rifles from a bygone era are still capable of holding their own in any company!

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It would be interesting too test out the 100 yards and 200 yards leaves on the express sights of my Jeffery .450 No.2 NE. I want to work out or retest regulation loads for it. Possibly using a different powder. Might be a good time to try out longer range leaves.

But do you really believe the 300, 400, and 500 yard leaves were actually test shot and filed? I've thought of them as a marketing gimmmmick.



At 500 yards I'd need a big target.

100 to 250 yards would be more sensible.

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This is more than can be said for the open sights on most modern sporting arms, the vast majority of which will be scoped before leaving the retailer's premises.

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