March 9, 2025

Montana Vintage Arms sights for the 45-70

They make a nice variety of "tang" sights and other sorts of sights for vintage firearms (like 45-70 rifles of different sorts).
Their sights are well regarded.

Their catalog answers many questions that the website does not.

What about a front sight? I'll just use the existing Marlin sight until I am convinced that something else will be a big help.

What is the difference between the 100 and 103? Windage adjustment. You get 44 MOA on the 100, 88 on the Buffalo.
(406) 388-4027 ext 1151 for sights -- they are in Belgrade, Montana

I placed an order for the 103. A person might make different choices if they were going to be carrying this in the field for hunting. Saving some money could lead to other choices.

It is common to remove the sight while transporting the rifle. I screwdriver will do the job, although they do sell a dedicated tool for this purpose.

For one of their sights, the claim that it is "ideal for BPCR silhouette". "What is BPCR?" you might ask. It is "black powder cartridge rifle" and is a shooting sport that involves shooting black powder rifles at animal silhouettes cut from steel plates.

For less money (and less quality) people mention "Marbles" sights (see Midway) as well as Taylor's and company.

Old notes on the 45-70 and Montana Vintage Arms sights

I started thinking about this when I looked at the MVA Soule sight, which they say offers 289 MOA. But of course that depends on the barrel length (rear to front sight distance). They say this sight is 4.93 tall. My Marlin 1895 has a 25 inch barrel, so figure 4 inches over 25 inches. That is 9 degrees or 540 MOA -- so I don't understand their claim of 289 MOA.

Note that their Soule long range $513 and sharps long range $395 give the same elevation MOA. The important difference is the Soule has windage adjustment.

In closing, note that 1 mile is 1760 yards. They now sell an XLR sight that is 6.18 tall and gives 414 MOA.

Mounting it

You use the screw on your rifle for the rear screw on the sight. You have to drill and tap the hole (10-32) for the front screw.

Here is a video where a guy puts one on his Sharps:

Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Computer Info / [email protected]