My Highland Stalker has a bolt peep and I can shoot it really well out to 100 which is as far as I would care to shoot. On our lease, I enjoy removing the scope sometimes and using the irons on deer and pigs. When I remove the scope, I put it in my coat pocket, vest pocket or day pack, depending on what I am wearing.
I used to hunt my buddies lease and there was a huge area that nobody liked to hunt. It was a great spot and stalk area. I spotted a beautiful old 9 point one cold. sunny afternoon lying down by the creek about 300 yards away. I could see his antlers when he raised his head in the tall weeds. He would look everywhere but my direction and the wind was in my face. The stalk was on. At about 50 yards, thinking this is too good to be true, I removed the scope from the Highland Stalker and set the bolt peep. I began creeping slowly forward until there was less than 20 yards between him and me. As I took a knee and waited, I am thinking, is he as deaf as me or am I just a fat ninja?
What seemed like an eternity, I waited for him to get up. Finally, he slowly rose and I dropped him where he stood. A big, old Texoma niner. The stalk and using the bolt peep sight made him more special.
I said I never "had" to remove my scope and use the irons but I do have a disclaimer. This past deer season, Mama went with me one afternoon and she brought her London Best 275 that also has a bolt peep. When her gun bearer (me) put the rifle on his shoulder the sling came unattached and it fell to the ground. Neither of us saw how it hit but nothing appeared damaged. We decided not to risk it. Fortunately, there was another rifle in the truck but I could have easily removed the scope in its H&H QD mount and used the irons.
I could not understand what happened for the sling to come loose like that. I went to the range the next day to check her scope. It missed the 8" x 10" target at 100 yards. It has a Swarovski Z3. While on the range, I started checking out the NECG sling swivels. Giving it a slight twist with minimal force, the sling swivel popped open. So the slight twist while putting the rifle on my shoulder was all it took. I repeated this several times on both the NECG swivels on her rifle as well as others that had those swivels. Same issue. Swapped them all out for locking swivels. On the Z3 scope, it was roughly a foot high and a foot to the left. It adjusted back to zero easily but to restore confidence after the fall, I "shot the square" around the target to make sure it was still adjusting properly.
Safe shooting
