It's a long story, but bear with me:  I have heard and read the many reports that the 30-40 cartridge is highly accurate.  Unfortunately, my model 1898 has a rough bore, plus my eyes have reached the age where I really cannot focus on the tiny slot in the rear sight and the narrow blade of the front sight.  When I shoot my 1898, I feel good just getting all the shots on the paper at 100 yards.  So I set out to explore other options for the 30-40 cartridge, and I ended up a few months ago buying a modern Browning made-in-Japan copy of a Winchester model 1895 lever action in cal. 30-40.  It is a very nice rifle with a very smooth action, but because it has top ejection, a standard scope mount cannot be installed.  When I shoot it with the buckhorn sight that is standard on the Brown/Win model 1895, I still cannot shoot very well due to my limited eye focus.  I asked a gunsmith about installing a pistol scope on the barrel forward of the ejection port. He would have to custom build a mount, and he said it would cost $400 to do that and install it, not including the cost of a scope.  Darn, I wanted to shoot this rifle to its, and my, full potential; but I feel like I am wasting its potential with the buckhorn site.  Even installing a peep sight on the side of the receiver would require custom work and would be expensive.  Any thoughts out there about how to proceed?  I am asking the question in this forum, because very few other shooters appreciate the 30-40 cartridge.

cjwils:  I have 20/20 distant vision but require 2x readers for close vision.  I have resorted to using impact resistant 1x and 1&1/2x readers as shooting glasses.  These allow me to see iron pistol and open rifle sights in sharp focus.  Pistol Bullseyes and Rifle Bullseyes may appear fuzzy and out-of-focus but the sights are clear.  Alignment of the front and rear sight is much more important than slight mistakes in aiming at a fuzzy bullseye.  Experiment and give this a try.

If I might be so bold as to add... if you have a 1902 rear sight, it will have a flip-up peep on the rear of the sight.  Try using the peep.  It may make it easier to focus the sights by forcing the point of focus.  Otherwise, I agree with using a long eye relief pistol scope mounted at the rear sight location.  Let us know how things turn out!

Paul

Another peep sight option is to install one of the "No Drill" Pacific or Redfield target sights. These were very nice sights. You still find them occasionally on ebay or gunbroker. I paid about $100 for mine 5-6 years ago. The only modification to the rifle is removal of the cutoff. Make sure the sight you purchase comes with the longer side plat screw. If it doesn't you will have a hard time finding such a screw or will have to have one made.