I'm not really a fan of scopes. Too hard for me to find the target. I have one on my deer rifle though.

Anyways.... I'd like to replace or modify my iron sights. On my muzzle loader I removed the fiber optic thing in the front sight and filed down the body it to make it thinner and adjusted the rear sight accordingly. I'm finding that most sights are too large and cover too much of the target. I also plan on moving the rear sight further back to where the scope mounting holes are.

Anyone modify their sights or have good replacements?

I run a Williams micro peep sight with a larger apature. Also throw a fine Williams fiber optic front sight on my 30-30s

My uncle passed away and I ended up with an NRA Savage 19, with the front sights gone and the odd globe targets sights. No one had anything in reason, and others did not reply, so by God's direction, I was paging through Numrich, which has a host of old iron sights, and in measuring and mixing and matching, I purchased a gold bead front sight, a buckhorn rear and a riser, off of different guns.
I like the gold bead and buckhorn most for hunting. i hate plastics and as you said the iron sights like on Remingtons are horrid.

Finn Aagaard of the American Rifleman wrote about Ghost Rings, a peep with the center disk removed, for hunting in Africa, as it was quick. I never had a real attraction to them for hunting, any more than the Winchester hooded ramp sights on the 94's. Putting a hood on a front sight is not going to remedy a bad shooter.

If you can find them, the old Weaver flip off, not tip off, but flip off for scopes is what I prefer. I purchased mine off of Ebay and have never regretted it, except not replacing the sights on the 7600, I have that mount mounted on.

I filed the front sight of my marlin 336 down to a fine point from the gold bead and my groups shrunk by half. On the flip side i bet its a little harder to see in low light even though i havent tried it.

Switch over to a rear peep sight and the appropriate front sight to go with it and you'll love it. A rear peep is mounted much further back than a typical rear sight. You will also find that as you get older and your eyes start to do the thing where it's hard to see stuff up-close, the peep sight will still work for you whereas the regular rear sights will become about worthless.

X2 for Waggler's comments.
taught by a sniper that lived through the war and that was all they used. He died last week at 105 and at 98 years old was mad he could not shoot over 95 score on the range.
He taught me the 3 strikes rule.

Waggler is exactly right.I use XS Ghost ring sights these days on my lever actions with Marbles green fiber optic fronts.My front sight on the Guide Gun in 45/70 covers 8" at 100 yds.that is nothing to panic over.That doesn't mean that your group will be 8"wide.The bullet will hit dead center of where the bead is held.Both of my Guide guns with that setup will shoot 1 1/2" groups at 100 yds-,all day long.You aren't aiming with the wholebead,just the center.
I was very fortunate that aI grew up on aperture sights and shot competitively,through college with them.Most matches were not settled by 10 ring hits but by hits in the X ring.They are very precise sights.

After getting such good results from the Ghost Ring sights on my 1st Guide Gun,I put a scope on it (temporarily) to see what it would do at 100 yds.There was no improvement over the Ghost Ring/fiber optic set up.

The pluses are that they are faster,there is no fogging and if it gets plugged with snow,a slight breath clears it.It is allI use in the timber,especially in foul weather.

I run Williams 5D or foolproofs and globe fronts on a few guns

one muzzle loader has a foolproof with a globe front https://www.midwayusa.com/product/100586823?pid=752564

a muzzle loader with a blade front and Marbles bullseye rear https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1828132532

if you only have a dove tail to work with the Marbles i nice , fast and centers up well with out blocking your view of the target

foolproof with target nobs https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1005997992?pid=572292

FP without target knobs https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1005982992?pid=128818

running one of these on an Omega works very well , lower cost less to get snagged on if you are setting it once for your hunting load and leaving it https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1005983498?pid=141928

on my 10/22 I am running techsights https://www.tech-sights.com/ruger-products/
I just run the TSR100 rear

once you go peep sights and not covering up half your target you will like them and start switching them on every gun you own

there is your warning this could get expensive if you have a bunch of guns , but generally less than good glass.

Im another fan of Peep Sights like Waggler said ...on rifles AND handguns.

T/C carries them for my BP guns and would probably fit many other makes

Marbles and MidwayUSA and MidSouthShooters and Brownells all carry peep (or aperture) sights.

Thanks man.

I have shot peep sights most of my life. They were what I shot in competition. I used them because they were more accurate and much faster in target acquisition, for me anyway, than V notched or buckhorn sights (which were my Dad and Graddad's favorite sights. [I compared many different sights and at extremely close range with fast moving game they are ideal until your eyes start getting extremely bad. I have had several wide field low power scopes like 2 1/2 power and 1 X 4 variable scopes and none of them could compare to the peep sight when game was moving fast at 5 feet to 10 yards. At 20 yards and beyond the scope was just as fast.
It took me only a little while to get really fast with target acquisition with a rifle scope on running game but I had a huge advantage over most people because I was able to shoot a lot. We lived out of town where I had a 200 yard range right in the backyard and a 500 yard rifle range up the hill right behind the woodshed after the hay was cut and bailed in July. So for years I shot thousands of rounds of center fire each year. We could afford it because I had bought military surplus powder in the 60's and 70's for less than a dollar a pound. One week they had a big sale on 4831 for $.59 so I bought 50 pounds of it that week. If I didn't get them for free primers (from friends that worked at CCI) they were only a penny apiece in 1000 round packs and I got reject Speer bullets buying them for $2 to $3 a pound. In addition my kids and I would go through one or two 500 round bricks of .22 long rifle ammo each weekend all summer long while we were out camping. All our .22's rifles had 3 X 9 quality big game rifle scopes on them. [Sorry about the long explanation of why I could shoot quickly with a rifle scope.]

But all of my bear rifles, bolt and lever actions, had Willaims fool proofs on them rifles. Most often when ever I was going into a bear it was with my 650 Remington .350 Remington Mag. The Burris 3 X 9 rifle scope with quick detachable Talley mounts on was stored in my back pack. Where I could take it out and put it on if I needed to.
If a bear is bayed on the ground it can become extremely fast and furious to quickly get a well placed brain shot to kill a bear immediately in dark thick underbrush when he is only 5 to 50 feet away with dogs all around him darting in and out. That was where the peep side was far better than any rifle scope I ever found.
Now with my failing eyes I have gone to a red dot sight. With them target acquisition is as fast as with my old peep sight and I can see the animal and the sight in the dark shadowy thick underbrush. The good red dots are rugged and all are light weight. I now highly recommend them for shooting a rifle especially in thick brush. But like many things in life they may not be what is right for everyone.
Pete