I'm 68 now & came back to guns after a 30 yr. hiatus & bought a Henry lever .22LR & discovered in a hurry that I couldn't see the front sights clearly & certainly not the target 25 yds away.I'm 58 and my eyes won't let me use those types of sights anymore. I can shoot okay with peep sights out to 100 yards, but I doubt I could hit within 2.5 at 25 with the notch sights. I have to either take off my glasses and have a fuzzy target, or put on my glasses and have fuzzy sights. Try putting a peep sight on it.
About 2 years ago I bought a Ruger 10-22 that had a Nikon Prostaff scope on it & discovered I could see!!!
That was about a dozen different rifles ago & I really enjoy the accuracy I can get with a basic scope.