AR-15 Question?


bluper

New member
I bought a Bushmaster M4-A1 with the fixed carry handel a few monthes ago. I was Thinking of purchasing an EOTECH HWS sight for it. My question is... Bushmaster sells an upper flat top reciver for a good price. If I make the swap will my fixed front sight from the A1 barrel be in the way of viewing the target? I have seen youtube videos of Smith and Wesson flat top upper AR-15's with the EOTECH and the fixed front sight and it did not seem to be an issue, but is the bushmaster's A1 front sight taller?
Thanks..
 

I bought a Bushmaster M4-A1 with the fixed carry handel a few monthes ago. I was Thinking of purchasing an EOTECH HWS sight for it. My question is... Bushmaster sells an upper flat top reciver for a good price. If I make the swap will my fixed front sight from the A1 barrel be in the way of viewing the target? I have seen youtube videos of Smith and Wesson flat top upper AR-15's with the EOTECH and the fixed front sight and it did not seem to be an issue, but is the bushmaster's A1 front sight taller?
Thanks..

Yes. You can get a sightless gasblock to replace the front sight or use the EOTECH like an aperture sight, you can use the front sight in conjunction with a folding back sight if your battery dies, or you can ignore it. I have two dangerous game rifles where I can see the front sight on low power and when shooting I really don't notice it.
 
Depends on what you are doing with the rifle.

Since it's a short barrel, you aren't going to do any long range shooting accurately,
So I don't see a problem with having your iron sights visible in your optics of choice.

Without long range accuracy getting in the way, requiring a high powered optic,
Having the iron sights visible in low power or 1X optics shouldn't be an issue and will actually be a big 'Plus' if your optics quit working...
Particularity with battery powered optics where dead batteries or faulty connections can leave you without the 'Red Dot' to sight by.

If you have higher power optics, the front sight will not show up in them other than a slight blur at the bottom of the sight picture,
And a fast dismount on the optics will remove faulty or overpowered optics for close in iron sight work.

I use an AimPoint with no magnification (1X) with iron sight visible in it.
VERY good thing to have when the 'Red Dot' disappears unexpectedly,
Just hit the rear pop up sight and I'm back in the hunt right through the disabled AimPoint.

If you have magnification and want to default to iron sights quickly, you will need a quick detach mount that will retain zero...

It just boils down to what you want to use the rifle for and how good your eye sight/iron sight shooting is...
 
You want your front sight visible with the Eotech hollowgraphic.

100% parallax free and a 1/3 bottom of your field of view. Both the front and rear BUIS should be in the bottom 1/3 of the field of view with an Aimpoint or Eotech type sighting system.

This is referred to as co witnessing your iron sights with the red dot/illuminated reticle.

I use the LaRue Tactical ECOS mount with my Eotech's to gain another 1/8 rise of the optic. This puts the iron sights in the bottom 1/3 of the field of view.

Is the Bushmaster front sight taller ? If it's a standard "F" marked front sight base then it should not be taller than anyone elses.

Remember, you'll need to use a rear back up iron sight to zero your weapon. You will most likely move the front sight post up or down.

Hope that makes sense.
 
I have a couple of Bushmaster AR's with the A3 flat top with the front sight in place and EoTech sights. Actually, I prefer having the front sight on, and I also get a flip up rear sight to go with them. I line up the red dot on the tip of the front sight, in the center of the rear peep sight. That way, I can use my iron sights and the red dot is sitting on the front sight in daytime or dim light. I also have the option of flipping the rear sight down, and the red dot is lined up where my iron sights are. The only difference is that you have the red dot sitting ontop of your front sight. By the way, keep both eyes open when using the sights or the red dot. You get a full field of view and it's very fast. Also, if your Eotech gets knocked off of the gun or is badly damaged or batteries drain, you can still have iron sights.
 
NOTHING beats training and leaning to use the iron sights FIRST and PROFICIENTLY.
Once you have the iron sights down pat, then the rest is gravy, and DOES have it's place,
But Iron Sights are first and foremost, and you should train with them every time you are at the range.

As I get older (50 now) I know my eyes, reflexes, and everything else is tapering off.
I can no longer focus in three planes (Rear sight, Front sight, Target) so I use a lot of optics,
But I ALWAYS practice with iron sights just to keep my eye used to them.

Anything/Everything else can fail, but your iron sights will ALWAYS be reliable and accurate if you practice!

What you should know is the difference between No Magnification (1x) and Magnified optics.
1x will NEVER have parallax. Parallax occurs only when you have magnification, and is the cross hairs not being perfectly aligned in the center of the optical column.

Holographic sights (Red Dot) usually will correct for eye misalignment behind the center line of the optic.
The red dot will appear to move around WITH the target when you move your eye around behind the optic.
That is the reason our troops are doing so much better with 'Red Dot' optics, they don't have to take the time to center the eye behind the optics for precise shots.
Red dot on the target, pull trigger, usually a hit.

When you are using a 'Scope' with magnification, Parallax will make the target appear to move around behind the cross hairs,
OR,
The cross hairs will appear to move around on the target.
When shooting with a 'Scope', you MUST center you eye in the tube to make a hit.

Parallax adjustments are there to solve that discrepancy.
Parallax adjustments correct the apparent movement of the cross hairs or target under the cross hairs when you aren't exactly aligned with the tube.

NOTHING will substitute or correct for bad shooting form!
If you have the comb of your stock welded to your cheek bone,
So your eye automatically centers in the tube,
Then you will cut out a lot of the 'Parallax' problems that aren't really Parallax, it's bad shooting form and ill fitting firearm.

'Red Dot' holographic sights take that issue out of the equation when they are 1X, but if you go with magnification, you will find there is 'Parallax' creeping back into the sighting equation.

I can't stress enough to have an appropriately sized rear sight aperture (hole size in the rear sight) and practiced shooting skills with the iron sights!
The military drilled into us proper sight picture and cheek weld, and we were able to hit targets I didn't think possible.
There are people shooting out to 1,000 yards with aperture sights and scoring good groups, so it's VERY possible.

Just as important,
Learning to keep the rifle VERTICAL.
Keeping the optics/sights directly above the barrel!

Look at your watch,
The 1 minute mark just past 12:00 o'clock is 6 degrees of cant.
That's a 1/2" miss at 100 yards,
55" at 1,000 yards!

Practicing with a bubble level (Spirit Level) on the optics will teach you to shoulder the rifle SQUARELY AND PLUMB, and will take that cant out of the equation.

When I got a spirit level on my 'Gopher' rifle, I did a LOT LESS MISSING of those little prairie dogs!
A 1/2" miss gives those little devils a whole new lease on life!
That carried over into the Military shooting I did, and it increased my hit rate more than I can express!
 

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