Howdy, KimberPB! !...Here's my two cents worth. I believe that all who use a rifle should practice with iron sights as much as they practice with the gadgets (sights/scopes) that's on their rifles assuming one's vision is up for open sights... Now in saying that my wife and I both have Bushy A3 carbines. She has a 14.5" HB w/ permanent flash hider to make it legal length. It also has a collapsible stock which can be set to fit her for trigger pull length and winter vs. summer clothing. It also has a streamlight mounted light and an EOTech sight that co-witness w/ her open sights (rear sight is a flip up sight which is up all the time with the large peep sight being used). She is definitely faster on target and better at longer shots (100yds.+) using the EOTech, but she doesn't practice as she should. Which says the EOTech helps those with faster target acquisition and accuracy who are lax on practicing w/ their rifle. But what happens when the EOTech doesn't work; which happened when my wife and I were coyote hunting and the batteries went dead in her carbine in zero degree weather!! My 16" HB barrel carbine is set up the same way. I also have another AR I put together that has a Bushy 20" match barrel and upper and it is also an A3. I have a fixed 5x scope on it that has a quick detachable mount. I have a standard fixed stock with the carry handle strapped to the opposite side of my stock. I also have a butt stock weight in the compartment to balance out the gun and a two stage trigger. At present the carry handle/open sights are on it because I'm going to an Appleseed shoot in the near future. I will say this, I personally shoot more accurately with the standard stock than I do with the collapsible stock and am seriously thinking about putting a standard stock on my 16" carbine. That's probably more than you wanted to know...I hope I didn't bore you all.