[cosmonick]

I'm looking at replacing the front sight of on of my ARs with a gas block that has a flip-up front sight. I have found some that use taper pins and some that simply clamp on. Obviously the type that clamp on would be easy to instal, but are there any advantages with the type that use taper pins?

Mo

[BillL223]

The standard front sight/gas block is located by taper pins. Replacing with this style assures the proper location of the new sight with the gas hole in the barrel. With the clamp type, you need to be able to determine the location and then maintain that location while tightening the screws with loctite etc. I don't want to make this seem difficult but it does require some care in layout. When I used the JP gas block, I measured using instruments accurate to .001", not that that degree in precision is really required.

[cosmonick]

Thanks for your response. I never thought about the alignment the gas hole and what you said makes sense. I heard once that no two front sights are drilled for taper pins in the exact same place. This never sounded quite right to me, but I've never changed one out before.

Mo