AR Carry Handle Sight Recommendations?

Before you spend too much on something that you might replace later, have you checked your balance point on that rifle? My son had me put a carry handle on his. After the first range trip, he had me cut the front half off so that he could put a red dot on it. The add-on carry handles don't have the same room for fingers as the A1 integrated handles did, and are poor ergonomics, IMHO.

That's a sweet looking rifle. I like carry handles also. Real/Good ones are not particularly cheap. Stick with a known good brand, don't buy on eBay.

badkarmamib said:

The add-on carry handles don't have the same room for fingers as the A1 integrated handles did, and are poor ergonomics, IMHO.

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A million drill sergeants just shuddered as if a cold spirit has passed them by.

ClickClickD'oh said:

A million drill sergeants just shuddered as if a cold spirit has passed them by.

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Sorry if I left room for confusion. The integral A1 carry handles are one thing, but when you have a flat top rail, then the bar and clamp for the add-on carry handle, I can barely get my fingers to fit to the first knuckle in the resulting opening. If aesthetics is your main concern, and you want to have iron sights as the only sight system, then I completely agree that the carry handle, A1 or clamp-on, looks much more at home than any other rear sight.

js8588 said:

She's definitely a bit nose heavy. With an 18 inch Daniel Defense s2w & a full length handguard, I never expected otherwise

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Well, nose-heavy or not, she looks good! With the fixed stock, Hogue grip, 3-prong, and straightforward free-float, it looks like what Stoner would have conceived if he was designing it today.

When I was putting together a carry handle 20" build, I just got an A1 upper. Zero regrets.

Probably a little late to add one on your build, but in my opinion, if you're going with a carry handle then you might as well make it permanent. There's a bunch of Magpul flip-up stuff and A2 style rear sights if you just want peep sights to shoot. If you're going with a carry handle, it because you actually want the darn handle, and you probably don't want to take it off later.

Now that being said, if I was going to buy a detachable carry handle, I would want the nicest one I could find. I usually take a frugal approach to this kind of stuff, but the main advantages of the carry handle (besides the cool looks) are the durability and total stability of the rear sight that comes with it, and you're just not going to get that with a $30 UTG handle off Ebay. Splurge on a Colt or BCM.

js8588 said:

Then off to be cerakoted.

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What do you have planned?

As a general rule, the inexpensive (Airsoft) carry handles are not intended for critical use and do not commonly provide alignment of the rear sight to the centerline of the rail. As a result, it is not uncommon to find out that the rear sight will have to be adjusted to the limits of horizontal / vertical travel to compensate for the lack of proper alignment. If you feel the need for clamp on carry handle rear sight, spend the extra money and get a proper unit; I have used PSA, DPMS, and RRA units with good success.

Having said that, I am a big fan of the Daniel Defense sight towers and would recommend them first.

ClickClickD'oh said:

A million drill sergeants just shuddered as if a cold spirit has passed them by.

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Makes it that much sweeter. Windham carries nice handles. https://shop.windhamweaponry.com/products/12951011

I was just researching this in the last couple of weeks. I wanted a quality elevation adjustable rear sight. Most of the popup sights (Magpul, Troy, et al) are adjustable for windage only. Started looking at detachable US made, name brand A2 carry handles, but they aren't cheap ($70 to $100).

DPMS used to sell a quality A2 rear sight tower but looks to have dropped it from their line. Now it seems only LMT carries same sight tower for $155!
https://lmtdefense.com/parts/l8a

I had the DPMS one on past AR's that I sold off and swear DPMS never charged that much for their sight tower.

Looking around I bought GI Surplus A2 Carry Handle on Ebay for $45 that I plan to cut to match the LMT / DPMS linked above.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/K6oAAOSwz8NbgrUr/s-l1600.jpg
I also bought a Matech surplus back up Iron sight for $30.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...Xmatech+.TRS1&_nkw=matech+rear+sight&_sacat=0

Not sure if they still use them but Matech BUIS were used by the Army.

There's Knights Armament Elevation Adjustable Flip up rear sights (used by the Marines) on ebay:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=kac+rear+sight&_frs=1

Note, I'm outfitting 2 pistol builds and planning 2 more rifle length AR builds.

I bought a colt surplus handle for $50. Works well. I don’t like flip ups unless they are backup to an optic.

Try shark arms and see if they have any Colt ones (call them) so also makes one for under 100

Looks to be some GI Surplus carry handles on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Colt-Detac...171908&hash=item214605b6be:g:d1gAAOSwRpVbdvzy

Huh - I was unaware that the US military ever used detachable carry handles.

rbernie said:

Huh - I was unaware that the US military ever used detachable carry handles.

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I like my A2 , one thing on your front sight and I might be wrong but with the carry handle sight will your POF sight be the same height as a F marked front sight so the carry handle will line up ?

I have a NM RRA A4 and the sight/carry handle that comes on it while precise is useless for general shooting. It drinks light and unless you're on a sunny range forget it. So I just bought a PSA carry and sighted it in with that for general shooting. I bought it on Black Friday, it was around $50 IIRC.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/palmetto-state-armory-mil-spec-carry-handle.html

Some of the Colt carry handles on eBay look alright and can be had for cheaper, but there's no telling what beat up POS might show up at your house.