M16 & Iron Sights Fans?

I have a colt hbar and a Rock river NM A2 love shooting those iron sights. I only have a 200 yard range I shoot torso targets and bowling pins with the iron sights, mostly in prone position. After shooting a 10-22 with tec sights at an apple seed shoot I had to get an a2 ar.

I love the AR iron sights.

I'm planning out a build using a A1 slick side upper, 14.5" LW barrel, triangle handguards and a A1 fixed stock. Just starting to look for deals on the parts I need.

My A2 clone is one of my favorites. With the front resting on a sandbag I can do about 2" @ 100yds on a good day with the standard 55gr stuff.

I built an A1 clone. Don't really love the extra barrel weight out in front, but the iron sight picture with the A1 peep and the 20" barrel is great. Very accurate.

I hear an XM177 build calling my name... same carry handle retro coolness, with carbine ease of handling.

Sorry for the crummy picture, it's all I have on my phone.

I still shoot High Power with an AR and iron sights. Works great!

I really like the A1 and A2.
My dad made me practice with irons before he’d let me scope anything.

he also made me fluent with SAO pistols and the only car he’d let me drive had a clutch.

I figure, you get good with those, then the rest is easy

While I like red dots and such, there certainly is something to be said for iron sights. They will never need batteries and have no glass parts to get cracked or out of alignment or laser diode to .... die? .... what ever the laser thingies do when they go bad.

No experience with an m16, but one of my go-to rifles it’s an M4 style with irons sight that I absolutely love.

I planned to assemble one for my next but was sidetracked by the todo this past year. I enjoy them all.

I’ve been running an A4 style for the past couple months testing 55 grain loads. One load will teasingly put three shots inside a 1” square then throw one right to about 2 1/2”. See load 1 below. I’ve shot mostly hand loads though I suppose I should try some factory ammo to see what it can do or at least function test it.

I’m headed out shortly to finish loading a batch of 77 grain SMK test loads. After testing those I’m out of combinations with current supplies. I have a variety pack of front sight posts to try after that.

Iron sights for fun, scopes for results.

In the late '70s I installed a scope on a Ruger .243 M77 and I didn't glass another until this past decade.

I have always much preferred shooting over irons and especially those featuring rear apertures like the ARs, M1s/M14s ... and the Williams 5D rear aperture sight that I added to the Marlin model 1894S .44mag lever carbine shortly after I acquired it in the late '80s.

... until ... my presbyopia advanced to the point where my eyes could no longer provide enough focus delta. <sigh>

O.L.D. ... Shoganai.

IMG_1667 by chase, on Flickr

LGS has PSA A2 style rifle for sale , I would like to have one but bought a new M&P Sport II few months ago.

The gun club I belong to has a service rifle competition every month. I had a gunsmith friend put an A2 upper together for me with the 20" barrel. I shoot the AR and a 1903A3 in the competition.

I have a dissapator with detachable carry handle. Upper half is Del-Ton and lower half is old school DPMS. Carry handle is BCM.
Shoots very nicely

In answer to the OP: Nope.

I started shooting self-loaders, even taking classes with them, before the flat top was common, so didn't buy an AR until this century. Had other evil black things, put red dots or low-power scopes on, from the mid 90s. Loved my AR-180, got a good mount for the FAL, low-mounts for the HKs were easy to find also, etc.

I totally shot 20" ARs in A1 and A2 guise on many occasions, and didn't mind the lightweight barrel ones at least for length or anything — only a little longer than the typical 18" guns all the europeans made — but until they got rid of the carry handle, only when I had to, or was issued out one.

But you can! Lots of fun to be had with retro stuff and many people have eyes that work with irons better than mine!

I never cared for the M16A1 only because I didn't like getting hit with hot brass as a left handed shooter. Two of my favorite rifle length builds is my A2 clone and an A4 clone in 6.8 SPC. I'm very happy with the A2 barrel from Windham, it is very accurate even with surplus M855 ammo. The 6.8 does well with Hornady 110 grain ammo. I'm thinking that my next A2 clone is going to be a rimfire version. I have a 22 version of a carbine, DMR clone and a 4.5" pistol. I have 5.56 version of those except for a super short 5.56 pistol.

I also built a Colt RO635 9mm SMG clone (using a brace) with iron sights too.

I'm one of the few still shooting an A2 in service rifle matches. Its the rifle I shot in basic. Its the rifle I took to war. Its the rifle I want to earn the Distinguished badge with.

I've got a couple scoped rifles. An M1903a4 and a Winchester 72a, that was my first rifle. But in reality, I much prefer shooting irons.

I'd very much like an A2 or A4. I went through Ft. Benning with an M16A4, but my first Army experience was with an M16A2, and I just like the cleanliness of the design before you start bolting everything onto it and making it as heavy as an M14 again.

I'm in the process of pinning an F mark sight on my favorite AR. I'll have a flip up iron rear and co-witness with the reflex.
Studies have shown that humans instinctively center the front sight post in an aperture sight and that front and rear apertures together work even better.

I’m a little shorter in LOP than the A2 stock, so I’m a bigger fan of M4geries than M16A2 clones. The only “carry handle” A2 upper I have left is a 16” Hbar M4gery-ish... an original/Windham Bushmaster I picked up right on the tail of the AWB sunset (telescoping carbine stock but no muzzle threads).

Irons never have been my preferred sight - but my eyes have now fallen off in the last few years to a point that irons simply aren’t a valid option any longer. Without a diopter in the rear, I really can’t resolve my front sight any longer. I tried some multi focal contacts last year, and that might be a long term solution, but I just don’t enjoy irons enough to commit the extra expense.

Indeed, the 20” AR is one that I enjoy shooting, as do my older Marine buddies who carried M16A4 rifles years ago. For them, slinging and shooting my Bushmaster A4 tribute really seems to bring back the memories.




Stay safe.

JCooperfan1911: Exactly. Glad that you chose the 20" (whether a choice or not), to provide a good sight distance.
> None of my many rifles - and no handgun - ever had a scope, of any type.<

That's the only general type of AR which appeals to me, thanks to vision still being ok.

A friend has an '84 'Green Box" Colt, but even if he ever wanted to sell it (seldom shoots it - or his other guns), I couldn't justify the market price.

AR-15, here: Apocalypse Now Suzie Q - Bing video The very sweet, young innocent brunette at 2:10 adds even more polished, world-class refinement to a standard AR.......