Thoughts on an AR with backup sights and not a QD scope mount?

[Redfisher60]

I have the Sport 2 and got a Vortex Spitfire Prism RD which has the etched reticle.
Overkill?
I have the sights I plan to lower 1/3 witness with the RD. The prism is better for my eyes with stigmatism.
If in battle with the Zombies and the battery goes out I can still use the scope or sights.
I will hope to be accurate at 100 yards.

 

[[email protected]]

Just an Idea. One of the biggest draw to the AR15 is how modular and easily it is to modify. In todays market AR parts are extremely cheap. I know you said that it is the only AR you intend to buy, but what about getting a dedicated iron sight upper for it? Just push out two pins and you can go from a scoped rifle to iron sights. Midway USA had the Stoner complete uppers on sale for $199. In a bug out situation just throw it in a bag and go.

 

[BSA1]

That's well and fine, but the OP's backups would be useless to him in those situations. Backups aren't meant for rapid transition, for obvious reasons.

I agree that the first two incidents that removing the scope was not practical. I was using them as a example of how using a scope almost cost them their game.

However the third situation is a ideal example. He was expecting long range open shots and discovered that when we got there it was in a woody area where the maximum distance was 15 yards and less. In this case after getting set-up in a blind it would be a simple matter to remove the scope and flip up the iron sights.

Use of iron sights is becoming a lost art. But what the heck I shoot my 45-70 at 600 yards away using tang rear sight and globe front sight.

 

[strambo]

I think BUIS are overrated with a quality optic. However, since it is the OPs only AR and would be grabbed in an emergency, I think it's worth the added expense for a QD mount and a BUIS set.

I have 2 quality ARs with good optics and BUIS, but I stopped putting them on builds after that. Anything I add to the collection now gets an optic or irons, not both and I save the $.

 

[redbullitt]

A few more details on why I like the offset sights and backup sights in general. When my Nightforce went down (they said it was a lens separation or something of that nature) I could no longer adjust parallax or get a clear image at any range or magnification. POI was also fouled up because of the parallax issue. Basically think of covering your scope objective lens with mineral oil and looking through it lol. In this case I simply removed the scope (THANKS ADM mount lol) and used some plain old magpul flip ups. Did the job just fine.

The US optics lr17 did something similar, and I expect they will tell me something along the same lines. Basically the scope was unsuitable for any kind of precision work at all. This one went down on a hunt. I had a backup rifle here, and simply switched.

The leupold scopes that failed all lost adjustment ability and lost zero during target shooting. Not anything exciting here, but backup irons would have kept me shooting without any fuss.

Most notable to me is that none of these scopes seemed to fail due to any explicit damage, ie I did not drop any down a mountain. I think they were mechanical defects that took time to manifest themselves fully, or just plain old wear and tear. Simply put, those things can happen without warning, rhyme, or reason.

I like the backup red dots as well, but there is a lot to be said for the simplicity and ruggedness associated with good irons.

As far as QD mounts, ADM and Larue are top notch. they return to zero well and are good quality. I prefer the clamp style on the ADM, but thats just personal preference. No issues with the larue ones here at all.

 

[Macchina]

Let me ask you this- What did you do in the past when your optic crapped out on you?

Touché

 

[Macchina]

I will add a couple points:

I hunt in 2 different styles. Around home most of my hunting is deer, coyote, varmint (raccoon, porcupine, etc. for causing damage) and small game (which I use a 22 or 12 gauge for). For this kind of hunting I am usually 15 minutes from a backup gun when something goes wrong. All my bolt actions and lever guns wear Leopold. I've had to send 2 back but they were still very serviceable (both had internal fogging issues).

I also travel far and pay a lot to hunt in remote locations. This can be out west or island hunting which we do every other year. In these cases I don't have a backup aside from my revolver. I always try to bring a quality gun with a quality scope and quality QD rings with backup irons. This is where I'm thinking about bringing my AR when the range may be longer than 150 yards (I have that covered below) and less than 300 yards (my 30-06 is great out to 400 yards which is my Max hunting range in comfortable with.

Both island hunting guns wear the backup sight setup:

Marlin 1894 JM in 44 Mag: Leopold FX-II in Warne QD mounts with XS Peeps as a backup. Sorry for the artsy picture, it's from my Instagram...


Ruger 77/357: Leopold Vari-X III in Ruger rings (QD enough with any tool) with standard irons on backup. This is one tough old scope that can sure take a beating. The zoom range is 1.75x6 which is just perfect on a woods deer rifle. I rarely move it above 1.75 zoom.

 

[Zerodefect]

The only reason I've ever used backup iron is if my scope fogs (from me) in cold weather or has so much rain pouring on it that it's hard to see though. But then I could just select my KISS 6920 upper with irons only.

All my scopes are in Larue QD mounts.

I don't use offset irons in 3 gun anymore. I don't use irons at all anymore for 3 gun. 8x scope set to 1x or Eotech, Bindon ( https://www.trijicon.com/na_en/company/unique_to_trijicon.php ), or nothing. For close up shots, I just point and shoot. That might be the best defensive option as well.