Zeroing AR-15 sight: frontsight blade at bottom of aperture? Whose idea?

[MatthewVanitas]

Greetings,
Shot an AR-15 belonging to the guy next to me at the range. Nice RRA carbine, felt great. However, I was hitting high, consistently, on every shot. Halfway through my string, the guy said "bottom of the circle", and I had no idea what he meant.

Turns out he zeros his AR sights with the tip of the post level with the bottom of the rear aperture. Not just six-o'clock hold, but the actual post tip riding the bottom of the sight picture. Who trains people to do that?

I was taught, both in Marine Boot and at TBS, to zero the sights with the tip of the FSP dead-center in the aperture. Something about how the eye naturally wants to center the post-tip in the aperture.

When I asked him why he sighted his AR "bottom of the circle", he stated that the standard BZO obscures whatever you're aiming at, whereas "bottom of circle" lets you clearly observe your target through the aperture.

Is this some hi-speed technique? Is this a new idea? Any info as to where this idea comes from, and if it's a good idea, much appreciated,

-MV

 

[DMK]

It's his gun. He can zero it anyway he wants. The whole point of the arperture sight is to just focus on the front sight and ignore the rear. His method defeats the purpose.

However, for very close range targets(25 yards and under), I center the base of the post in the arperture to compensate for the height of the sight over the bore.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

That's kind of what I thought, but was just making sure that there wasn't some amazing change in sightology that I'd missed out on.

That brings up a point: does anybody make aperture front sights for the AR series? I'd never heard of such a thing until Mojo sights starting making them for Mausers and whatnot.

Apparently it's some sort of sight where the are both front and rear apertures, so you line the two apertures up and center your target in the middle of the hole. My impression is that it's a match-rifle idea, not a tactical one. Out of the five zillion AR options, I haven't seen that particular one yet, but it probably exists somewhere.

-MV

 

[MechAg94]

If I did that, I think I would be constantly bobbing the front sight up and down to verify where it was. Not an idea I would want, but each to his own. He will either do okay with it or learn it is not a good idea.

 

[444]

Although I have never actually seen one, I am fairly certain that someone makes aperture front sights for the AR series. This would be something used for formal target shooting where the target is a round bullseye. I have purchased several target .22 rifles over years with aperture front sights of various diameters. If you really wanted one, I would check the places that cater to target shooting: Sinclair, Creedmore, Champions Choice.

As was mentioned, the guy doesn't know what he is doing. That is kind of funny, he takes something that works great and has proven to work great for a couple or three generations, then he makes it as complicated as possible and defeats the whole point of the sight. But, as was also mentioned it is his rifle and he can do what he wants.

 

[30Cal]

It's his gun. He can zero it anyway he wants. The whole point of the arperture sight is to just focus on the front sight and ignore the rear. His method defeats the purpose.

However, for very close range targets(25 yards and under), I center the base of the post in the arperture to compensate for the height of the sight over the bore.

It's also going to be a lot more variable with changes in lighting.

Ty

 

[DMK]

does anybody make aperture front sights for the AR series? I'd never heard of such a thing until Mojo sights starting making them for Mausers and whatnot.

Here's a couple options at Brownells:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=19983&title=AR-15+COMPETITION+SIGHTS

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=13803&title=SEMI-AUTO+RIFLE+FRONT+SIGHT