School Me On Carry-Handle Rear Sights

[tpelle]

I have shot iron sights my whole life, but have reached the point at age 59 where I can read the writing on the wall (admittedly a little blurry) and need to start thinking about converting to an optical sight. I intend to buy a new 20" rifle in a couple of weeks, and am thinking about maybe ordering it with an A3 upper, and buying a removable carry handle rear sight for now, with the option of buying the optic later.

I see a lot of carry handles labeled "M4"? Is there anything unique about them? Height, maybe? Will they zero OK with an A2 fsb on a 20" barrel?

Mounted on a Picatinney rail, can the rear sight be lowered down to the bottom without the elevation screw bottoming out on the top of the receiver?

Finally, who makes one I can trust to align properly and work well?

I want to have both windage and elevation adjustments on the rear sight and will set it up with the Improved Battlesight Zero.

[peabody]

Fulton armory has what your looking for.
A4 uppers and a F marked front sight work ok.
Just use a standard front sight with a A2 upper.
Peabody

[Eric]

I agree that your best choice is to go with the flattop upper with carry handle, to give you the flexibility to add optics down the line. Most or many carry handles are going to be configured for a carbine, with the rear sight windage adjustment marked 6/3, rather than 8/3 as found on most A2 type rifles. Not a big deal for most folks, but just something to be aware of.

[markm]

Yep... All of my carry handles are 6/3. Not a big deal since my ammo isn't 5.56 M855 anyway. I have to add to the dial up to get on target.

[lamarbrog]

I have a Daniel Defense A1-type rear sight that I'm very happy with. It's not a carrying handle, but I could co-witness it with an Aimpoint or Eotech if I want, which you can't do with a carrying handle.

Only downside is there's no quick elevation adjustment. It's not much use to me to have that feature. Maybe your needs are different than mine, though.

[tpelle]

Yeah, I 'm hung on having an elevation-adjustable rear sight. I've shot M1s for many years, and currently shoot an AR15 in Service Rifle competition where we shoot from 200 to 600 yards with A2 iron sights, so adding the come-ups for different ranges comes as naturally as breathing.

I ended up buying a flat-top 20" rifle kit from J&T Distributing, and added their "military contac" carry handle rear sight. I don't suppose any military organizations buy paint ball sights, so hopefully I'll be OK.

[markm]

Absolutely. If I bring my AR to where we shoot every saturday, I'm LUCKY if there's a gong at 300 yards. Most are 400-1000 yards for precision rifle. So I need to have an adjustable sight... or an ACOG.

[Xrugger2012]

I think the rule of thumb is four click adjustment to prep the site to have the site zero correctly.
to get natural zero.