NRA Match Rifle sights vs. Service Rifle

[jhord]

I've been playing around shooting a service-rifle spec AR-15 flat top w/carry handle. I have pretty good sights on it, right now running a Bob Jones rear lens and aperture with a RRA front post. I have also experimented with a Microsight. I'm having vision difficulties, some days good, some days bad, and toward the end of a match things go south even on a good day. That has me thinking about the Match style sights. I have never looked through any, or even seen any at the local club. My Q is, how much better are they compared to the service sights? One of those "oh they are a little better," or "wow, they are amazing!"? I'm questioning whether to stick with this game or just go back to scoped rifles. It stinks discovering a young person's sport when you are middle aged. :'(

 

[GermanS1]

It's a night and day difference. I can't see an AR15 front sight to save my life and even the M1 front sight that looked so good for so many years (and so many years ago!) is now just a fuzzy memory. However, with match rifle sights, I see everything I need to and can shoot very competitive scores week in and week out. Like the commercial use to say: "Try it, you'll like it!"

 

[watercam]

Couldn't agree more! I started in match rifle in high school then dropped out until my late 40's. Aperture sights w/ a lens in front did the trick for me out to 1000 yds. w/ prescription glasses. Now! If only I can learn to hold as well as Mr. Salazar!

 

[Redhighpower]

To me the big difference is that the front sight with a adjustable aperture and .3 magnifier with an adjustable iris in the rear, makes most of the problems go away.
When you put a circle in a circle and in another circle, accuracy will increase. with all the adjustments to control light coming in and amount around the target as the day progress you can make slight adjustments to compensate for changes in vision. With a post sight as the day progresses it can get blurry and hard to get in focus, a match sight makes it easier. Get a match AR Flat top with match sights an get back in the game.

 

[jhord]

OK, I'm glad to hear they are a big improvement, thanks for the input. I have a spare flat top AR that I can equip and experiment with. Now my next question, I've been looking at the Centra and Phoenix front and rear sights. I figure while I'm at it, I might as well go 30mm at the front? What I really don't understand is what parts I need to go along with the sight bases? Apertures, irises, lenses and so forth. It's all greek to me and I can't find a good info source online that spells it all out for dummies. German, I know you probably get a million requests to write on various subjects, but "Match Sights for Newbies" would be a great addition to your article base.

 

[JohnW...ski]

OK, I'm glad to hear they are a big improvement, thanks for the input. I have a spare flat top AR that I can equip and experiment with. Now my next question, I've been looking at the Centra and Phoenix front and rear sights. I figure while I'm at it, I might as well go 30mm at the front? What I really don't understand is what parts I need to go along with the sight bases? Apertures, irises, lenses and so forth. It's all greek to me and I can't find a good info source online that spells it all out for dummies. German, I know you probably get a million requests to write on various subjects, but "Match Sights for Newbies" would be a great addition to your article base.

Stick with the 22 mm front sight it's all you need and a lot cheaper. I use the Phoenix Precision on three different rifles and would get a forth set if I needed too. Gary is great at Phoenix Precision, he will take care of you.
The rest of the parts you will need are a front and rear aperture. I use a Ghemann #530 Iris w/1.5 Mag. and a Ghemann Rear Sight Anti Glare Tube 25 mm on the rear and a Ghemann Front Iris w/Horizontal Bar #520C22 22mm. The whole set up is kind of pricey but really works. I took the rear sight off one of my match rifles and put a 24x scope on it and from a bench shot the same size groups as the iron sights shooting at a standard 200 yd. target.

I think you will be pleasently surprised at how good they are.

Good luck,

John

 

[GermanS1]

I agree that a "match rifle sights for newbies" article would be a good one, I promise to work on it, look for it in May.

I highly recommend the Scott Riles front sights www.rilesmachine.com Over the years I've used a lot of 18mm and 22 mm sights and in general, they do everything I need. I have a 30mm now but only because the front sight element I wanted to try was only available in 30mm. That would be the smoke gray drilled aperture (non-adjustable) from www.shootingsight.com

I use a Gehmann 530-7 rear iris with diopter and no lens of any sort in the front.

As for the rear, a Lipski base is on my tubeguns and works great on AR15's also. It is height adjustable, hell for stout and takes the rear sight directly.

 

[ar15topgun]

Right-sight up front with a .25 or .5 lens with correct length stem for firearm used. I use the 2.9-5.9 aperture as the 4.0-6.0 is too large for my likes. Rear sight either a warner or Phoenix Precision with a Gehmann 510 iris.

 

[jhord]

Looking forward to that article, German.

OK, possibly a dumb question but does anyone make a bloop tube that would fit flash hider threads on the barrel? Trying to figure out a way to mount up a front sight to my current HBAR barrel. (to get a feel for things before throwing down $$ on a proper match barrel/etc) I can make such a gizmo but if someone already offers it...

 

[jhord]

Well here is phase 1 of my match rifle setup. I had forum member John 11-87 make a custom sight extension for my threaded HBAR barrel and he did a great job. This will allow me to use a .920" match front sight and get a feel for things before I commit to building a complete upper.