AR15 Basics: Help Please

[apollosmith]

There are a few differences between the original A1 sight and the A2 sights.

A1 sights have a round front post. A2 sights have a square front post. A2's square profile make it a bit easier to get a good sight picture. A1 sights adjust for elevation only with the front post. A2's can be adjusted for elevation with the front post and the rear sight. A1 front sights have finer precision in adjusting elevation - 1" per click vs. 1.25" per click (I think) for A2 sights at 100 yards. A1 rear sights have a kinda difficult way of adjusting windage (a tool is required) and no adjustment for elevation - they simply have a close and long range apertures. The A2 rear sight has elevation and wind adjustments and the two apertures.

This becomes even more complex because A2 sights were available on rifles before the official A2 changes (forward assist, etc.) were made to the rifle itself. Thus, you can have A2 sights on an A1 rifle. Some people also refer to an A3 sight, which is really an A2 sight that is mounted on the removable A3 handle. Confused yet?

The rear sight you ordered is most like an A1 sight - all elevation changes are made with the front post. The idea is to hit the target with minimal chance for error or mis-adjustment. It was those picky Marines and their long range shooting and incessant desire to tinker with things who demanded the A2 sight. The military would typically sight A1's at 250 meters for the short range aperture and 375 for the long range aperture. Of course, this is for standard rilfe lengths and sights. Your rear sight will probably not go in the exact same place as a fixed A1. If the distance between the front and rear sight is off, then the amount of difference in point of impact between the short and long range apertures will be non-standard. You'll just have to experiment to figure out where it POI is at different distances for the two apertures. Hopefully that makes sense.

And yes, the whole A# thing is pretty convoluted and confusing (as are, I suppose, most of my very long posts).

[Crusader Smithy]

I have read where there are at least 2 kinds of iron sights. Often manufactures state that a particular sight is an A1 or A2 sight. I think but I'm not sure that an A1 rear sight has no elevation adjustment but an A2 rear sight has both elevation and windage. Is that correct?

No its not. The difference between the two is weather or not the hand guard is detachable or not. The sight itself is the same.
I could be wrong but I am not aware of a rear AR sight that has elevation adjustments.

[MarshallDodge]

Apollosmith is correct. The A2 rear sight has an elevation adjustment but the A1 does not. You can adjust the elevation on the A1 with the front sight.

[knayrb]

DPMS Detachable Rear Sight AR-15 Flattop Matte

[PW]

The rear sight on the removable carry handle on my AR is elevation adjustable.

[apollosmith]

Here's a few pix that might help.


Fixed A1 sight. Notice the windage adjustment on the right (requires a tool to adjust) and the two apertures ("L" for long range).


Removable A1 rear sight. Again, only windage adjustment and two apertures. This can be mounted on a A3/A4 flat-top rifle.


Fixed A2 rear sight. The sight is affixed to the handle, which is affixed permanently to the rifle.


A2 rear sight in a removable A3 handle. You also can get an A1 sight in a removable A3 handle, though this is less common. The handle attaches to the A3/A4 flat-top. This is sometimes called an A3 sight.


Removable A2 sight that could be mounted to an A3/A4 flat-top. This is also sometimes called an A3 sight.

Hopefully that helps a bit.

[jutley]

Thanks for all of the great information in the thread. I too have been considering an AR15 but didn't know the first thing about them until this thread. This gives me some great information. I was planning to wait a while before buying one, but I'm getting nervous with the way this election is going. I may buy one in the next month now.

[Matai]

Wow! For some reason this thread didn't pop up when I clicked on "View New Posts" for a while. Today it did and I had a lot of catching up to do.

Knayrb, thank you for those questions. I had a lot of the same ones. I found some answers on ar15.com, but others I didn't know about until I read them here.

I've taken it out shooting a few times now and I still love it! The Wolf rounds are the cheapest things I've found so far. They shoot alright, but they're dirty. And as a previous poster said, make sure you DON'T get the lacquer-coated ones, get the polymer-coated ones instead. Even then, I had one FTE. The guy at GetSome had to pound a rod down the barrel to help me get it out. But we through some lube in the chamber, re-assembled the weapon, and it's been shooting fine ever since.

I love that weapon!

[Dcowboyss]

Thanks for all the helpful info. I answered alot of my questions also

[knayrb]

I have a few more questions regarding optics. I've been reading about holosights, red-dot sights, reflex sights, etc. I get the impression that the difference between a holosights like eotech and bushnell vs a red-dot is how the reticle is displayed.

The holosights reflect the aiming point at a 90 degree angle from below the viewfinder lens. The red-dot has a front lens that is skewed just enough to see a reflected dot from the back of the "scope". Is this correct and what is the advantage/disadvantage of each besides battery life? Why would I want one over the other?

[PW]

Bryan, I'm no expert on all the optics you asked about, but I will say that my EOTech is without a doubt the best optic I have ever shot with. I have never had any type of optic that gets on target faster than it. Everyone that shoots it, loves it. They can be found for around $350 on the internet. I think a big difference is the quality of the construction. If you can afford it go with the EOTech, if not, save for it, you won't be disappointed.

[MarshallDodge]

I have shot a gun with the Eotech and they are nice. Check out the Aimpoint while you are at it. They seem to be a little more rugged from what I have heard.

I have a couple cheapie red dots (~$50) and they hold zero fine but tend to wash out in bright sunlight.

[bane]

This thread has had my interest for quite a while; I have to admit, I know nothing about AR15's, never even shot one... though I did shoot the M16 a few times in the Navy. Never broken one down, cleaned it, or anything else though. Due to the way PE Obama is saying he wants to go regarding gun control I figured I better make an investment -- AND QUICK!

So I don't have a lot of time to educate, make decisions, acquire parts slowly, build, tweak, etc. I just need to get in quick and get the basics.
With that in mind, would a few of you give me your recommendation for the most basic (but easily upgradable and tweaked later on) platform that I can get my hands on *TODAY* so I can save some time and get one in my hands now before it's too late??? If your recommendation is one that I would have to assemble, I'm fine with that... so long as all the parts come in one and I don't have to spend time shopping. If it's a pre-built platform, that's fine too.

The key is that I want something basic enough that I can later add just about any option I'd want to but completed enough that I could do basic shooting with it tomorrow. Also, if you can make a decent guess at how much this would run me, that would be great too! And, as a last measure, it'd be great for recommendations on how much MINIMUM ammo I should buy at the same time and roughly how much that would run me.

I figure... buy the bare basics today to steer clear of any potential bans... I can learn to shoot it and tweak it as time permits!



EDIT: I'm slowly going back through this thread, re-reading everyone's posts and trying to put things through my head... by reading through them it is occurring to me that some may not know what to recommend b/c they will have questions remaining... I will add to this list as I go through the threads:
* This gun will be for 2 purposes: 1) general hobby-shooting... a few times a year, probably not very many rounds; 2) a crap-hits-the-fan scenario where I think the most likely use for it would be home-defense against mob activity (of any number) from a second-story window... relatively short distance.
* I've read all the talk about the 4 different models and not exactly sure what I should go for... as I understand it, the M3 seems the best b/c it gives you a detachable handle with iron sights... meaning, I assume, that it can serve the same function as all the others depending on how you configure it... is that correct??? If so, I'd think the pref. would be A3, would anyone agree/disagree for a particular reason???

[Crusader Smithy]

For the money you really can't beat the Stag. I know Im partial because I love mine. Infact her name is Heather . I'd go for a DPMS or DS Arms equally as fast. The trouble right now is finding one in stock. There has been such a run on AR's that almost no one has any on the wall. It even takes extra long for our supplier or get us restocked and then they're gone in 2-3 days. You can always come get on the list for when we're restocked.

[bane]

For the money you really can't beat the Stag. I know Im partial because I love mine. Infact her name is Heather . I'd go for a DPMS or DS Arms equally as fast. The trouble right now is finding one in stock. There has been such a run on AR's that almost no one has any on the wall. It even takes extra long for our supplier or get us restocked and then they're gone in 2-3 days. You can always come get on the list for when we're restocked.

FBMG, I have a couple questions (mostly about pricing) that I have PM'd you...