I have had good luck with Alumahide II from Brownells. It's a spray on epoxy coating. You bake it after it cures. This stuff comes in many colors and if applied correctly is very durable.

Ok, the rifle kit I bought from Del-Ton comes with the front iron sight/gas block. Upper receiver is a flat top. What the hell to put on top? Do I want iron or something electric to co-witness with the front? I can't bring myself to spend the bucks on Aimpoint or Eotech. There are countless cheapo knockoffs I'm sure would get the job done. I could transplant the Millett Zoom Dot from my other M4, but then what to replace it with? That rifle has the flat gas block, which I don't want to change.

You could go with a flip-up/back-up iron sight (BUIS). That way if you chose to add optics later, you wouldn't have co-witness issues with the rear sight (and you'd maintain BZO with the "iron" sights).

Something like these:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=138632613
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=138720672

Or for a non flip-up rear with elevation adjustment:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=138528810

Rick,

You can get a Magpul MBUS for the rear at about $55 +$0.01 shipping from AIM:

http://www.aimsurplus.com/acatalog/mpmag246a.jpg

It fits under a magnifier nicely if you ever get one, say a set up like this with which a lot of BUIS are too tall to fit.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/b...lamorshot1.jpg

If you want a good low cost knock-off red dot, I really think you should consider the Primary Arms M3 multi-reticle sights. He's out of the 2 MOA multi-reticle right now, but he's expecting some before your Del-Ton kits should arrive. Marshall is a straight shooter and hasnt' tried to oversell his clones, which are sold along side his Aimpoints.

His cantilever mount is nice and strong (puts the red dot at 1/3 co-witness). I don't see why some guys are willing to pay $100-$200+ for a cantilever mount from Larue or some of the favorites among the fanboys. Sure some have additional features, but IMO it's just fluff.

When I was about to buy an Aimpoint CompML2, I shopped for a mount (Aimpoints don't come with a mount!) after which I said screw it. I would have spent $400 for the Aimpoint, then another $100+ for a mount. when I could have a mounted red dot from Primary Arms for $100. That was before I knew I could buy Marshall's $29 cant mount for the Aimpoint. I might have been OK with $430 or so for an Aimpoint+mount total, but for a lot less than that I now have two setups from PA, one with a 5X magnifier and one without a magnifier for a couple of different rigs. I really wanted the 10,000+ hr battery life of the Aimpoint, but figured it wasn't necessary if I just had a couple of spare batteries available for my PA sights.

As it turned out, I picked up an LED flashlight from Walmart for $25 that uses two CR2 batterries. The light is less than 4" long of machined aluminum and fits in a 5-position quick dismount CAA holder that I got a while back. So I have a 115 lumens light that throws a beam 65 meters out for a total of no more than $65...and I have spare batterries for my red dot.

As with Porsche parts, I can't stand to spend big money on over priced stuff that isn't necessary. The stuff we're buying for our range toys are just that...toys. If I was going into battle it would be a dififerent story.

From the recent CT SWAT Challenge a few of the vendor displays.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1252245097.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1252245143.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1252245198.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1252245241.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1252245303.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1252245350.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1252245646.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1252245680.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1252245097.jpg
That's the setup my brother has on his AR.

That Doctor sight is a complete and total ripoff (The freaking sight is $400, and the tiny little mount is another $100+ on top of it!!!), and the ACOG is not much better ($900 plus bucks, a good sight sure, but wtf). Both are blatantly over-priced prodcuts and that setup is no better than using regular tritium night sites with an on the handle high quality illuminated reticle 1.5-4x power scope (preferrably with milspec dots). A setup that would cost about 1/5th the price.

I didn't tell my brother this because i didn't want to hurt his feelings, but it's the truth.

ok, some noob questions again. what is a 'weaver' style mount, as opposed to a typical 'rail' mount? Does the weaver mean the 'hoop' portion, but they stillconnect to the rail? Im doing some searching for a handle mounted Aimpoint mount and ran across a few questions...

They're almost the same thing really. A weaver usually just has less machined slots.

How bout a .416, for fun?
eric
Anyone go here:
http://www.snipersparadise.com/

I think a guy named Low Light runs their forums there. I don't really know him, but he seems quite knowledgeable from the posts ive read, if it's the site i'm thinking of.

Go rummage around there, lots of fun stuff and info.
eric

ok, so an Aimpoint CompML3 will mount to a weaver handle top mount, like this one?

http://www.gunaccessories.com/ar15/ar15scopemounts.asp
(scroll down to view)

It should rattlsnake.

I was looking at this scope tonight for my AR. It's about perfect for real world capability when paired with tritium night sights:

http://images.aandhmarketing.com/big...r/stm2732g.jpg
2x7x32, illuminated dual color mil-dot reticle, and one tenth of the cost of a magnified ACOG.

On 2x with both eyes open and the reticle turned on it would work quite well as an occulated "Reflex" type sight, while still giving good long range capability on 7x.

Snipe, what's the make and model of that one and are you talking about co-witnessing the reticle with the front sight?

I'm talking about using the tritium iron sights as a backup in case the scope becomes inoperable.

The scope in my last post is a NCStar i think. Cost is about $120.00 (plus shipping) There are several similar units on the market if you want a "designer" name brand. This one has all the features i'm looking for in one unit, and is nice and compact. I'll mount it on my carrying handle on a sight through mount (first i'll do some googling on that specific model to check out some user reviews on it).

They make this same scope in various mags including fixed 4x, 3-9x, and with a 42mm objective lens. I like a low minimum magnification though. A 2x settting is quite good for use as an OEG.

Here's a link to the model i am most favorably considering:

http://focuscamera.com/product.asp?id=964772156

The same site has the magnificed Trijicon ACOG for $1300.00.....

My build is a flat top upper. I assume that unit will work on a flat top, no?

Yep. It comes with a quick detatch mount already built in.

I wish to maintain a carrying handle on mine though, so i'll have to buy one of the sight through carry handle mounts. I think they're like $30.00

I qualified expert on Iron sighted M-16s every time i tried (4 times total- 3x on an A2, 1x on an A1. I achieved a grand total of 156 hits out of 160 possible on pop up targets from 25-300 meters. 3 of the 4 misses occured with my A1). Anyway, i have a tremendous amount of confidence in M16A2 Iron sights. I also like the rugged reliability and 15 year power source of trijicon iron sights as backups.

Odds are that tritium iron sights are the only thing that will survive any kind of hand to hand combat if you need to use your rifle as a club/pike.

While we're on that topic, i prefer the older M7 bayonet to the newer M9 for actual HTH combat. The M9 is a much more rugged and useful survival tool, but the older M7 "pig sticker" is a better bayonet for actual fighting IMO. They were known for breaking in half inside the enemy soldier, thereby causing extremely grevious wounds. The odds of having to use your rifle in HTH are very small, but it is a possibility. So best to be prepared.

http://www.quarterbore.com/images/ba...chwithbayo.jpg
M7 bayonet

http://www.m9bayonet.com/images/rra-mid-m9bayonet.jpg
M9 bayonet

That's because it's one tenth the quality. Seriously, NCStar scopes are garbage, and are barely worth putting on a bb/airsoft gun. You will regret buying one.

Don't be tempted by other sub-par optics either (Barska, Leapers, UTG, BSA, BEC, etc.), even for plinking.

At that price point, you would be better off with something like Bushnell's ACOG red-dot knock-off:
http://swfa.com/Bushnell-1x32-Trophy-Red-Dot-Sight-P6913.aspx

Here's a decent 3x option for under $300 from Burris:
http://swfa.com/Burris-3x32-AR-Tactical-Sight-P12619.aspx

For other fairly decent optics under $200, check out the Mueller, Vortex, UltraDot, etc.

As i said, there are plenty of other manufacturers around that make the same basic scope configuration, if you want to pay more money and get more quality.

I've never used or seen an NCStar, and as i said, it's just representative of what i want, i'd check out reviews before i ever bought one. (as i stated in my last post). I do think that people often fool themselves with the "more money = better product" mindset though. Like these chicks that pay $300.00 for a $90.00 perm, or $1000.00 for a $100.00 purse.

Seriously though....if you're buying an ACOG or a Doctor, you're paying at least a 100% markup just for the name alone.

The 1x magnification scopes are utterly pointless IMO. Your iron sights already do that job, and if they're tritiums they do it round the clock...without batteries, for a fraction of the cost.

When i was in the Army we used M-3A Leopold scopes on our M-21s. There are plenty of scopes around that are double the price or more, but the M3A does the job extremely well. We also used simple fixed 4x32 Bushnell scopes on our M-16s, and yes, they were cheap...but they also worked.

I do understand your point though. If someone bought the -type- of scope i'm recommending with the name Redfield or Leopold on the side, i'd certainly not think they wasted their money. But Trijicon ACOGs and Doctors are blatant rip offs, that's my opinion.

I looked at a bunch of NCStar reviews....no one had anything nice to say...at all.

This one looks pretty nice though...especially for the money. It's a Millet too, so the name brand gods are appeased. ;)

The online reviews i was able to find seem pretty solid.

Anyway, it's $220.00.

http://www.bigrivertactical.com/i//dms_2008_2.jpg
Millett DMS-1 Tactical 1-4x24

http://www.bigrivertactical.com/catalog/item/4193480/4454996.htm

It is a bit on the long side for my taste though, so my search continues.