I leave them on. A lot of work (in my opinion) to remove A2 front sights. And the flip up’s can stay down and out of the way.
Also, if my irons are sighted in, then it makes sighting in the optic much easier.

 

I leave them on. A lot of work (in my opinion) to remove A2 front sights. And the flip up’s can stay down and out of the way.
Also, if my irons are sighted in, then it makes sighting in the optic much easier.

Exactly!
And if your battery pukes you can still shoot.

 

Backups are a good idea and cost is minimal. Why not have them? I’d need a rational argument devoid of a bunch of zany “what if’s” to remove mine. I learned to shoot with irons as well, so another reason they are GTG.

 

Same. USMC Veteran here earned my way shooting with irons before they ditched them.

 

If my optic is QD sure, I'll install back ups. If not? Nope.

Offset irons aren't much use to me.

 

You’ll likely never need it, but what’s a few more ounces?

 

For rds, buis for sure. LVPO, personal choice.
Last "person" that took one of the AR classes was insistent all he needed was his rds, NO NEED FOR IRON SIGHTS. Ok whatever works for you, but they're nice to have.

As he's walking up to the line, we hear him say. Hold on my optics not working. OOPS.

 

I voted yes, but real answer is on some yes, some no. On my shorts for HD I have dots and no BUIS. Shorts for XXX in 6.8SPC have BUIS. Any of my AR's meant to reach out longer than HD have BUIS. Those have a mix of ACOG's, VCOG, & LPVO's.

I've found these to be lightweight & very low drag.

Amazon.com : Magpul MBUS PRO Flip Up Steel Front Sight Black MAG275 Bundle with MBUS PRO Rear Sight Black MAG276 Made in USA : Sports & Outdoors

Amazon.com : Magpul MBUS PRO Flip Up Steel Front Sight Black MAG275 Bundle with MBUS PRO Rear Sight Black MAG276 Made in USA : Sports & Outdoors

www.amazon.com

 

Might depend on what you intend to use the ar15 for. I have one for HD and only have a red dot. If the dot fails the distances are so short it won’t matter.

However I have had a red dot fail on a handgun twice and having the iron sights told me exactly what was up. Basically the dot moved. Was shooting and hitting below the target. I could line up the iron sight and tell instantly that the dot moved.
Strange thing it would be ok and stay zeroed for a bunch of range sessions - then move again. Screws ok and all was tight.

 

What kind of dots failed you on your pistols?

 

I bought the magpul steel for mine, only have one and I am on a constant search for something that works for me. Iron sights give me better results..

 

Always like to have redundancy so yes. Also was issued an early Eotech that was constantly shifting zero. It was easy to verify and adjust with co witnessed irons. Troy Industry are my favorite BUIS.

 

Agreed Troy's sit on all my rifles. I do have some DD fixed sights on my 10.5 DD Upper that are sweet too

 

I got some offset BUIS to complement my ACOG. They're cheap knockoffs and not there to go out past 50 yards but they're nice to have just in case something happens to the ACOG (unlikely).

 

I'm going with a Vortex Gen2 1-6 and going to run an offset micro red dot on a Badger Mount. Still going to keep my Flip up Troys on my rifles though.

 

I like to turn off the optic, flip up the BUIS and shoot steel at 100 the old fashioned way sometimes to keep it real. Zero'd at 50 but can hit off hand at 100 pretty well. If i can still see iron sights I feel like I should stay proficient with them.

They're plastic magpuls. Don't weigh much or interfere with anything.

 

They don't cost you anything sitting there waiting to be put in service. Batteries are unreliable in general and can fail at any time even if new.

 

For my 5.56 I have an acog on it. After ten years the bright bits will start to fail but it works with just about any ambient light. It also has buis steelies on it. Why not? My 300 blk has a rds on it and also buis steelies. Both flip down when I'm not messing with them.

 

It's unlikely I'll ever "go to war" with my guns and it is easier to grab a different one than to use backup sights, but I do have them on my build that just have a red dot.

I've only ever had one red dot fail on me and I just put that gun away for the session and shot another.

I admit that at times I've been perplexed by pictures I've seen with BUIS nested under a scope where they cannot be used without removing the scope and couldn't be cowitnessed with a magnified optic anyway....without a quick release setup on the scope. If I'm going to have to break out a tool to use the backup, I'd rather just have a backup gun.

So yeah, the current 17.7" with A2 stock that I'm working on will ultimately wear a LPVO and no backups.

My 14.5 P&W has an acog and offset RMR. I guess they back each other up.

 

Depends on your use case and primary optic. I've got a 1x etched reticle, so other than the reticle not turning red, there is not much of a way for them to fail.

Honestly, for 99% of people, they are just "looks cool operator gizmos".

USMC riflemen primarily use optics with NO BUIS. If those guys don't need it, entirely unlikely you need them either, unless you are running some sort of competition that uses them as part of the course of fire.

For the vast majority of the rest of us, it's primarily to satisfy "gosh, bump in the night and my optic fails at the wrong moment, I need to be PREPARED" entirely unlikely to EVER happen scenarios.

 

Depends on your use case and primary optic. I've got a 1x etched reticle, so other than the reticle not turning red, there is not much of a way for them to fail.

Honestly, for 99% of people, they are just "looks cool operator gizmos".

USMC riflemen primarily use optics with NO BUIS. If those guys don't need it, entirely unlikely you need them either, unless you are running some sort of competition that uses them as part of the course of fire.

For the vast majority of the rest of us, it's primarily to satisfy "gosh, bump in the night and my optic fails at the wrong moment, I need to be PREPARED" entirely unlikely to EVER happen scenarios.

Heck with that optimistic logic we should just get rid of our firearms since we ain’t gonna need em! Heaven forbid I would get labeled “operator gizmo”! Lolol

 

no buis on mine, I run a 4.5-14x50 leupold vx3hd cds HPVO

 

You lost me where "Leupold" ended, but that's one hell of a scope for an AR carbine...

 

BUIS on anything I consider for home defense. But I'm a belt and suspenders guy.

But if you don't do it, odds are much better these days with newer lighted-only optics (red dots) that battery exhaustion will not happen quickly. There are many that have huge thousands-of-hours battery life in part because of motion-sensing turn on and off schemes and better illuminators. That's why I don't sweat just battery-run optics on range-specific rifles (the ones that would be used only if it were the only one left). You still have the problem of getting optics covered with gunk or breaking somewhat easier than irons.

 

Agreed. Holosun has been killing it lately with their red dot optics battery life and durability as well. I have 4 of them. I keep them all powered off as they sit but have yet to pick a weapon up, turn the optic on and find a dead battery. Only optics I've had to change batteries out of are RMRs which stay "on" constant...but even those at low power settings have great battery life. I'm going with an LPVO with an etched reticle and red dot center to test on my 16" BCM ELW Upper.

 

I used to put BUIS on my rifles. But now I skip it. I run either a 1x prism or 1-6x LVPO. Even if the battery dies I have an etched reticle. And if I were to run an offset sight I would run a reflex sight.

 

I used to put BUIS on my rifles. But now I skip it. I run either a 1x prism or 1-6x LVPO. Even if the battery dies I have an etched reticle. And if I were to run an offset sight I would run a reflex sight.

I used to put BUIS on my rifles. But now I skip it. I run either a 1x prism or 1-6x LVPO. Even if the battery dies I have an etched reticle. And if I were to run an offset sight I would run a reflex sight.

My SCAR 17 has a 2.5 X 10 Nightforce with an RMR Offset, my 18" Daniel Defense V7 Pro Runs A Vortex Viper Gen 1 2.5 X 10 X 44 with an Holosun 503GU at an Offset. Both still wear BUIS.

 

 

Three of my ARs have optic and buis. One has carry handle and front A2.
“Two is one and one is none”. Anything can fail.

 

For the rifles that already have a FSGB, I do put a rear flip up. Makes sense since there is already an iron front sight. The exception is the 20" which has a pic-rail carry handle and nothing else. At least till I swap it out for an A2 upper receiver.

 

I always have them. No real downside, only positives.

 

Love the Badger Mount. I ordered me one last night with a J Arm to run a T1/T2 Type Micro Red Dot at an offset. I went with the same color, 1.70 height to run the Vortex Viper PST Gen 2 1 X 6 I just ordered...Merry Christmas to me LOL

 

With a dot I like them, but cheapo is fine as long as they fold.

With a scope I don’t bother, but if already on there and out of the way would not bother taking them off.

 

I have Trijicon, Aimpoint, Holosun, Sightmark, and cheapies for various RDS I have ARs with Irons only (while partial to Diamondhead's, I have several different respected brands of Irons) I recently palmed of three ARs to my son, one had no sights (my bad), one had a MRO and Irons and the AR-10 a Trijicon Accupoint ($1100 or so just for the scope).

Of my many remaining I have a mixed bag, I just need to shoot more.

 

On my "reach out and touch someone" rifles I run 2 X 10 (A Nightforce and a Vortex Razor). All my short distance rifles run Holosun Red Dot 503CUs. I love that I can switch to a single dot or to the EOTECH "donut of death" if i want to. With my aging eyes, I'm experimenting and seeing if it's beneficial to go to an LPVO instead. Looking at pro and cons such as eye relief, weight, durability, etc.

 

For a few dollars more Vortex makes a 1-8

For a few dollars more Vortex makes a 1-8

I was thinking about that but for me I think I'm good with 1 X 6 and couldn't pass up on the price I got it for.

 

If I recall correctly correctly the 1-8 weighs less than the 1-6 as well.

 

I have them for sure..Colt M4,War on Terror Rifle..

 

Added benefit that there's more stuff to take off and throw at them when you run out of ammo and they are still out of clubbing range