BUIS & BCG recommendations

[Diamondback]

Piggybacking onto this... I've been looking at Diamondhead sights--kind of like the "big diamond-little diamond-crosshair-post" layering thing they do for helping with alignment--and found a set for $85, along with an AIM Surplus nickel-boron BCG for $100 shipped.

Anyone have experience with either?

 

[ORYGUNHolsterCompany]

I personally dig hk style sights vs m16/4, I find a circle in a circle is vastly easier to center/see targets than a "Y" type m4 or diamond type sights. Can't stand the humongous magpul buis that block everything, but that's just me.

My personal preference is the lwrc hk folders, not cheap but, but once cry once.

BCG, personally if it head spaces and functions I leave it alone until necessary to replace.

For replacements I run fail zero mainly but have had good luck with almost all major brands. My preferences for bcg's are low friction, followed by ability to clean easily. Nickel boron and melonited bcg's seem to do both very well.

 

[AMProducts]

I'm here to spoil the party...

BCG - Should have just bought the PSA one. Ain't much more to it than that.

BUIS - Since you have an FFT, don't bother. The barrel and tube are probably not very well aligned, and certainly won't stay aligned under heat loading. You'd be better off with a shotgun bead attached to the muzzle brake.

I would probably go with a low-magnification scope, 1-6x or a fixed 3-4 power, and put a small reflex sight on top of that.

 

[3MTA3]

I personally dig hk style sights vs m16/4, I find a circle in a circle is vastly easier to center/see targets than a "Y" type m4 or diamond type sights.

You aren't alone there at all. I used Troy HK style folders on my builds and compared to the standard wing style sight feel much faster as they dray the eye to the center.

BUIS - Since you have an FFT, don't bother. The barrel and tube are probably not very well aligned, and certainly won't stay aligned under heat loading. You'd be better off with a shotgun bead attached to the muzzle brake.

That's actually a really great point I think a lot of people miss with low profile gas block free floats.

 

[AMProducts]

That's actually a really great point I think a lot of people miss with low profile gas block free floats.

Back when I worked firearms retail, we would sell a gun with an FFT, customer would come back a few weeks later and say "it doesn't shoot right", they would bring it in and I get to say "well, there's your problem right there, you're using BUIS on a FFT". I'd usually get them into a decent optic that was less than $100, and they would come back a few weeks later and say "all fixed".

Out of all the AR's I've had, only one of them has ever had a low-pro gas block instead of a front sight, and that was a dedicated scoped rifle.

A lot of people see these tricked out AR's that are all operator slick with flip up sights, I'm not sure most people zero them. I've got an M4gery that's kinda my Work In Progress gun, it's currently wearing a Nikon P223-3x (don't buy this scope btw). With I think a KAC flip up rear (same one that comes on the M4), it's been one of my more frustrating builds as I'm trying to find the right optic. I'm probably going to throw some money down on one of the primary arms 3x prism scopes, but I have yet to really make up my mind. In general, the best out of the box optic is probably one of the primary arms micro-red dots. Buy the holosun/pa riser for it when you get it. It's solid, holds zero, and runs less than $100.

 

[Dungannon]

I appreciate all your responses. It's why I joined this site.

My son and son-in-law love mag dumps - Not me. I'm old, overweight and slow; and think '35 cents' every time I pull the trigger.

I can still see 20-20 at distance, but need reading glasses for close-up. Every long gun I own has a scope or red-dot, and this AR will certainly get a variable scope of some type [likely 1-6]. In reality, I could easily dispense with iron sights, but somehow it just seems odd not to have them on an AR.

I think a couple of you have asked what my intended use is. Good question as it would likely influence your recommendation. I'm more a bolt-action or level-action kind of guy, but this renewed interest in getting the Oly carbine more up-to-date was triggered as much by anti-2a antics as it was a realization that I've rarely shot it over the years. That could change with some improvements.

If any of you are into woodworking with handtools, then you'll understand the following illustration. I don't bat an eyelash spending $425 on a Lie-Neilsen hand plane, but wouldn't spend $8000 for one hand made by Ron Brese or Raney Nelson. Same way with guns. I never try to find the rock bottom cheapest way to do something, but I don't chase technology or feel the need to have top-of-the-line bragging rights.

Edit: I think if it just looked less like this, it might be easier to see it as just another rifle.