Armed forces iron sights

[caliberclark 9]

anyone have any pics or any ideas of what kind of iron sights are on the m16s that recruits qualify with?

thank you

[RoughRider666 47]

they are Standard M-16 A2 Irons as far as I know, Nothing Special.

[Casp 119]

As far as I know, all recruits in all branches of the military are required to qualify with the M16A2 rifle. The M16A4 and M4 used in combat have the same sights, more or less, with a couple small differences.

 

Front sight is a square post, elevation adjustable in 1.5moa (1.5" at 100 yards) increments with a special tubular wrench. Rear sight is a double L-shaped aperture with a very large ghost ring for 0-200m range (marked "0-2") and a small peep aperture for 300m range, windage adjustable in 0.5moa increments via thumb-wheel. The rear also has a bullet drop compensator (BDC) elevation dial for use with the long range peep aperture graduated 300-800m (the actual clicks are in 1moa increments, and the BDC is meant for the 62gr M855 round. Other bullet weights and velocities may not quite match up with the BDC markings as they may have slightly different ballistic arcs.)

 

The M16A4 and M4 have a detachable carry handle clamped onto the flat-top upper receiver. The sights are mechanically the same, but the adjustments come out slightly different. On the M16A4, front elevation and rear windage are the same as on the M16A2, but the BDC is only graduated 300-600m and in 0.5moa increments. On the M4, due to the shorter barrel and sight radius, front elevation is in 2moa increments, 0.75moa for rear windage, and 0.75moa for the BDC.

 

They are sighted in at 25m (82 feet) with the long range aperture selected and the BDC dialed to the Z-mark, one click above the 300m setting, on the M16A2. On the M16A4 the Z-mark is two clicks above 300m, and on the M4 you ignore the Z-mark and leave it set to 300m. Arbitrary elevation zero should be adjusted during sight-in using ONLY the front sight. Once the rifle is zeroed, the BDC dial is used only to adjust for bullet drop at long range (thus the name,) and only with the long-range aperture. The short-range "0-2" aperture should be used with the BDC dialed all the way down to 300m.

 

Oh and also, the sight body is canted when you look at it from above, and this is fairly normal. There is a small spring-loaded tensioning plunger built into the left side of the sight body, pushing away from the left side of the carry handle, to take the slop out of it, thus the odd cant.

 

 

Notice that when the long-range aperture is flipped up, there is a line on top of the short-range ring which lines up with windage ticks marked on the sight body:

 

 

On the following picture you can just barely see the "8/3" marking on the BDC drum. The total adjustment of the drum is one full turn so the 300m and 800m markings are at the same spot, with the 8 on top. On the M16A4 or M4 this would obviously be "6/3" instead.

 

 

 

Here's the front sight adjustment wrench for the A2 type front sights. Not to be confused with the A1 wrench, which has five fingers on it instead of four.

 

 

EDIT:

 

Here are some photos I just snapped of my semi M4, with Colt rail-mounted carry handle/rear sight. Notice the "6/3" and "Z" markings on the BDC. Sorry for the crummy quality, I don't have very good lighting in here. I had to mess around with the camera settings to get the markings to stand out.

 

 

 

Front sight:

 

Edited October 29, 2010 by Caspian Sea Monster

[Threecard 15]

Nicely done, Monster.

[MN.9130 44]

Caspian,

 

I sure wish all the services qualified their recruits with 16A2s! Us squids have to be different: Besides 5 rounds through a Mossberg M500, It's entirely M9 Service Pistol in boot camp. I never touched a rifle, EVER, until I reported to my first command... a deployable joint command... where they handed us GUU-5Ps and asked the class how much everybody remembered about the battery of arms.

 

I had to raise my hand and quietly explain myself. And my service. There was total silence.

 

 

+1 to your write up, though!

[Casp 119]

I had to raise my hand and quietly explain myself. And my service. There was total silence.

 

Holy geez, that had to be awkward...

 

Oh, the USAF and their slick-side, pencil-barrel carbines. Just because they have to be different.

 

Thanks for the compliments and +1s... sometimes I feel like I overdo it. Someone asks a simple technical question and I answer with a 5 page essay. I'm amazed that not once have I gotten a "tl;dr" response thus far.

[MT Predator 2,294]

USAF uses either M16A2s or M4s depending on unit. Nobody uses pencil barrels and uppers without forward assist. It's an ammo vs rifling thing. M855 isn't accurate fthrough 1:7 barrels and M193 isn't used anymore.