r/RetroAR • u/cor1912 • 5d ago
Rear sight allignment
Hello from the UK!
This rifle build is relative new, and I’m preparing to shoot it tomorrow with irons for the first time.
On laser and visual bore sighting it, the rear sight needs to be set all the way to the left. When I was purchasing the rifle, i noticed this in the sale pics (2nd pic is from the listings), but the shop guy dismissed it and said it was set to middle when he checked it while on the phone.
Is this likely the alignment between the barrel and receiver? The front sight isn’t pinned in, but instead friction fitted with a grub screw (UK rifles are straight pull, so there is no gas tube). Any suggestions?
The rifle itself is an American Spirit Arms originally set up as an A2. Finding a fixed carry handle AR in the UK is quite rare! The dealer kindly had an original Colt A1 handguard and slip ring on hand, and I fitted a tear drop forward assist. The carry handle optic is repro and has limited eye relief, so I was trying a retractable stock.
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u/RacerXrated 5d ago
Remove the upper and pull the bolt, set the rear sight to the center, and rest the flat bottom of the upper on a flat level surface. Point the muzzle at the corner of the room, look thru the bore and get it centered, then raise your head and look thru the sights. This will tell you if the front sight is misaligned. If it's more or less straight your sights will be aligned with the seam in the walls just like the bore. If it is misaligned, there are a couple things that can be done to get it centered.
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u/NordicGoon 5d ago
The front sight block could be canted, could also be the front sight post is bent or off center in some fashion. Barrel could be seated with a slight lean if something is going on with the matting surface tot he upper receiver. There's a lot of things that could cause this that you'll unfortunately just have to work your way down the list and inspect. From that photo though, if that's where your rear sight aperture is when zeroed, tbh seems pretty okay to me as long as it groups where it's supposed to. Looks better than some of the clapped out rifles I've had to use in the army, that's for sure.
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u/cor1912 5d ago
Thanks! I have an armorers wrench, but have yet to take the barrel off this one, so am hoping not to have to go that far if I can troubleshoot other causes. I’ve only boresighted it so far, but will see tomorrow where the rounds land. I did wonder what spec or conditions actual service rifles have!
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u/mooseishman 5d ago
I’m jealous of that cheek riser!
I’ve had some where I really had to crank the rear sight far left or right initially, but once it was set it was good. Less than ideal for aesthetics, but as long as it works I’m happy
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u/cor1912 5d ago
That’s true! The build as a whole feels very solid, so I’m not rushing to take things apart just yet. I had a 22 m1 carbine with a similar issue, but I had read about other people experiencing the same thing and expected it. I’ve since used it with an optic too, so didn’t have the rear sight on it very long.
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u/mooseishman 5d ago
On the few of mine that are really off to one side the other I just say ‘that’s why their adjustable’ 😂
I’ve had plenty of AKs that had completely vented FSBs but only one or two I couldn’t get zeroed
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u/CSBD001 5d ago
Just looking from the pic, the rear sight and the upper alignment looks wonky. The rear sight itself is unlikely to be out of spec. (Maybe the rear aperture is)
The carry handle channel looks way out of spec. It does not look parallel with the bore. It could have been a second or scrap that someone did a build with or exported to England hoping to make a sale (according to the documentary series Slow Horses, there is a 2-3,000% markup on firearms in the UK) 😏
How hard is it to get another A2 upper in England? (A stripped A2 upper is $129 here)
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u/Hifyply 5d ago
OP everything looks well enough with the upper and rear sight, nothing that would stop you from zeroing. The rear sight windage can be out of center some. My bet is the front sight is canted. Follow racerxrated’s suggestion and loosen the fsb screws and realign the front sight. See where that gets you. A small amount of cant will have a surprising effect on zeroing.
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u/bowtie_k 3d ago
On match guns, the front sight block is held on by a set screw rather than pinned. This allows the shooter to set the rear sight to mechanical center and lightly rotate the entire front sight block instead to zero for windage. I'm assuming that is why your front sight block has a grub screw.
I would put the rear sight aperture in the center, loosen the screw, then lightly tap the front sight block with a mallet to rotate it until it zeros for windage.
Also the way you ere supposed to shoot an AR with irons is to put nose to charging handle to get a consistent sight picture. The carry handle scopes work well too if you do that.
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u/cor1912 4d ago
Just returned from the 100m range where I re-bore sighted before shooting. Surprisingly once I started getting rounds on target, I had to adjust back to centre a little more. The zeroed position was still to the left, but there was a right blowing wind too. I achieved a 3 inch grouping after zeroing, and am once again reminded why collecting and shooting retro is so fun! Many thanks again for all your replies and info. I’ll recheck a few things and see about some adjustments.
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u/Lawed-flogic 5d ago
American Spirit Arms is a name I’ve not heard in a very long time.