Hi all,
'Love the weapon and thinking about a few upgrades. I want to go with a quad rail, and I'd lke one longer than the stock one I think. So either I get a rial cut out for the A2 sight or I remove the sight and install a gas block. I think I understand that much. My question is Wouldn't I want to automatically remove the stock sight if I were going with a scope? I am reading about the scope co-witnessing with the stock sight... how does that work? I assme the scope and sight need to be at the same level and the red dot would sit on the sight pin that is on target..?? so how do you get the scope at the same level?

Now... I'm not trying to start some huge debate here, but what are the do's and don'ts or the pros and cons of leaving or removing the stock sight?

I appreciate your patience, I am trying to make sense of some things and get the look and function I want.

Thanks
Mike

Let me be the first one to tell you to take that gun out and shoot the snot out of it before you start making changes to it. It will be much cheaper in the long run.

Use a low profile gas block.
Get folding sights.

^^^what he said^^^^

And there are better options than getting a cheese grater for a hand guard. Oxymoron there hand guard that is supposed to protect your hand but hurts it anyway....

Shoot it for a bit and see what you like and don't like. If you still want to get another hand guard, get something that you can mount rails to it in key places. It will be lighter and much much more friendly on your hand. You also don't want to be hanging every accessory under the sun on it. Keep it simple and only put on it what you need to get the rifle to do what you want it to do.

You have used the word scope and red dot as if these terms are interchangeable... they typically are not. A scope signifies that you are using magnification, and you do not co-witness iron sights with an optic that has magnification.

I agree with the others... go shoot it, buy ammo, shoot it some more. Once you have a feel for the AR platform, then shoot others with different configurations... then decide if you want to make changes.

Thanks for all the advice. Time to shoot snd shoot I guess!

Are there any reasonably priced sights that use the red dot but also have the crosshairs in case the battery isn't working that way you don't have to have iron sights on it

Based upon your question, it appears that you want a back up to the red dot in case of failure, correct?

If you need a back up, you would typically want it to be diverse from your main sighting system... Much more can happen to an optic than just battery failure, especially a "reasonably priced" one.

However, there are some optics that are both battery powered and have etched reticles for use without power. I don't recall seeing this on a red dot sight, but I have seen it on some scopes.

Also, read up on using the battle sight (aperture rear, post front). You can do some pretty precise shooting just by learning marksmanship techniques. Maybe you'll still want an optic, maybe not.