Product Name: #71L-F Folding Front Sight, #71L-R Folding Rear Sight
Maufacturer: A.R.M.S, Inc.
Mfg website: A.R.M.S., Inc.
Purchased from: Ebay
Mfg's MSRP: $97.01 (set)
Purchase Price: $36.99

Overall Rating: Poor

I went looking for a set of flip-up sights shortly after I installed my red-dot; the stock iron sights on the 15-22 are good sights, but there are times when I want to use the red dot in cowitness mode, and times when I don't. Rather than have to cope with endlessly mounting and dismounting the factory sights, filp-up sights seemed to be in order.

The Magpul MBUS sights seemed to be the industry standard, but at nearly $100 for a set I was hoping to find something serviceable but a little less expensive. Magpul does have their PTS line, but everything I'd read about them indicated that they were not meant for use on actual firearms.

I ran across an ad on ebay for the ARMS sights at a reasonable price, and went to their webpage to research them. Everything there led me to believe that these were the real deal; letter of commendation from army departments, citations of use of the mfg's products by the Israeli military, All US made, 30+-year history... and the MSRP seemed to indicate that these would at least be on a par with Magpul Gen I MBUS sights. For 1/3 of MSRP, I figured it was hard to go wrong. So I ordered them.

My first impression out of the box was fairly positive; the plastic components seemed sturdy, the sight post and aperture were metal as advertised, and the folding mechanism locked down securely and popped up strongly when the sights were released.

The more I looked at them, though, and especially the first time I took them to the range, the more I started to notice quality issues:

• Mold index lines were clearly visible all over the parts, and in some cases small amounts of flash needed to be trimmed away.
• The rear sight apertures were steel, but they are also painted glossy black; even in indoor lighting the inner surfaces of the apertures produced glare.
• When popping the rear sight up, the long-range aperture would unfold partway due to inertia, which would block the sight picture until it was either flipped all the way up, or all the way down. Annoying on the range, and not exactly 'tactical' for a back-up sight.
• The front sight post seemed long, and would only screw a couple clicks into the body of the sight and then bound up so tightly I barely got it to move again. By removing the sight post entirely, I discovered that this was due to leftover plastic debris from the spring-retention hole protruding into the sight post cavity. Once this was cleared, the pin could be adjusted much lower... but even completely bottomed out it was sligthly too tall to allow for proper sighting at the range. All shots were hitting low when the sight post was centered on target.
• The sight post was difficult to adjust with a standard tool; after I had the sight post out it tuns out that this is due to the detent pin that locks the sight post in place was far too small for the hole it resides in; it would flop over out of the way of the sight adjustment tool, and then bind the sight post from turning.
• I'd also bought myself a set of replacement sight posts in various shapes (ball tip, V tip, etc) that I wanted to try, but I could not use them since the ARMS sight's front post is of non-AR-15-standard dimensions. Which also explained some of the adjustment problems - a standard sight tool doesn't line up right.
• The threaded hole that the front sight post screws into is off-center by roughly a millimeter; this makes the sight post rub on one side of its bore, and also forces the rear sight to need to be adjusted off-center in order to get proper horizontal sight alignment.

All in all, a fairly damning list for a product with an MSRP equal to the going price for Magpul MBUS Gen II's.

For a sight system supposedly of battlefield-ready quality, they were unable to even provide satisfactory performance on a .22lr rifle under indoor range conditions & at a range of only 50 feet.

I ordered and received a set of Mapul MBUS Gen II sights last week, and although I have not yet had a chance to shoot with them, the difference in quality is obvious.

Bottom line; unfortunately, these 'bargain' A.R.M.S sights turned out to be no bargain, even at 1/3 the MSRP. I'll probably be giving them to a friend at work whose kid plays airsoft. They are likely adequate for that purpose.

That's a shame because ARMS is a top notch company known for making
battle proven components. Maybe they should leave the polymer stuff
to Magpul!

Thanks for the review!

MBUS are able to take lots of abuse too, and still work exceptionally well.

When using in icy, snowy conditions, when deploying the sights, ya gotta make sure no ice builds up in the 'pivots', and the sight deploys fully.

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AKA: "Strange Tamer"

I've ran A.R.M.S. sights and Magpul sights on lots of ARs over the years. Never had a problem with either.

I've also spent LOTS of months in Asia and seen LOTS of clone A.R.M.S and Magpul sights for "to good to be true" prices. Those clones are all over eBay. Do you still have the sellers info? I would like to check them out.

This. I make it a point to never purchase from ebay (or Amazon). Only purchase from reputable dealers. There are countless stories of knock offs (Magpul, Troy, Larue...) being sold on ebay.

Also, at 50 feet, it's going to be hard to get that sight post down to where you need it. Those sights are designed for a much further zero.

Ebay is a **** shoot. I'm betting Airsoft. All the A.R.M.S. stuff I use/used over the years has been quality.

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SaveLivesKeepCiviliansArmed

Review of the A.R.M.S. #71L series, Front and Rear Sights Set. | Paulo Santos Weapon Review Blog

The poster of the review also talked about the aperture not staying put when deploying the sight. And ARMS
other sights have been known not be be easily adjusted with a bullet tip.

I likely still have the e-mails at home - - I will check them tonight and will PM you the info.

Brett, that review seems to echo the problems I had, including the inability to get the front sight post low enough for proper targetting. Thanks for sharing!

I have since been able to get my MBUS sights out to the range, and had no similar issues with them - - plenty of downward adjustment left even after zeroing for short range. And the MBUS front post is standard dimension - - I can use my other posts (ball-tip, V-tip, etc) on it without issue.