New rifle rear sight is jammed. Help!

[Ct1992]

Hey everyone

First time poster I just recently purchased one of these bad boys just to have something fun to shoot at the range. I purchased it new from cabelas (flame away I had gift cards to spend). Once I got to the range I went to sight it in and noticed the rear sight seems to be jammed... It looks like it is stuck in the tallest position possible. When I rotate then dial it does click in both directions but it doesn't move the sight up or down in any direction.

Is this a common issue with an easy fix? I'm new to this style of rifle and I do not want to mess up the sight. Honestly it shot pretty great out of the box but I don't like the idea of it being jammed up. Just looking for some input before I take it back to the location or contact s&w directly.

 

[sithlord]

IMHO you'd be hard pressed to visually notice a difference unless the rifle was completely rigid and you were looking through the sights. Knowing which version of the 15-22 might help as there are different sights for different versions.

Most sights are 1/2 to 1 minute of angle (moa) in adjustment. 1 moa is roughly 1" at 100 yards. Thats a VERY small angle.

Recommend putting it in a vice or sturdy bench rest and trying again. Or just buy a red dot or other optic. The 'iron' sights on the 15-22 aren't great to begin with, including the magpul. Good enuf, but not great.

 

[gm272gs]

Photos, please.

 

[BillyJack2012]

Pics would help since your new to this. That way we know what sights you have. Also, the elevation is set on the front sight. I've never set it on the rear. Windage in the rear, elevation in the front.

Are these folding polymer magpul sights or the standard fixed sights?

 

[sound wave]

Like Sithlord was saying, I don't know if you would be able to notice the elevation changes from the rear sight. That is used to compensate for different distances once you have your sight zeroed. This is assuming you have the A2 type sights and not the Magpul.

The main elevation adjustment is the front sight.

You should try youtubing how to zero an AR-15 using A2 sights.

 

[Ct1992]

Thanks for the replies guys here are a couple of pictures





As you can see the rear sight is at 5 currently and I shot 200 rounds yesterday with it set just like this. I have not touched the front sight at all. It shot great at 25-50 yards (small indoor range in pretty limited) but in closer (<10 yards) it shot probably a full in low.

It sounds like I need to go back and tinker with the front sight a little. My concern with the rear is when rotating the dial counter clockwise (down) it won't let me rotate passed the point in between 2 and 4. So there are some spots that it just won't go to at all, is that normal ? Is this adjustment on the rear more or less anesthetic than functional ?


I do plan on doing some sort of red dot in the near future. But I just hate the idea of having a brand new rifle that doesn't function exactly as it should out of the box... Even if the iron sights are kinda meh I wanna plink around with em for a while. Thanks for the help I'm new to this type of firearm. I just want it to be known I am not totally new to shooting as I have been a hunter for most of my life.

 

[cyphertext]

I'm running this same sight on my .22lr AR... I traded Magpul MBUS sights with my son for his fixed sights from his 15-22.

Turn that bottom dial counter clockwise and bottom that sight out. The bottom of the top piece should set flush with the base piece. Once you have it bottomed out, turn the bottom dial clockwise 3 clicks to the Z. With that setting, using the small aperture, sight the rifle in at 25 yards, adjusting for elevation with the front sight and windage at the rear sight.

Once you have 25 yards at the Z sighted in, you can bottom the sight out again and be on at 50 yards. To go to 100 yards, you would turn the sight past the Z setting. I'm not sure how many clicks, as my eyesight is poor enough that I am only good out to 50 yards without magnification.

When sighted in at 25 yards, it will shoot low at 10 and 15 yards...

 

[Ct1992]

But that is the issue ... No matter what I do with the dial the sight does not move back down towards the base. It just clicks and doesn't seem to effect height at all

 

[cyphertext]

But that is the issue ... No matter what I do with the dial the sight does not move back down towards the base.

Does the bottom dial just continue to spin, or does it stop?

 

[Ct1992]

It stops and when I spin it until it stops the top part of the dial has a lot of play in it as in the bottom is stopped and when I touch just the top of the dial it will spin freely on it's own about a quarter of a rotation loosely while the bottom stays put.


At this point I'm pretty sure I just got a bum sight. It just sucks because I would have noticed it myself but the procedure they follow at cabelas didn't put it in my hand outside of the box. They open it and have 3 people inspect it sign off the tape it closed and give it to you. Apparently 3 people didn't notice this.

 

[cyphertext]

Sounds like the index screw is broken or missing inside the drum. Call Cabela's and speak with a manager. I bet they would let you bring back just the rear sight and swap it out with a comparable rear sight from Mako or UTG.

 

[Ct1992]

All set they were duds. Cabelas swapped me out no questions asked. Picked up a grip while I was there. Thanks for the input folks


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[cyphertext]

Awesome. In my experience, Cabela's takes care of their customers. I was going to buy a used shotgun and the tag said they had the box. They couldn't find the box, which I really didn't care about since it was cardboard anyway, but I wanted to know if the chokes, choke wrench, and manual were with the gun. The manager told me to give him a day to locate the box, and if he couldn't find it, he would set me up with a set of chokes and wrench.

Next day when I went back, they had a new one in the rack, so I bought it instead. But I was still pleased that they were going to make sure I had everything the gun originally came with if I bought the used one.

 

[Ct1992]

Yeah they have restored my faith in the store. Last time I went in looking for a deer shotgun and dealt with an associate that... Well to put it nicely just wasn't helpful. Technically they are supposed to send my rifle out for repair but he just swapped me out and will send that one out for repair instead to save me the headache.


Now to get to actually finding some ammo! Again thanks for the responses. I think I will be spendin some more time around this forum.