Question on BUIS

[e z money]

I'm thinking about putting a 5x prism scope on my next rifle and having iron sights on a 45 degree offset with a large rear aperture or even ghost ring rear sight. The irons on an offset would be a second sighting system for fast close up shots instead of buis. I'm going to try it out and see if I like it. I don't know if it's a dumb idea.

[ViniVidivici]

All our rifles have BUIS, regardless of optic type. Some have fixed front sights or FSBs too. Only way to roll, for reasons others have already stated here.

[202]

I have Aimpoint red dots on my ARs, and yes, I have backup iron sights on all of them.

[SteyrAUG]

Given the minimum size and weight, I'm not sure I can think of a single reason not to have BUIS.

[pag23]

I have back up sights on all my rifles.....scoped or RDS.

[26 Inf]

I have BUIS on every 'serious' rifle I have but not every rifle. Here are some thoughts I've had on the matter:

Optics are 'technology' and can fail, keeping up on batteries and checking contacts when you change batteries can help. That being said my biggest fear in a two-way encounter would be damage from gunfire, debris, or rough handling.

We always seem to imagine how our gunfights are going to go in a way the never ends in 'and then I died.' In our imaginary gunfight we will always have time to go to our BUIS. Going to BUIS can mean several things - dropping head down to pick them up in a lower third cowitness (may not be possible if tube has taken a round), rolling rifle to side in order get angled sights into play, or flipping up a front and rear combo. Point being, with it going fast and furious within, say, fifty yards, what will you really have time to do?

For example, I used to have a couple of CSAT apertures installed on rear sights. I liked the idea of being able to use the traditional pistol sight system - rear notch, front sight blade - for close in shots in order to avoid having to hold over for CNS shots. In practice I found that unless I started out on the notch, my dumbass was slower than with regular aperture and holding off. Because if I was looking through the normal aperture I had to decide, 'hey, this guys closer than 25' and then 'hey, I need to shoot him in between the eyes' and then 'hey, I need to go from the aperture to the notch' well by the time I did all that, found a sight picture in the notch, I was about 1 second off from just raising the front sight to his hairline. But that's just me.

The bottom line is we may need to get the next shot off too quickly to bring iron sights into the fray if our optic gets disabled. Train using the tube of the optic as a sight. If you've got a FSB rifle, where does it hit if you center it in the tube?

If your tube is a jagged hunk of metal you cant see through, traditional railed mounted BUIS aren't going to do you much good. If you have nothing else, how well do you shoot 'stance-directed' looking alongside the barrel?

BUIS or a MRDS are great if you have time to put them into play and/or the damage to your primary optic isn't such that they are out of play.

[SteyrAUG]

I have BUIS on every 'serious' rifle I have but not every rifle. Here are some thoughts I've had on the matter:

Optics are 'technology' and can fail, keeping up on batteries and checking contacts when you change batteries can help. That being said my biggest fear in a two-way encounter would be damage from gunfire, debris, or rough handling.

We always seem to imagine how our gunfights are going to go in a way the never ends in 'and then I died.' In our imaginary gunfight we will always have time to go to our BUIS. Going to BUIS can mean several things - dropping head down to pick them up in a lower third cowitness (may not be possible if tube has taken a round), rolling rifle to side in order get angled sights into play, or flipping up a front and rear combo. Point being, with it going fast and furious within, say, fifty yards, what will you really have time to do?

For example, I used to have a couple of CSAT apertures installed on rear sights. I liked the idea of being able to use the traditional pistol sight system - rear notch, front sight blade - for close in shots in order to avoid having to hold over for CNS shots. In practice I found that unless I started out on the notch, my dumbass was slower than with regular aperture and holding off. Because if I was looking through the normal aperture I had to decide, 'hey, this guys closer than 25' and then 'hey, I need to shoot him in between the eyes' and then 'hey, I need to go from the aperture to the notch' well by the time I did all that, found a sight picture in the notch, I was about 1 second off from just raising the front sight to his hairline. But that's just me.

The bottom line is we may need to get the next shot off too quickly to bring iron sights into the fray if our optic gets disabled. Train using the tube of the optic as a sight. If you've got a FSB rifle, where does it hit if you center it in the tube?

If your tube is a jagged hunk of metal you cant see through, traditional railed mounted BUIS aren't going to do you much good. If you have nothing else, how well do you shoot 'stance-directed' looking alongside the barrel?

BUIS or a MRDS are great if you have time to put them into play and/or the damage to your primary optic isn't such that they are out of play.

So you make a point about moving to them while engaged. I have some iron sight rifles that don't fold that are co witnessed with my RDS so no problem there. But to me BUIS are for times when you are carrying a rifle because you have to and at some point something fails or gets damaged and the Plan B is already in place.

I've also learned to "point shoot" at close distance. I have been shown repeatedly that sometimes you get zero warning and you are lucky if you can get the barrel up and a shot off.

[ABNAK]

If your tube is a jagged hunk of metal you cant see through, traditional railed mounted BUIS aren't going to do you much good. If you have nothing else, how well do you shoot 'stance-directed' looking alongside the barrel?

BUIS or a MRDS are great if you have time to put them into play and/or the damage to your primary optic isn't such that they are out of play.

That's where either offset BUIS or a quick-detach mount for the optic would come in handy. Digging for an Allen wrench to remove your damaged optic while rounds are zipping past your head ain't the most optimal situation to be in. Either tilting the weapon to use the offsets or reaching up and hitting a throw lever then slapping the trashed scope off the rail and out of the way would be a good deal more, uh, efficient.

[Diamondback]

Deuce-Six, the scenario you describe is why a lot of Elcans have vestigial irons mounted right on top of the optic. Glass gets broke, move your head a little higher and drive on.

Frankly, if I have the luxury of time to KNOW I'm going into a fight, I'm grabbing the FSB M4 and deploying the rear BUIS while I move to engage so that even if the Aimpoint takes a crap the iron's already there. C.'s C8 is set up similarly based on how a Canuck buddy set up his in the Rockpile, with the CF-issue plastic fixed sight at the very rear of the upper and the Eotech up front raised for lower-third so it's "adjust eye position and get back to work."

[Uncas47]

That's where either offset BUIS or a quick-detach mount for the optic would come in handy. Digging for an Allen wrench to remove your damaged optic while rounds are zipping past your head ain't the most optimal situation to be in. Either tilting the weapon to use the offsets or reaching up and hitting a throw lever then slapping the trashed scope off the rail and out of the way would be a good deal more, uh, efficient.

Even the QRP2 gets the Aimpoint off without tools, it's almost like they foresaw the need lol.