hk vs. m4 front sight

[Rockhopper]

i cannot find too much info about these and the differences. why do you guys choose one or the other. i am talking about folding front iron sights. is it just preference? why do you choose the hk style or the m4 style?

[5POINT56]

i cannot find too much info about these and the differences. why do you guys choose one or the other. i am talking about folding front iron sights. is it just preference? why do you choose the hk style or the m4 style?

Personal preference.

As you've likely seen, M4/AR style sights have 'ears' that curve outwards, while the HK sights have ears that form a partial circle.

Looking through an RDS, I prefer the HK style since it contours the circular sight picture from the tube....but there's no right or wrong here....and I virtually never use irons anyway.

Just be sure you don't buy HK sights made for an HK weapon....because they aren't going to work real well on a platform they weren't designed for. Different rail heights, though I'm not sure about the 416. Any BUIS Troy makes is GTG....which are what's on all my guns, both HK style and otherwise.

[RyanB]

GI ears are better than an HK hood. The latter encourages diopter based shooting will normally make your shots go low.

[Joe R.]

The problem with the HK style sights out there for the M4 is that they use the front sight post for elevation adjustment. The true HK front sight post is fixed in the center of the front sight ring and uses the rear sight for both windage and elevation adjustments.

By using the post for elevation adjustment it moves to post from the center of the ring. This creates a problem because your eye will want to center the ring in the rear sight aperture rather then the front sight post. Your eye naturally wants to center circles within circles. If the front sight post isn't in the center of the circle this creates an issue. Now you will need to conciously decide if you center the circles and use the front sight post where it falls within the diopters, OR center the tip of the front sight post. And yes, it will make a difference in point of impact.

The speed of a true diopter sighting system comes from the ability to make the front sight ring/rear aperture alignment. Moving the front sight post in the front ring eliminates the advantages of the diopter sighting system.

Hope this helps.

[Roecar]

Thanks Joe, I was not aware of the difference in design between the M4 posts and HK posts. Definitely something to keep in mind with BUIS.

[MrSmitty]

I had that exact problem with a Troy HK style front and an Aimpoint Micro. I tended to instinctively center the ears in the Micro but my post wasn't centered in the ears...

[T2C]

I prefer the standard M4 style iron front sight. I like for my sight wings to be a bit more open than the HK style front sight. With more light drawn to the top of the front sight, I shoot higher with the M4 sight than the HK sight when engaging multiple targets quickly.

I had a HK93 that I shot for a lot of years, but I felt I was faster on target and more accurate with the M4 style sight.

[rauchman]

I prefer the M4 style sight picture as well. I like having a more open sight picture.