Scalarworks OPS Sights

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

I went back and forth between the Scalarworks OPS and the DD Fixed for a rear sight on my 6920 Patrol Rifle. Knowing that LAV had his hand in designing these, and seeing that Scalarworks makes quality mounts, I gave them a shot. They have not arrived yet, so I will post my review and thoughts here when they do. In the meantime, does anyone have them, and what has your experience been?

https://scalarworks.com/shop/iron-sights/ops-fixed/

Little to no mention of them on this site.

For Scalarworks input, please see Post https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...11#post2513511 7

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

I also contacted Scalarworks and requested their input in this thread, as well as a brief story on how they got connected to LAV. I contacted LAV regarding this thread as well.

[nimdabew]

Now that is interesting... If I wasn't flush with irons already, they would be on my radar.

[Campbell]

Those are really nice, and good job on the product description on their site also...

[GaryXD]

I got a set last week and installed them on my new BCM. Got it sighted in yesterday. I like them so far. I have two of their MRO mounts and am convinced of their quality.

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

I got a set last week and installed them on my new BCM. Got it sighted in yesterday. I like them so far. I have two of their MRO mounts and am convinced of their quality.

If you have the time, would you mind posting some pics and your general thoughts after sighting in?

[Scalarworks]

I also contacted Scalarworks and requested their input in this thread, as well as a brief story on how they got connected to LAV. I contacted LAV regarding this thread as well.

Thanks for starting this thread.

Larry Vickers got in touch with me as soon as we launched the Low Drag Mount in October of 2014. He was impressed with the mount and we agreed to meet up at SHOT show.

During that initial meeting he suggested that Scalarworks should design and make a set of fixed iron sights. He said the DD's he was using (and was involved with the design of) were fine, but he felt that there was room for improvement. He said that based on the quality of the Low Drag Mount's design and manufacturing, he felt that we could make the iron sights he always really wanted. Suffice it to say I was very flattered.

What Larry didn't know at the time is that designing a truly awesome set of fixed iron sights was a pet project of mine from way before I had started Scalarworks.

Here are some photos of the first prototype of a rear fixed sight I had 3D printed back in July of 2010:

OPS-protoype1.jpgOPS-protoype2.jpg

You can see from this early prototype that I was very much influenced by the design of the original LMT Mk18 sights.

Larry's biggest ask for the sights was a rear peep that was flat facing towards the shooter like the original A1 peeps were. No one could tell us at the time why this change had been made when the military went to the M16 A2. Whatever the reason was, it introduced a concave surface facing the shooter which under certain lighting conditions could reflect light and cause a less than ideal sight picture. For years Larry had been getting his friends at Colt Canada to send him rear peeps that remained flat facing towards the shooter. He would replace the stock A2 peep on his DD's with them.

We've recently been told that the scallop direction was reversed by Lt. Col. David A. Lutz (USMC), who was in charge of the M16's A2 program. He had noticed that Marines doing their rifle quals would wear away the black oxide finish on the flat face of the peep over the years, as they had to routinely flip the peep back and forth. This exposed the shiny metal underneath, which is obviously not a good outcome. His solution was to flip the scallop direction.

Larry was also keen on getting a scaled down front sight post that was more suited to the shorter sight radii that most modern rifles have. As for the manual elevation/windage adjustments, we agreed that going tool-free was a luxury, but it wouldn't feel like a Scalarworks product if you couldn't do it with just your hands. Finally, once all of those elements were in place it was a no brainer to use a custom thread-pitch on both the front post and rear peep to fine tune the adjustment per click to be 0.5MOA/click, to match what every Aimpoint Red Dot sight has. Obviously this value will vary slightly depending on the specific sight radius but it's a hell of a lot closer in most circumstances than a stock A2. We include a simple formula in the instruction sheet to get your exact MOA/click based on your exact sight radius.

As Campbell has pointed out, we have a lot of this described and illustrated on our website: https://scalarworks.com/shop/iron-si...d-iron-sights/

If anyone has any specific questions please feel free to post them here.

[tehpwnag3]

And now I want some (damn it).

[uniform64]

You should make that prototype rear also

[NongShim]

I've never had a use for fixed sights other than the normal FSB. These sights look to be so elegantly designed (like your other mounts), that I find myself "needing" a set.

For clarification, the width of front sight post has been redesigned to what end? Same use but new sight radius or a new use?