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I picked up one of these baby's the other week and I can live without an ejection port cover and no forward assist. Kinda makes it very simple and that's fine with me. I'm trying to shop for a BUIS and noticed the front railed gas block is lower than the rear rail. Should I add a riser or skip the BUIS and go with an Aimpoint or holo sight?

My son has a DPMS upper called the "Low Pro", which I think is the same as the Sportical. It has no dust cover, and the machining around the receiver is a bit different from the standard AR uppers, making it a bit heavier. Those Sportical/Low Pro uppers are noticeably heavier, but not so much as to make the rifle impractical, and I suppose the extra weight translates to some extra rigidity in the receiver - which may or may not have an effect on accuracy, depending upon your internal components and other factors. My son's has a 16" HBAR with a gas block with rail on it, but the gas block rail is a lower height than the rail on the UTG fore end. He uses an Eotech sight, with flip up Yankee Hill Machine front and rear iron sights - the rear mounted on the receiver aft of the Eotech, and the front mounted on the front end of the UTG fore end. Of course, the BUIS are cowitnessed to the Eotech sight.

I have a similar setup, except that my upper is a generic milspec with an ER Shaw light contour 16 barrel with an A2 front sight, and an A.R.M.S. #40L rear flip up sight. The front and rear irons cowitness to the reticle on my Eotech.

You'll want iron sights even if you buy an Aimpoint, Eotech, or other sighing system. Batteries can fail. Electronics can fail. Etc., Etc. Irons may be all you'll have, and you'll miss 'em if you don't.

age_ranger wrote:I picked up one of these baby's the other week and I can live without an ejection port cover and no forward assist. Kinda makes it very simple and that's fine with me. I'm trying to shop for a BUIS and noticed the front railed gas block is lower than the rear rail. Should I add a riser or skip the BUIS and go with an Aimpoint or holo sight?

I'd want a BUIS system even with an optic. I've never shot a Sportical, so know nothing about the way it's configured. But I do know the lack of an ejection port cover would drive me absolutely batty. I've had it beat into me in training that anytime I go to carry-safe mode, I close the cover. So I'd be constantly trying to close a non-existent cover.

I thought long and hard (about 10min) about the fact that it doesn't have a ejection port cover and this rifle will bever see time crawling through mud or sand and will pretty mush lead a pampered life so I'm okay with it being gone. The upper receiver is definitely THICK. Very robust and probably the toughest upper receiver I've ever seen. If the front gas block is too low I've located some small risers I can add on but will probably go with the railed handguards to mount to.

I am having a similar problem with my RRA LAR-8. It has a flat top receiver and a place to mount the front sight on the gas block, but the gas block is lower than the rail on the upper. I either have to find an A2 sight post that mounts to the top of a gas block and it would not fold or I have to buy a quad rail and mount a flip up on the quad rail and not on the gas block. If I go with a quad rail I also have to buy a low profile gas block and have it all installed by an amrorer. I am thinking for now I am just going to focus on buying a quality optic set up and and save for the free float quad rail for my rifle. Then I will install some flip up sights. Good luck on the hunt and know I feel your pain.

There are two different types of BUIS front sights available. Ones made to go on a railed gas block and ones made to go on the FF tube or railed handguard. The one that's specifically made to go on the gas block is taller than the FF Rail mount version.
Make sure you get the right height and you'll be fine.

Solved this problem.............now I'm waiting for the MBUS sights to drop in price so I can add a railed handguard and the BUPS (back up plastic sights) :)
Also went with the agressive end muzzle brake from YHM and the receiver grip from NeverQuit. Since this photo I've added a MIAD grip and the Magpul stock is on the way. What can I say? I'm a Magpul addict now.