While most kool-aid drinkers are running around with flip-up BUIS, I prefer lower 1/3 co-witness fixed BUIS that is always there and doesn't need to be manipulated to bring it into action.
On my latest build, I have two sights on-hand and I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding between the two, so I'll review them comparatively and it will be interesting to see which you guys think should live on my 10.5" 9mm carbine.
1) The NCStar BUIS. This is as blatant a clone of the LMT fixed buis as most Promag AR15 stuff is of GG&G parts. Although it doesn't say so anywhere on the sight, I think we can assume made in China due to the price of around $32 most places. This one came from GP Tactical, a board sponsor.
I expected it to be cheap, have poor anodizing and have casting marks evident. I could not have been more wrong. The finish is very good, the machining well done, and the anodizing is a perfect match for Stag Arms receiver anodizing. The A2 sight parts are all machined (no casting marks evident), and both apertures are perfectly aligned, unlike on the cheap NCStar flip-up BUIS GP Tactical and Fabsports also sell. (I have one of those and the apertures are not aligned with each other, the anodizing is low quality and the tolerances are awful.)
The clicks on the elevation wheel are very positive, and the markings very legible and nicely done. This sight can be mounted back further than the DPMS to even overhang the upper a little, but most people mount these in slot T2, which is where the DPMS unit would sit.
Here it is mounted as far back as possible:
And here it is mounted in the more traditional location:
Nice co-witness, but due to the solid rear column of the sight base, you have to look to the left side of the sight to read off the setting.
The thumb-wheel on these is, IMHO, un-necessarily large. I have the same complaint about the Armalite front BUIS I'm using and to be honest, this is true of most thumb-wheel attached AR accessories.
This is a real LMT BUIS and you can see it has the same overly large thumb-wheel, also the finish is identical to the NCStar unit:
If I did not know better, I would guess LMT is outsourcing their BUIS to China and both sights were made of parts from the same bin. I honestly could never justify, if asked, how LMT wants $130 for this same sight. I'm also not 100% sure LMT was the first to make this style sight. It could be it's been copied by them as well from someone else - anyone know?
2) DPMS BUIS. This is a BUIS that I think is unique to DPMS. It's not based on a chopped carry handle like the LMT type BUIS and has features unique to this model. It is held on by TWO thumb screws that are far and away smaller and more manageable in terms of snag hazard than most other thumb-wheel BUIS on the market. The dual screws also makes it less likely to loosen up during use IMHO. This one came from Brownells, and they do ship them to Canada - no problem so long as the order is under $100.
The finish is very heavy. It looks to be Type III milspec anodizing and is thicker than what is on your typical AR15 receiver, the LMT BUIS or the NCStar BUIS. It looks identical to the anodizing found on stuff made by NEA, come to think of it.
There are some obvious minor cons to using this BUIS. As you can see, it cannot be mounted as far back as the LMT/NCStar BUIS and takes up more T slots as well. This could be an issue if you needed to mount a magnifier behind your Aimpoint or for certain EOTech mounts or whatever. For my purposes though, it's a non-issue and the aperture ends up in the same place as the NCStar aperture does.
Notice the casting marks on the A2 hood and also how the anodizing is much more matte than the upper receiver is. The upper is a cerro-forge forging but came from Model One Sales. Color-wise it's identical to Stag coloring.
I wanted to be able to say that this American made part was better made than the NCStar BUIS, but I don't think I can and still be honest to myself. For example, on the A2 parts, only critical surfaces have been machined. The balance of the surfaces are obviously cast, sandblasted and then parked with no finish work. The rear aperture is about equivalent in quality to the NCStar unit. The elevation wheel is engraved vice the roll-stamping on the NCStar BUIS. The clicks are positive, but feel more mushy than on the NCStar sight. The DPMS is very serviceable, but I have to give the nod to the Chinese(?) unit in terms of positive operation.
Co-witness is just fine, identical to the LMT-style sight, and an added benefit to this sight is that since it is open-back, you read the setting in relation to the "Zero" hash-mark, so you don't have to tilt the rifle to read the setting off the side of the sight like on the NCStar. This could potentially shave a couple seconds off your drill time of you need to adjust settings in the field.
Now in terms of direct comparisson, here are the bottoms:
And tops:
you can see the NCStar A2 hood and parts are a little better finished and have no rough casting lines like on the DPMS unit. The NCStar unit is wider overall and more likely to snag. In the DPMS unit's favour, the A2 hood wiggles rotationally around the elevation screw a little less. This wiggle though, it more cosmetic than anything as the A2 sight is designed so that the aperture plane is centred over the elevation screw. This means that although the A2 hood wiggles rotationally around the elevation screw when being adjusted, windage is not affected since the sight hole is dead centre on the pivot. Some wiggle is needed for reliability in the field in case grit is trapped between the hood wings and the aluminum sight base.
Cosmetically, in terms of style, I'd call it a tie, though I'm sure the LMT fans will prefer the LMT look because, well, it's LMT. the DPMS unit is not unattractive though in my opinion.
So what do you guys think? I expected the DPMS unit to be a no-brainer, but the NCStar clone of the LMT sight exceeded my expectations so much that I'm not sure which I like better! Either way, whichever I don't use will probably go on the next build. Both are good and serviceable sights in my opinion, if you ignore the whole "don't buy China" argument.
On my latest build, I have two sights on-hand and I'm having a bit of a hard time deciding between the two, so I'll review them comparatively and it will be interesting to see which you guys think should live on my 10.5" 9mm carbine.
1) The NCStar BUIS. This is as blatant a clone of the LMT fixed buis as most Promag AR15 stuff is of GG&G parts. Although it doesn't say so anywhere on the sight, I think we can assume made in China due to the price of around $32 most places. This one came from GP Tactical, a board sponsor.
I expected it to be cheap, have poor anodizing and have casting marks evident. I could not have been more wrong. The finish is very good, the machining well done, and the anodizing is a perfect match for Stag Arms receiver anodizing. The A2 sight parts are all machined (no casting marks evident), and both apertures are perfectly aligned, unlike on the cheap NCStar flip-up BUIS GP Tactical and Fabsports also sell. (I have one of those and the apertures are not aligned with each other, the anodizing is low quality and the tolerances are awful.)
The clicks on the elevation wheel are very positive, and the markings very legible and nicely done. This sight can be mounted back further than the DPMS to even overhang the upper a little, but most people mount these in slot T2, which is where the DPMS unit would sit.
Here it is mounted as far back as possible:
And here it is mounted in the more traditional location:
Nice co-witness, but due to the solid rear column of the sight base, you have to look to the left side of the sight to read off the setting.
The thumb-wheel on these is, IMHO, un-necessarily large. I have the same complaint about the Armalite front BUIS I'm using and to be honest, this is true of most thumb-wheel attached AR accessories.
This is a real LMT BUIS and you can see it has the same overly large thumb-wheel, also the finish is identical to the NCStar unit:
If I did not know better, I would guess LMT is outsourcing their BUIS to China and both sights were made of parts from the same bin. I honestly could never justify, if asked, how LMT wants $130 for this same sight. I'm also not 100% sure LMT was the first to make this style sight. It could be it's been copied by them as well from someone else - anyone know?
2) DPMS BUIS. This is a BUIS that I think is unique to DPMS. It's not based on a chopped carry handle like the LMT type BUIS and has features unique to this model. It is held on by TWO thumb screws that are far and away smaller and more manageable in terms of snag hazard than most other thumb-wheel BUIS on the market. The dual screws also makes it less likely to loosen up during use IMHO. This one came from Brownells, and they do ship them to Canada - no problem so long as the order is under $100.
The finish is very heavy. It looks to be Type III milspec anodizing and is thicker than what is on your typical AR15 receiver, the LMT BUIS or the NCStar BUIS. It looks identical to the anodizing found on stuff made by NEA, come to think of it.
There are some obvious minor cons to using this BUIS. As you can see, it cannot be mounted as far back as the LMT/NCStar BUIS and takes up more T slots as well. This could be an issue if you needed to mount a magnifier behind your Aimpoint or for certain EOTech mounts or whatever. For my purposes though, it's a non-issue and the aperture ends up in the same place as the NCStar aperture does.
Notice the casting marks on the A2 hood and also how the anodizing is much more matte than the upper receiver is. The upper is a cerro-forge forging but came from Model One Sales. Color-wise it's identical to Stag coloring.
I wanted to be able to say that this American made part was better made than the NCStar BUIS, but I don't think I can and still be honest to myself. For example, on the A2 parts, only critical surfaces have been machined. The balance of the surfaces are obviously cast, sandblasted and then parked with no finish work. The rear aperture is about equivalent in quality to the NCStar unit. The elevation wheel is engraved vice the roll-stamping on the NCStar BUIS. The clicks are positive, but feel more mushy than on the NCStar sight. The DPMS is very serviceable, but I have to give the nod to the Chinese(?) unit in terms of positive operation.
Co-witness is just fine, identical to the LMT-style sight, and an added benefit to this sight is that since it is open-back, you read the setting in relation to the "Zero" hash-mark, so you don't have to tilt the rifle to read the setting off the side of the sight like on the NCStar. This could potentially shave a couple seconds off your drill time of you need to adjust settings in the field.
Now in terms of direct comparisson, here are the bottoms:
And tops:
you can see the NCStar A2 hood and parts are a little better finished and have no rough casting lines like on the DPMS unit. The NCStar unit is wider overall and more likely to snag. In the DPMS unit's favour, the A2 hood wiggles rotationally around the elevation screw a little less. This wiggle though, it more cosmetic than anything as the A2 sight is designed so that the aperture plane is centred over the elevation screw. This means that although the A2 hood wiggles rotationally around the elevation screw when being adjusted, windage is not affected since the sight hole is dead centre on the pivot. Some wiggle is needed for reliability in the field in case grit is trapped between the hood wings and the aluminum sight base.
Cosmetically, in terms of style, I'd call it a tie, though I'm sure the LMT fans will prefer the LMT look because, well, it's LMT. the DPMS unit is not unattractive though in my opinion.
So what do you guys think? I expected the DPMS unit to be a no-brainer, but the NCStar clone of the LMT sight exceeded my expectations so much that I'm not sure which I like better! Either way, whichever I don't use will probably go on the next build. Both are good and serviceable sights in my opinion, if you ignore the whole "don't buy China" argument.
- I'd use the NCStar.
