Ring height on an M4

[Taylor-Made]

OK, I have been hunting and searching forums all night with no success.

I am using a Vortex Strikefire on my Norc M4. I have just done up my first batch of handloads for it and I want to do a little load testing with it. I would like to put a scope from one of my boltguns on it to give accuracy a fair shake for testing.

My question is, what height of rings do I need on top of that flat rail to see over the factory front sight?

 

[enefgee]

You don't need to see over the front sight - as long as you have some magnification the front sight will appear as a shadow (at most) you probably won't notice it. You will need some height to get your eye to the scope though, high or extra high rings. Another alternative is something like the Armalite mount, which has the right height and doesn't need rings.

 

[Bolivar]

Evefgee is correct. I had a 5-20 mounted so it would just clear the front hand guard and I could not see the front sight tower.

If you have rings that will work on the Picatiny rail, and give you enough height to clear the hand guards, you should be good to go.

If your rings are too low, you might just want to get an NC Star riser block. Try Marstar or Epps.

If you need new rings, just get the highest you can find so you have the best chance to clear the guards.

Or just use the carry handle sight. Peeps are quite accurate with proper target. I prefer a large black dot. I just dot the i of the front sight.

 

[tjhaile]

Scoping ARs is a little different from more conventional rifles due to the straight-line layout with no stock drop. You need to mount the optic high enough to bring it up to eye level, rather than trying to get it as low as possible to get a good cheek weld on a regular stock. The highest rings you can find will probably be about right.

A mount like the American Defense Manufacturing one will give you more flexibility in how far forward you can mount the scope compared with conventional rings, as well as having the correct height.

Clearing the front sight post isn't really a problem with magnified optics.