All posts tagged Magpul sights

Rifle Sight, Carbine Sight, Shotgun sight upgrade?

Rifle SightsShopping online can often be overwhelming when it comes to parts and accessories because we all know how difficult it can be to reach some companies technical support via phone or email.    We often get complaints from customers that tried to call a manufacturer and couldn’t get a hold of someone.  Usually it is followed up by words like “I can’t tell from the picture” or “it doesn’t say in the description if it has”, and people are left in the dark.   A few months ago I had someone walk in with Troy Carbine sights and he had the incorrect front and rear sights because he didn’t buy them as a set.  He found out the hard way during carbine qualifications.   The best way to know you are buying the correct item is to deal directly with the manufacturer, sometimes gunsmiths are good sources of information but I have often found out that many of them have a niche they are good at and aren’t good at everything.

It’s fun to accessorize, it’s a guy thing, but plain black on black front and rear sights only work  in certain lighting and it can pay in competition sports or defensive situations to have an illuminated front sight.  Some of the Hiviz sights work well for rifle sights,  level action sights, shotguns sights and even revolvers like the Ruger LCR.  Everyone has a preference with sight picture and just like choosing eyewear and sunglasses, it’s whatever fits your comfort and visibility level.   Different apertures make a big difference and being able to hit a target which is the reason so many AR15 rear sights have atleast 2 flip sight options, long distance and short distance sight picture.  Ask a friend that is using a sight and look around the next time you’re at the range and see what is being used and ask questions.  You might find out your shooting proficiency will improve with a better sight setup.

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Shotguns and rifles and magpul stuff

For those looking to attach gun accessories to the versatile M4 family of rifles, put some thought into the type of accessories you are looking to put on your firearm like, tactical flashlights, lasers, Streamlight flashlights or surefire. Many of these M4 Carbine accessories are very versatile so make sure you know the flashlight tube you are planning on using before you buy. There are many firearm enthusiasts that have piles of holsters in their closets and flashlight mounts or optic mounts that didn’t work for them. It pays to try things on before you buy.

Shotguns are as easily accessorized as the AR15 family of firearms as well as many AK style rifles. Many of our Magpul accessories are very popular with our customers that prefer the Remington 870 as a home defensive weapon. Troy gun sights, front sights and rear sights are our number one gun sights. We sell many type of rail covers for the Midwest forearms. If you are looking for a fun way to move your Mini 14 carbine from a coyote gun to a blasting Carbine, the Butler Creek folding stocks are as cool to own as they are fun to shoot. Not to mention they make storing your guns in your gun safe a lot easier

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Durability and plastic sights and parts on your M4 carbine

There was a heck of a debate about how tough the M16 stock was when it was first issued and lots of people bitched that it was a terrible close quarters “give ’em a smash” rifle.  The reality of close up combat fighting is that at some  point  you may need to switch to a bayonet and fight with your unloaded rifle and use it as a baseball bat or a ram.  Many of the composite materials, often referred to as Plastic by people were not very tough back in the day.  Nowadays composite materials are very sturdy and in many adverse environments you are going to wish you had something other than a wooden stock.  The M16 design doesn’t lend itself to be a very good smashing rifle because the weakest point really is the buffer tube.  That’s just not going to stand up to being used in a harsh way without bending.

There are differences in height that need to be though about ahead of time because some of the sights out there from Troy, LWRC, Daniel Defense ect can cost you over $100 each.  I learned the hard way when I picked up an Eotech magnifier and my sights didn’t work, Magpul mbus sights are probable the best priced and most durable backup iron sights on the market.  The rear sight is about $50 and the front sights are under $40.  Which pretty much makes them about half of what many of the Troy Sights are.  Do something thinking about what you may intend to put on your firearm because sights can vary dramatically depending on what they are being used for.

 

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Another reason brick and mortar stores are still viable for buying accessories

This topic was discussed before about the differences between shopping for footwear online vs walking into a store.   Nobody wants to deal with returns for many reasons and it’s not just all about wasting money.  Even if the online dealer that sold you the product has a good return policy and allows you to return the item, they still burned up money.   Many years ago there was a Cabela’s store that opened up in Pennsylvania and it was a really big deal.   It’s about an hour and half outside of Philadelphia but people drive for hours to get there.  The biggest reason they do is because they want to shop with their hands and not with a keyboard.  There are so many things you can’t explain very well just by showing a picture.  Youtube has been a big help for us to sell products but sometimes people still want to hold it.

So many gun shops and gunsmiths have been put out of business by much bigger dealers with fancy websites, but eventually there are still the same issues.  Not being able to explain something look through magpul sights before you buy them might mean having to return them if they don’t work for  you.  I’ve had issues with my Eotech sights and had to either return them or spend another $100 to buy new sights.   I opted for the lower profile LWRC rear sights so my Eotech magnifier would work.  There are many things to consider when buying AR15 accessories and it’s still nice to be able to look through it before you buy.

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What holster should I use?

Is usually the question we get when people walk in the door for the first time and want us to give them advice for their first gun holster.  There are  more and more people carrying firearms in the Country that before and mostly that is because of the status of the economy. The best mode of carry would probable be inside the waistband because this is where you can get the most access as well easy easy concealment.  Being able to get your firearm out fast enough might be the difference between winning the fight and losing it.

When it comes to home protection I am a big fan of people putting the handguns away and using a shotgun or M4 carbine with a light as a weapon.   Each firearm can be used like a baseball bat, easier to handle  under stress and ballistically both firearms.  You can modify your firearms with Magpul Accessories and customize them to you or your family members.   Many people are transitioning towards the MOE because it does help  lighten your gun up compared to the traditional Quad rails that nobody seems to want to use anymore.

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Adding to your Carbine could mean more changes than you intended

Every time you add on more and more accessories to a Carbine the more weight you will add to the firearm and movement and snagging can occur.  Anyone that knows what its like to wear tactical pants and walk around a kitchen is going to be able to tell you how many times they’ve torn a pocket on a kitchen cabinet or snagged your pants on a door knob.  You will know what I’m talking about if you’ve worn them and if not, do a YouTube search and you’ll see it discussed.   We’ve sold pants to people that torn pockets off their 5.11 and Woolrich Elite pants.

When you change grips or add on flashlights, the same things can occur.  Gun holsters can get sheered off your body going around corners and even Magpul Accessories can do the same thing.   Everyone keeps an eye o n where their optics are but snagging on windows with your gun grips is something that gets learned the hard way.  I’ve seen rifles fly out of peoples hands during live fire shootings because they did not clear obstructions and the fore grips latched on to something while they were backing up.   I highly recommend you look into the Magpul Angled grips.

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Magpul accessories more fun than dressing up your date to the Prom

We’ve pruned some of gun magazines accessories down a little bit in 2011 based mostly on which products sold, and secondly on which products we got the least complaints about.  Breakage and fit issues is something we really don’t like dealing with because many of the times it was the customer breaking the part while trying to put it on the gun.  It seems to be better these days because quality control in machining has improved but its not a battle we want to deal with every week when people come back with the same products and tell us the part was broken when they got it, when we know that it wasn’t.

Magpul makes some really nice gun sights for the M4 Carbine and they are in the top 3 category with Troy sights.  There are differences in optics sights and having folding sights vs fixed sights is something that comes up fairly often.  Magpul pmags are in their own category and there is very little reason to think about using anything but these gun mags.   You can actually help camoflauge your firearm by picking certain color variations that help break up the look.  Foliage green, OD green an Flat dark earth as well as Black are available for all of the Pmags.

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M4 Carbine setup for murphy’s law

I’m sure you’ve done plenty of research into combat optics, which is the toughest and which reticle is best for you,  but are you setup for a backup plan if your sighting system goes down?   Using loctite on all of the places that need to be locked down does wonders for reliability, but in combat, sometimes your optics can get smashed or even shot.    There have been several advertisements showing up about ACOGs getting hit by bullets and even surefire flashlights that took bullets and still worked, but sometimes a broken scope that is loctited to your gun will become a nightmare in a combat situation if it is broken.

I personally do not like the idea of fold down front sights because I never thought the permanent front sight obscured my targets if I hed the gun right, but some people really don’t like the front sights there when using red dots or Eotech gun sights.   Quick detach rifle scope and rifle sights are becoming more common because this is a reality of combat.   I think this is being a little too anal, but if it works for them, that’s their decision.   I do see some people operate Eotech gun sights with no backup sights and I think it’ll  be a matter of time before they show up a range with dead batteries and realise that their gun is going to be as accurate as a blunderbuss.   If you set your cowitness sights up, you can use them as primaries or backups at any point.   Using fold down front sights is an extra step to getting your Carbine backup if the primary optic goes down, but that’s just my opinion.

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