What distance should you zero the sights or optic on your AR-15 style rifle? For the flattest, set-it-and-forget-it trajectory, zero your red dot, holographic, and backup sights at 50 yards. Trust us, or keep reading to find out why.
Choose the best optic and backup sights for your needs.Shooting from CQB distances out to 200 meters and beyond can greatly be aided with the use of red-dot or holographic electronic optics. They are much easier to shoot with than traditional iron sights.
Buy quality gear. Cheap sights may not be bright enough to be seen on bright, sunny days. Also, they may not be handle the rough and tumble abuse from run’n and gun’n… mounts may break off, electronics may fail, or glass may easily crack.
As with all firearm accessories, make sure to use Loctite on all screw threads. You optic’s mounts will eventually vibrate loose. You will have to remount and rezero your optic.
If you are going to use backup sights as a redundancy for your red-dot sight (RDS) or holographic sight, zero the optic first (reason discussed below). Then pop up your backup sights and match them to optic’s reticle so that the front sight post bisects the red-dot aiming reticle while looking through the sights.
If you are going to use backup sights as a stand alone aiming system, zero them at 50 yards. Zero as accurately as possible, but do not get frustrated if they are slightly off.
This page does not pertain to A2 style AR-15 sights that are adjustable for different ranges.
Be sure to use Loctite thread locker on the sight’s screws when mounting them to your rifle.
Battle Zero
If you don’t have the patience for a detailed explanation, then you will still be well served by the information above. If you want to know more, keep reading.
Most AR15 style rifles built in the past ten to fifteen years do not have a built-in carry handle / rear sight assembly, but rather a “Picatinny rail” that allows the user to have a choice as to mount holographic sights, red-dot sights, magnified optics, simple rear sights, or even a removable carry handle / rear sight assembly. These are referred to as “flat top” rifles (pictured right). 
In the past, anyone wanting to mount optics on top of their AR-15 style rifles were forced to use some type of adapter to mount their optics on top of the fixed carry handle. This set the optics too high to take advantage of the 5.56x45mm NATO rounds fairly flat trajectory, and it set the optic too high for the shooter to get a good cheek weld on the stock. The flat-top design allows you to mount your optics so that the aiming reticle is the same height above bore as the tradition fixed “iron sights”.
Some flat top rifles are sold with a removable carry handle that looks exactly like the older fixed carry handles, except that they can be easily removed with two knobs. Some rifles are sold without the carry handle as manufactures realize that most end users will want to remove them to customize their rifles with optics and accessories.
BUIS is an acronym for “backup iron sights”. This is nothing more than a catchy label for backup sights that you can use when and if your primary electronic or magnified optic is damaged or fails. “Iron” simply refers to their metal parts to differentiate them from electronic optics, although none of them are made from iron, but rather aluminum, steel, and plastic. Backup sights can simply be a rear sight that sits on a flat-top receiver behind the optic, or it may be a set of both front and rear sights for an ORC (Optic Ready Carbine: a carbine with only rails on top and no front sight base that is ready for customization by the end user).
There are removable carry handles that fit on flat-top rifles. It is possible to mount optics on top of the carry handle, but this is inefficient and mounts the reticle or crosshairs of the optic higher than the optimal 2.5 inches above the bore (the height of the front sight and the rear carry handle sight). If you want to mount optics on the rifle, remove the carry handle and mount them directly to the rifle. Don’t mount any optics to the top of it. This defeats the purpose of the removable carry handle. Remove it and mount the optics to the rifle’s rail. If you want to use the A2 style sights of the removable carry hand then keep reading.
There are several options for mounting optics on top of the carry handle, but this method set the optic so high that the shooter can’t get a good cheek weld on the stock. With the optic mounted excessively high (as seen in the photo to the right) there isn’t any way to zero the rifle that won’t destroy the fantastic flat trajectory of the .223 Remington / 5.56mm NATO cartridge that you normally enjoy when optics are properly mounted with the dot, reticle, or crosshairs 2.5″ above the center of the rifle’s bore as the fixed sights are.
Another option is to add a mount to the carry handle that carries holographic or red dot optic forward of the carry handle over the forend. It can hold an Eotech or Aimpoint optic so that the reticle is co-witnessed with the iron sights of the rifle. Note that you can’t mount a magnified scope forward of the charging handle as you would never be able to get proper eye relief on the optic.
Some models of Trijicon’s ACOG magnified optics are designed to mount in the channel of the carry handle. There is a small hole through the mount so that you can still use the iron sights on the rifle should the ACOG be put out of commission. This may be your best way to mount a magnified optic to the top of the carry handle as low as possible. You still won’t have the optimum cheek weld or ballistics, but you can make it work. Check out the cheek riser option next.
If you mount an optic to the top of the carry handle then you might want to think about adding a cheek riser to your stock (as seen in the photo to the right). This will allow you to properly position your head behind the optic. There are cheek rests for both fixed and telescoping stocks. Research carefully before purchasing your cheek riser as some may block the operation of the charging handle unless the stock is fully extended. If you mount a holographic or red dot optic forward of the carry handle then you won’t need a cheek riser.
Just as a car’s muffler doesn’t take very long to get hot after the engine is started, it doesn’t take very many rounds for a suppressor (silencer) to get very hot… hundreds of degrees. You can seriously burn yourself, your clothing and gear, or the interior of your vehicle. A suppressor cover can protect you from the incredible heat that suppressor can produce.
As a suppressor gets hot it give off a mirage, such as seen when you across a large field or down a long paved road on a hot day. This can make it difficult for long range shooting, especially when using a magnified optic. A suppressor cover can mitigate that mirage from the scalding hot suppressor. The following video shows what mirage looks like through a magnified rifle scope. Although this mirage is environmental (hot day), with a heated suppressor you can expect similar visual distortion, even on a cold day.
There are a number of companies that manufacture heat resistant suppressor covers that will protect you from the hot suppressor and mitigated most of the suppressor mirage. Most of these covers consist of a inner heat resistant material that is wrapped in some type of Cordura nylon or similar material for camouflage and aesthetics. The Manta Wrap, discussed further down, is simply a heat resistance polymer tube that fits over the suppressor. Any of the suppressor covers discussed here will work great for precision slow fire, such as with a bolt action rifle, or with limited semi-auto fire. There are several destructive tests seen later on this page. You will see that eventually the covers will fail and begin to melt after several magazines of automatic fire. In my opinion the Manta is not aesthetically pleasing, but it seems to hold up to abuse that melts the other covers.
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