04-22-2011, 07:03 PM
warped Wrote:Yeah the irons on the old M16A1 were pretty good, I am sure the old Vets like Gene recall beating the front post into the 12 o'clock and then continuing to shoot 39-40 out of 40 on ranges out to 350-400yds. We were younger then and the eyes were much better. I really want to get lasik
Randy / Guys:
Actually, the A-1 was more a pain than the A-2 because we needed a sight adjustment tool to adjust windage and the A-1 rear sight did not adjust elevation at all so you zeroed it and if your zero was OK the small aperture rear sight had a battle sight zero of about 350 meters. If you wanted to shoot farther, you had to hold over or adjust the front sight. Both of which are impractical unless you are on a KD range where you have the time and you are using a six foot square target frame of white paper with a nice black bullseye or silhouette centered in the middle of that white paper.
The A-2 rear sight solved the distance problem as it adjusts elevation but I still believe that the major design flaw with both the A-1 and A-2 were the need to adjust the front sight for elevation in order to zero. After a while the front sights become badly damaged and bent so when you adjust elevation you may also adjust windage. A major design flaw that could have been fixed with the A-2 but wasn't.
When I was issued an A-1, we qualified on a 300 meter Train Fire range. There wasn't any reason to qualify at farther distances due to doctrine, limitations of the A-1 and its ammunition, availability of ranges that would allow for longer distances with feedback, and historical precedent in terms of when the Infantryman would use his rifle. In fact, I do not believe the Army had any qual that went past 300 when I was using the A-1.
LR55