Have do you go about adjusting the front site on an AR??  I ordered a tool to adjust it but it is backordered and won't come in for another month.

Can I adjust the site without the special tool?  I do not want to mess site up or anything.

Thanks

In the AR manual they show doing it with the tip of a bullet,ive never been able to use this,you could always use a nail to push in the plunger and then one to rotate the sight if you just use the one to depress then turn you can scratch it good,have some one help for an extra pair of hands,my wife is the official handgaurd removal helper.

The only thing you'll do is get some of the brass on the sight when the tip of the round slips. (been there, done that).  Remember M16's/AR15 are "GI proof."

the tip of a bullet will do fine or at least i havent had trouble using one.  just make sure you depress the pin fully before moving the sight left or right

The AR was designed with the idea of adjusting the front sight with a bullet tip.

However, you need a bullet with a pointy nose.  Plus it’s a pretty slow process if you need to make much in the way of adjustments.

Also, the newer A-2 sights are IMHO quite a bit harder to adjust with a bullet tip.

A nail, jeweler’s screwdriver, or very small pin punch will also work; just try not to scratch things up!  As model927 mentioned above, using one tool to depress the plunger and a second tool to move the sight will work nicely.

Sounds like the site can be kind of a pain to adjust.

Do the tools made to adjust the front site make this a lot easier?

Absolutely!

Keep in mind, though, that once the front sight is initially adjusted you probably won’t be messing with it again unless you change bullet weights or something like that.

Incidentally, make sure you’re getting the right tool for your AR.

Some tools are model specific, i.e. A-1 or A-2 sights only.  You’ve [b]probably[/b] got a A-2 front sight, which has a square post and 4 detent grooves - which means you’ll need an A-2 sight tool with 4 prongs.  An A-1 front sight has a round post and 5 detent grooves.