I got out of highpower for a few years, considering getting back in, have an almost-new upper with pinned A2 sights by Anna at First Strike Products, pretty sure it's a Lothar Walther barrel, should I move the barrel to an A4 upper and go with a scope?  I'm over 40 and the vision is starting to go.  I doubt I could get back even half of what I paid for the complete upper if I tried to sell it.

Short answer: yes.

The money spent on glasses, gas, ammo, and match fees to figure out your eyes may still suck, may be better spent on an A4 setup.

YES.  especially with 40 yo eyes, the optics are a game changer, even with lower end optics.  Shooters who were playing with MR and space guns have come back to SR.  (Although NRA just released rules allowing optics in MR ).  In a little over a year, it has taken over SR to where ~90% of the rifles on the line in our first HP regional in TX for this season last week were scoped.   I feel like that shooting my A2s will soon be like shooting my M1A...

Scores are about the same though.

I switched all of mine.

I shoot high-master scores all the time from slow prone now.
That was a real rarity before.

Leupold scope with the green dot is great.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1036114-REG/leupold_115387_1_5_4x20_mark_ar_mod.html

Larue LT-104 mount
http://www.larue.com/larue-tactical-spr-m4-scope-mount-qd-lt-104

White Oak Armament did all my swaps.
Very affordable.
Send your upper to them, and they send it back with the work done right, and your old musket parts to sell to whoever still thinks those old parts are the way to go.
My eyes went a long time ago. I'm in my late 50's, and I will NEVER willingly shoot A2 sights in competition again.

Top tip:
Scope does not make shooting offhand easiier.

One more warning:
You will be disturbed to see how much the aiming point dances around in the sitting position.

You should just get an A4 upper reciever and have someone help you swap it out if you don't have the tools. Cost you all of about $100.

B

I wasn't asking if I can, just asking if I SHOULD :-)  Just seems a shame to take a fully built competition upper and basically only use the barrel.

If you decide to switch to an A4, I'd be interested in your pinned rear sight upper receiver..

Shooting irons in Service Rifle is as dead as the Dodo bird. YES switch it.

B

LOL

Well, I will admit to adding a flat top and ordering a scope from WOA, but I'm not done trying with the irons just yet. So... endangered species for sure, but not extinct yet...    :)

Not really.  The top shooters already shoot amazing scores so there is a significant point of diminishing returns.  However, in good conditions the top shooters here in TX are just tearing it up.  I have noticed better scores and X counts at 3 rapid, and the scores at 600 have picked back up for the older SR shooters.  Recently, the winning score of our regional match was a 798, and the winning score in the EIC the next day was a 498.  The first was shot by an amazing rifleman who has numerous state and national awards at Perry; he broke his own range record of 797.  The EIC was shot by a female junior who legged out this Spring, with irons, with a 477.  She was offered a scoped upper as a "reward" for legging out.  She shot it reluctantly for the first time at this regional.  Got some good zeros from team day and the regional match, so on the EIC, she was clean going back to 600 where she dropped 2 there.  I think we may have our candidate for the "new" shooter for the NITT this year...

You're gonna spoil those kids.

So if I understand this correctly you can now use optics in leg matches?
I was a military team member back some years ago and am looking to get back to high power service rifle, and based on 50+ year old eyes am considering optics. If I already have an A2 upper is simply slapping an optic on a carry handle mount a viable option to start with?

I imagine a scope mounted to a carry handle would offer some serious cheek weld issues.

It's okay for Offhand. Kinda like David Tubbs' chin gun for Silhouette. It causes great strain in the neck and lower back in Prone.

I haven't tried a gooseneck setup with red dot or LER scope though.

I have reviewed the new rules both NRA and CMP and it appears just about anything goes now! Any buttstock you like any barrel 20” or less, optics. The only thing I noticed is the CMP rules say a functional forward assist is required, which sort of sucks as I have a nice free float Noveske barreled upper that would probably work great but doesn’t have a FA

Match Rifle, yes.

SR is still limited, but the line between is thinner.

Barrel <20" and <0.750" forward of the gas block.

Stocks can only have adjustable length.

Optic <4.5x and <34mm.