I live in the UK. Love my newly aquired AR,(with detachable carry handle)
and would be delighted to receive any tips at all!
The gunsmith suggested from my initial specification that what i really wanted was a "posers" gun, aka hollywood version?
The final version is a match stainless barrel @ 18", freefloat A2 (?) forend, fore sight, collapsable stock, match trigger bits, flattop. (ambi cocking upper on order)

I cannot be alone in wanting to maintain the original looks of the gun and still try to get the best from it. Our club comps are shot to about 400 yrds.

Here in the UK they are still quite an unusal item, but are about to take off big style!!!
(waited months for mine, now there are 2 "cheepie" copies in the gunshop)

Surely there is a scope that mounts to the handle, and is perhaps at  average competition distances, up to the job?

Reagards and thanks

bbutter

This is a top notch handle mount, to put your scope on:
[img]http://www.armsmounts.com/images/prod_2.gif[/img]
from here: [url]http://www.armsmounts.com/list.html[/url]

FWIW, most consider handle mounts too tall, for consistent cheek weld, but to each his own.

Mike

There are several ways to go with this. I will simply post some pics and if any of them strike your fancy ask about the set up. Some of these pics are of other peoples rifles.

Colt Delta Elite. 3X9 rubber armored scope.
[img]http://www.hunt101.com/img/054149.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hunt101.com/img/060373.jpg[/img]

USAF version of the same set up.
[img]http://www.hunt101.com/img/054172.jpg[/img]

Trijicon ACOG TA-11 3.5 X 35mm
[img]http://www.hunt101.com/img/054109.jpg[/img]

my sugguestion since it is a flat top, and you'll be shooting at ranges out to 400 meters or yards, would be to mount a good scope on the flat top....you'll also get a better cheek to stock weld if you mount it on the flat top, rather then on the carry handle, unless of course you get a cheek piece for the stock.  use the carry handle if you want to use iron sights only.

now comes the decision on which scope to get.....just stay away from the cheap chinese crap, you'll be throwing away your money. Invest in a quality scope off the bat, and you won't be spending more money buying another scope.


and although a collapsible stock is OK on a M4wannabe...... it maybe a bit too light for competition shooting....you might find it better if you had a regular A2 stock on it, and put a weight in the cleaning compartment to weigh it down somewhat. I have never seen any of the serious competition shooters use a collapsible stock at camp perry.

BTW what make of AR do you have? BUSHMASTER, ARMALITE etc..

and when you said, "now there are 2 "cheepie" copies in the gunshop" they aren't by chance NORINCOs?


and if you don't mind me asking......what are ARs going for in GB?  and what kind of loops do you have to jump through in order to own one? only thing I've seen for sale in Britain are all demilled rifles.

As long as we are all asking questions. Regardless of the manufacturer, do you call it an Armalite?

First off, it warms my heart to see a Brit with an AR15 [:)]

Secondly, I agree that a handle mounted scope has issues-I have one mounted on one of my Colts. While the rifle is superbly accurate there are two things that are a pain in the rear for me:

-The scope sits too high for me to get a decent cheek weld without a cheekpiece.

-With the cheekpiece installed I can't use the iron sights.

Aside from that I haven't had any problems-but one of these days I should probably buy a flattop upper.

Here are two pics of my scoped HBAR:

[url=http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=14460]Pic 1[/url]

[url=http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=14461]Pic 2[/url]

I use an ARMS mount like the one Mr Wilson posted and like it a lot.

On a different note, how is the availability of spare parts in the UK? Aside from duty and exchange rate issues, is there any reason why you can't buy parts here in the US if they aren't available there?

Is there anything you need that you can't get? If your rifle ever breaks down I'd be happy to ship you spare parts-assuming that I could do it legally of course.