Picatinny Rails For Short-range Tactical Sight

[BigDave]

I'm thinking really hard about putting a JP SRTS on my rifle. Many people have said that they need a riser to bring the SRTS up to a useable height. Weigand makes a 10/22 base cut to M1913 specs that is 3/8" tall. Is this enough?

If it is, is it standard to drill and tap (6/48) the handguard (alum) to mount the Pic rail - OR - do you mount on one of the vent slots (DPMS 1 pc tube) with some sort of backing plate for the screw?

[Wakal]

Option 1:

The JP, as you noticed, is too short. I've built a lot of rifle for folks, using the exact Weigand base you mentioned for the same reason you noted, usually on DPMS solid free float tubes (although the slotted tubes work fine too). Liota's Open AR has one of those 10/22 mounts on it right now, as a matter of fact. I usually drill out the mount for 10/32 bolts, and use nuts (with the corners radiused so they don't twist inside the handguard) as backers for at least two of the bolts. Then again, I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy. I've seen folks just using the bolts with Loctite with the same results.

Option 2:

Go with a decent short range open sight, height matched to standard AR sights and with enough sight radius for acceptable accuracy, instead of the short little JP. Give Jim Poor at Flatland Forge a call:

http://www.flatlandforge.com/Shortrangetactical.htm

Alex

Edited September 5, 2006 by Wakal