I swear I had this idea, about 6 months ago. Right down to the slide racker. Except the rail didn’t ride atop the slide, but behind it so that an optic would be at about the same height as the iron sights (it also allowed for co-witnessing).

Should I start wearing a tin-foil hat?

But the thing is, we usually shoot from 5-500 yards. What do you do for an optic?

Many choose to use a simple 1-4x scope. Personally, I don’t like screwing around with a magnification ring during a stage, even with a “Cat-Tail” such as the MGM SwitchView. And I suck at shooting long-range targets, so the more magnification I can get, the better.

Dueck Defense RTS

Barry Dueck, champion 3-gunner, former Marine and head of the Suppressor division at Surefire, dreamed up the solution. Basically, he took a standard A2 sight, and CNC’ed it out of one piece of aluminum in a manor that’d mount at a 45º angle.

Now, angled sights are nothing new. Open Division 3-gunners had been mounting C-mores on JP forearms since they were invented. JP themselves sell a “Short Range Tactical Sight” to mount on the angled slots on their forearm. But until now, nobody’d thought of mounting a real rifle sight at an angle. The result is a sight that is just as accurate as shooting an iron-sighted A2-style rifle, as easy to transition to as flicking your wrist.

I’ve been running them since MultiGun nationals (October of last year), switched them out for a Burkett mount twice, and they’ve kept their zero. I now run them with a Burris Fullfield II 4.5-14x scope on top of the rifle. I shot a match with that setup yesterday and it worked great (I didn’t but the setup did). I shoot everything out to 75 yards with the Dueck sights, then use the Burris for anything farther. Anything from 75-100 yards I use the 4.5x setting, and farther out I go all the way to 14x.

Cons

As with anything, the Dueck sights have their drawbacks. Actually it has a drawback: price. The sights go for $239.00 from Brownell’s. And actually if you think about it, that’s not much compared to a comparable setup. A pair of offset mounts from costs around $55.00 and a set of fixed A2 sights will cost around $160. So for $210 you can get a set of offset sights that won’t be the same height above the bore as a regular rifle. Or pay $20.00 more and get the Dueck sights.

The real difference between the two is the cost. The top rifle MSRP’s for $1900, the bottom is $1400.

The top rifle (the Expert I) is totally optimized to be the perfect 3-Gun rifle, with the absolute best components. Starting from the front, a Surefire comp, that also serves as a QD suppressor mount. Colt 18” Match grade barrel with really neat Ball Endmill flutes (the most important part of the rifle, because of the CDI factor). Samson Evolution rifle-length free-float handguard. Very well-fitted upper/lower receivers, a Geisselle Super 3-Gun trigger, and a Magpul MIAD grip/CTR stock.

The bottom rifle (Expert II) is built using less expensive (but still excellent quality) components. The comp is a Miculek-style, just as effective as the Surefire. The barrel is still a Match Grade 18” barrel, but not fluted. The forearm is a Hogue free-floating aluminum tube, carbine-length (which means you won’t be able to get your arm out as far on the rifle). It uses the same receivers and Geiselle trigger. Hogue rubberized grip and Magpul MOE stock.

Another noteworthy feature of the new pony rifle is the gas block. It is a 24-position adjustable model, so you can limit the amount of gas flow to just what’s needed to work the bolt. To my knowledge, this is the only factory rifle (short of a JP) that has an adjustable gas block.

Front end of the Expert I. Note the gas adjustment know peeking out from under the handguard. Also note the barrel flutes, which increases accuracy by 0% but coolness by 200%.

Group shot with the new rifle. Colt guarantees sub-MOA groups, and includes a test group shot with YOUR rifle off the bench in each case. This group was shot with rack-grade 55 grain bullets. The 1-8” twist barrel stabilizes everything from 55 to 75 grain bullets.

From Crosman. Feeds BBs from a magazine or .177 pellets through the chamber.

Stormy with a steady 40mph wind out at the range. Gusts up to 80mph. And lots of rain.

Oh well, we’ll put it all up again and shoot it tomorrow. 10 or 15 out-of-town shooters said they could stay, and we’ll probably get 20-30 locals.

So, some bright spark at RRA went :

Thereifixedit.

The lower takes an AK mag. Of course, it means you’re stuck with the AK “rock-n-lock” reload, but you have to give a little to get a little.

The frame is polymer, which doesn’t translate well into grainy iPad photos. They should come out in 3-4 months, but only in a 5″ .45. I will have to get one to build the lightest ever 1911 carry gun!

Colt M16A4 in Magpul garb: featuring the new MOE A1/A2 fixed stock:

Also note the new MagLink for Pmags:

Also had a really great trigger (both DA and SA).

ar-15 stock adapter

Modular rail system extension. Looks great for those who shoot the SCAR in 3-Gun!