Got my set of PSA flip up same plane sights yesterday along with an Aimpoint PRO for $415 shipped, figured it was a pretty good deal since the standard price for a PRO is $408 and I needed a set of cheap BUIS for my wife's AR. The packaging is nothing special as you can see here, just some plastic bags:
Got them unwrapped and realized they are indeed "flip up" and not "push button". I guess my reading comprehension sucks because I assumed these were like every other flip up BUIS I had ever owned and were spring loaded where you push a button and they flip up into place. Nope, you manually have to lift them up. They are pretty sturdy once in place, but not as sturdy as the spring loaded ones. Also they have a weird 45 degree detent where they will semi lock half way up, not sure what the point of that is as you cannot use them in this position, but have to keep pushing them through into the fully upwards 90 degree position.
The fit and finish look excellent, they have a very smooth finish/coating that I think will be very easy to clean, and seems quite durable and scratch resistant. Machining looks clean. These are "same plane" sights, for use with front gas blocks that are the same height as your reciever, or free float rails.
One thing I did not like is the solid base. Most other types of sights designed for attaching to rails have a two piece base, attached with a screw so that you can tighted the smaller base and clamp it to the rail. This is different, and much cheaper to make as they simply cut slits in the base to allow it to bend. The bad thing is you really have to tighten it down to get it locked in place
You can see these cuts in the stock photo, the sight on the left has the cut slits cut into the front that allow the metal to bend when you tighten it to your rail.
I had to tighten mine an uncomfortable amount to get it to a point where it would not wobble forwards and backwards.
Here are some pics of them installed, the dual aperture rear sight is nice, one very large and one decently small for accuracy.
Don't get jealous of this rifle guys, I know you all want it!
Side note on the rifle, I built it with one thing in mind: weight. NFA polymer lower, 16" lightweight barrel, Samson lightweight drop in quad rail, Primary Arms Micro red dot. It's impressively light.
Back to the sights, I give them a 3 out of 5 stars, pros and cons are listed below:
Pro's:
Inexpensive
Great fit and finish
Metal
Made in USA
Con's:
No spring assist
Weird "halfway up" indent
Poor attachment design
The main functional reason I gave these sights a shot is due to her rifle having a gas block at reciever height, and I couldn't use Magpul MBUS sights on it due to the heat generated (plastic melts). These PSA sights were designed to be used on free float rails (for the height of the front sight). For this reason I cannot see any reason to choose the PSA sights over a set of MBUS if you have a free float rail. My MBUS sights are spring loaded, lock into place more securely and are lighter.
Got them unwrapped and realized they are indeed "flip up" and not "push button". I guess my reading comprehension sucks because I assumed these were like every other flip up BUIS I had ever owned and were spring loaded where you push a button and they flip up into place. Nope, you manually have to lift them up. They are pretty sturdy once in place, but not as sturdy as the spring loaded ones. Also they have a weird 45 degree detent where they will semi lock half way up, not sure what the point of that is as you cannot use them in this position, but have to keep pushing them through into the fully upwards 90 degree position.
The fit and finish look excellent, they have a very smooth finish/coating that I think will be very easy to clean, and seems quite durable and scratch resistant. Machining looks clean. These are "same plane" sights, for use with front gas blocks that are the same height as your reciever, or free float rails.
One thing I did not like is the solid base. Most other types of sights designed for attaching to rails have a two piece base, attached with a screw so that you can tighted the smaller base and clamp it to the rail. This is different, and much cheaper to make as they simply cut slits in the base to allow it to bend. The bad thing is you really have to tighten it down to get it locked in place
You can see these cuts in the stock photo, the sight on the left has the cut slits cut into the front that allow the metal to bend when you tighten it to your rail.
I had to tighten mine an uncomfortable amount to get it to a point where it would not wobble forwards and backwards.
Here are some pics of them installed, the dual aperture rear sight is nice, one very large and one decently small for accuracy.
Don't get jealous of this rifle guys, I know you all want it!
Side note on the rifle, I built it with one thing in mind: weight. NFA polymer lower, 16" lightweight barrel, Samson lightweight drop in quad rail, Primary Arms Micro red dot. It's impressively light.
Back to the sights, I give them a 3 out of 5 stars, pros and cons are listed below:
Pro's:
Inexpensive
Great fit and finish
Metal
Made in USA
Con's:
No spring assist
Weird "halfway up" indent
Poor attachment design
The main functional reason I gave these sights a shot is due to her rifle having a gas block at reciever height, and I couldn't use Magpul MBUS sights on it due to the heat generated (plastic melts). These PSA sights were designed to be used on free float rails (for the height of the front sight). For this reason I cannot see any reason to choose the PSA sights over a set of MBUS if you have a free float rail. My MBUS sights are spring loaded, lock into place more securely and are lighter.
