I built an AR for my brother in law.  We zero'd the rifle with a red dot.  It has an A2 gas block that we installed and it was centered with the red dot.  He wanted a more classic look and replaced it with a bolt on A2 carry handle.  He has adjusted the windage on the sight all the way left but it is still shooting right.  Any thoughts on this?

What carry handle is it?

 

 

Sent from my hidden under ground bunker between Taco Bell and the dry cleaner

try using use a different carry handle off another gun 

How much did you have to adjust the red dot?

Sorry, I don't really know.  He picked it off from gunbroker.

 

The red dot installed was a primary arms red dot.  There wasn't much adjustment to get the dot zero'd.  The front sight was then raised so that it is inline with the red dot.

 

I have a Troy backup rear sight at home.  I can take it off an try it on his.  I can also try mounting his sight onto mine to see how it works.

Sounds like its the carry handle. Maybe it just wasn't on tight? Hope its not busted up.

Check the front sight base / gas block, as it may be canted on the barrel, making your irons off-center (necessitating the extreme windage)

Wouldn't be the first time!

I wouldn't doubt it as it was my first complete upper build.  I also have a magpul rear sight that was installed.  We can try to zero with that.

If you have ti adjust any red dot/holo/scope "all" the way to one side, something is very off.

 

Take the handle off. Check the side that wrenches down on the side of the rail, make sure its not obstructed in any way or twisted. Reattach the handle and see if it sits different.

Thanks. There looks to be a slight gap between the rail and the sight. I snapped a bunch of pictures. I'll try to post some pictures of the sight tomorrow when I get home.

If the dot doesn't require adjustment, it is either the carry handle (or the sight built into it), the sight post being canted (if it is pinned and you didn't drill the pin holes yourself, this is probably not the issue), or the barrel is canted in the upper receiver. I.e. the pin on the barrel extension is not centered in the notch in the upper receiver. There shouldn't be space to screw this up, but different uppers are different. If that is the case, you can fix it by peening the material on the appropriate side of the notch to correct the canting. 

the sight post being canted (if it is pinned and you didn't drill the pin holes yourself, this is probably not the issue)

This was installed by twong and myself. It's held in place by a set screw. Twong zero'd the original magpul MBUS sight with minimal adjustment to 100 yds. It would be odd if the sight post and the MBUS were both wrong.

 

Below are pictures of the A2 handle.

 

 

 

 

 

Everything seems to be inline in the picture below.

 

 

There seems to be a slight gap on the right side but that should not impact if it is going right.

 

 

 

The left side seems flush though.

 

 

I didn't see you said the MBUIS worked like the dot. That would implicate the carry handle. It looks like it might sit very slightly diagonally, but if my brain is doing the math right, that should only mean you might not get movement proportional to clicks and your left vs right adjustment won't be even by a teeny bit. It's also not clear if the a2 sight is centered in the carry handle casting. I recall some potential issue with a2 rear sight installs affecting zero, but I can't remember what it is for the life of me. I avoid the a2 rear setup. 

It has to be the carry handle sight. What brand is it?

Thanks, maybe I'll convince him to use back the MBUS site if he wants to go with irons (or plastic/iron combo) in this case. Perhaps I'll spring for a decent rear sight for him. He really likes the nostalgic look of the A2 carry handle and was what he used way back when.

 

I hear RR makes a really good match grade A2 rear sight but that is sure some expensive rear sight at $165.

 

It has to be the carry handle sight. What brand is it?

Not sure. He picked it up on GB a while back. There are no markings of any kind on it. I'm going out to his place in a few weeks from now. I'll take it to the range and test it out.

That carry handle looks suspiciously like a Chinese airsoft copy. It has no forge marks on it like every other carry handle I've ever seen or owned.

I would suspect that is your problem.

Just curious, is it shooting groups or all over the place?

Thanks, maybe I'll convince him to use back the MBUS site if he wants to go with irons (or plastic/iron combo) in this case. Perhaps I'll spring for a decent rear sight for him. He really likes the nostalgic look of the A2 carry handle and was what he used way back when.

 

I hear RR makes a really good match grade A2 rear sight but that is sure some expensive rear sight at $165.

 

 

 

 

Keep an eye on the EE on ARFCOM, you can usually find new take off Colt carry handles on there for ~$60

Just curious, is it shooting groups or all over the place?

I didn't fire it with the carry handle but my brother in law said it was all going right. Height was good.

 

Keep an eye on the EE on ARFCOM, you can usually find new take off Colt carry handles on there for ~$60

Thanks, I'll do that. I don't know much about these handles but I guess the Colt ones would have some markings stating that it is a Colt, right?

The honest answer is, NO. Nothing specifically indicates it would be made by colt.. It might have markings on it like a-3 a-4, but that is not always, and who's to say its not a knockoff with markings... Sometimes you just have to pay retail for something, and they go for like $120+ from BCM spikes RRA, but they are all 100% authentic. You don't necessarily need a colt handle, most of the quality ones are the same construction wise, so maybe find one cheap that has markings on it like the RRA's.