Williams AR-15 Fiber Optic Fire Sight
Major Pandemic 04.08.14
Fiber optic sights have provided us with a significant sighting advantage in all light conditions. The concept is simple: the length of fiber optic rods gather available light while the ends provide a brilliant colored dot of the captured light for sighting. The longer and thicker the fiber optic rod, the brighter the dot. The Williams Gun Sight Company has been in the sight and gun accessory business since 1926 and is now famous for its innovative fiber optic Fire Sight line. Williams innovation is no more apparent than on their Fiber Optic Fire Sight for AR-15 and similar variants.
Williams wanted to maximize the dot intensity for this defensive and sporting firearms and developed an innovative fiber optic extension. Generally, most AR fiber optic sights only have about 1/4 inch of fiber optic rod at most, which limits the brightness abilities. The William AR-15 Fiber Optic Fire Sight extends the fiber optic down and in front of a standard barrel mounted fixed front sight, exposing almost 3” of the fiber optic rod. This provides a much brighter dot in more diverse lighting conditions.
On pulling it out of the box, you’ll feel like you’ve purchased quite the contraption, but as you step through assembly of the lower support and the sight chassis, the all aluminum machining and design make perfect sense.
The lower supports bolt onto the lower part of the sight base, and the sight chassis slides in and can be adjusted up or down as needed with a screwdriver for zeroing. Once zeroed, the fiber optic extension is locked in place with a hex grub screw.
The William AR-15 Fiber Optic Fire Sight was installed on my dependable Delton Mid-Length DTI-15. Generally, I run this gun for most of my drills and training work and only really need iron sights, but I have found myself losing the front sight on dark/shaded targets. A red dot sight would work well, but it would add weight when something simple like this fiber optic sight would work fine.
Function
The setup was a little goofy on the sight, but once installed, I really love this site for several reasons.
The obvious advantage is that the William Fire Sight really delivers a very bright front sight dot even in low light conditions. The other, less obvious advantage is that the dot picks up quickly for fast defensive shots and naturally brings the point of aim down about an 1”-1.5” at 10-25 yard ranges when centering the dot in the rear aperture. When aiming at distant targets, the top edge of the sight is used as the center-point, and you can still maintain a 50 and 200 yard zero.
Specs
- Fits AR-15
- For use during day time or low-light shooting conditions
- Aircraft-grade aluminum
- Fully adjustable for elevation
- No gunsmithing required
- Made in the USA
- $39.99 MSRP
