Iron Sight placement

[AshOnSnow]

Just a general pondering, although I expect this isn’t so important with  airsoft being so inaccurate, but here’s what’s just got me thinking after waking up at 3am..

If you have a free float hand guard/rail, and you’re using iron sights, is it more accurate to have your front iron Sight mounted onto the hand guard like the rear sight, or to a gas block with integral rail?

 

[Gepard]

From what I recall from cadets it's all about sight radius. Sight radius is the distance between the front and rear sight. What it boils down to is the further apart the front and the rear sight is the more precise the shot will be.

So to answer your question it's better to have it on the gas block with the rail as it would be further down the barrel than the rail on the handguard. Not that it matters much as we're shooting plastic pellets and not bullets.

Now I'm probably missing something out as it's been a while so don't take my word for it. I'll do a bit more research and come back later if there's anything to add. 

edit: I've been doing a bit of digging and naturally I left a couple things out. I found this article which goes into a bit more detail. It's quite interesting to read actually. http://www.thenewrifleman.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-ar15-iron-sights/

 

[PopRocket123]

If it's a free float rail then it should be fine having it on the rail. If you have the old style like the sopmod rail then you have the potential to have movement although in airsoft it's unlikely to be enough to affect your group any more than standard deviation unless you have a particularly cheap gun

 

[Wo1f]

In terms of airsoft it isn’t going to make a blind bit of difference. Assuming your gas block rails sit lower than your railed handguard, it would be pointless mounting it on that. 

The idea in RS is about barrel harmonics/ vibrations and applying unwanted and inconsistent pressure to the barrel via a none free floated hard guard. If your handguard fail is secure and lines up with the rail on your receiver, I recommend you mount it to the very end of that for reasons stated above

 

[AshOnSnow]

In terms of airsoft it isn’t going to make a blind bit of difference. Assuming your gas block rails sit lower than your railed handguard, it would be pointless mounting it on that. 

The idea in RS is about barrel harmonics/ vibrations and applying unwanted and inconsistent pressure to the barrel via a none free floated hard guard. If your handguard fail is secure and lines up with the rail on your receiver, I recommend you mount it to the very end of that for reasons stated above

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What about shift in the barrel trajectory in relation to the receiver? Wouldn't a sight mounted to the barrel compensate for that?

 

[Lozart]

What about shift in the barrel trajectory in relation to the receiver? Wouldn't a sight mounted to the barrel compensate for that?

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Shift in the who with the what now?

 

[Wo1f]

What about shift in the barrel trajectory in relation to the receiver? Wouldn't a sight mounted to the barrel compensate for that?

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The barrel is a fixed point. Only the bullet has a trajectory. 

In on airsoft, providing everything is straight and tight, it won’t make a difference. A wasp fart will have more effect on your bb once it leaves the barrel. 

On a real gun, the m4a1 has the triangle sight post mounted on the barrel. That post keeps the handguard in position and puts unwanted pressure on the barrel. A freefloated rail does not touch the barrel anywhere, removing any unwanted pressure sports or vibrations from the barrel. 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

What about shift in the barrel trajectory in relation to the receiver? Wouldn't a sight mounted to the barrel compensate for that?

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if you're talking about real firearms then only if both the front and rear sight are barrel mounted, although not many people can shoot well enough to make that be a factor.

as others have mentioned, in airsoft it really doesn't matter as the guns are nowhere near accurate enough anyway.