Need help with scope on m&p 15-22

[LADave]

Hello calgunners,
I'm fairly new to rifles and this would be my first time installing a scope. I'm picking up a m&p 15-22 for plinking and a buddy of mine is letting me have a a reticle 3-9x32mm scope. I would like to leave the front and back sights on and install the scope without having the iron sights in the way. Would I need a rail riser? What size? How high? Is it better to put a one piece riser or two separate pieces? I would like to thank you guys in advance. Your help is highly appreciated.

[roushstage2]

May I ask why you want to leave the irons on? You can't use them as a backup with a rifle scope. Optimally, you want the scope as close to the barrel as possible without touching it.

[LADave]

Cosmetics I guess? I think it just "looks" alot better id preffer to leave them on if possible.Lol is it hard to take them off? School me please

[Jason25]

I have a 15-22. Honestly i wouldnt worry much about the irons, but that's me. Raising the scope too high may put you in an uncomfortable position and take the fun out of the rifle. Now, if youre set on keeping the irons on it, check out a set of flip up sights like magpul. This will allow you to fold the rear sight down for correct scope position. When you run both, the irons are there for backup. So if you ever need them, just pull the scope off and youre still ready to go. Also your view out of the scope will clear the front sight anyway without the need of raising it.

[floorance]

IMHO the irons on the 15-22 are fugly and huge (Unless they are the Magpul Moe Sights). I would just toss them and leave them off, mount that scope and sight it in. Get some flip up front and rear BUIS if you really want, that way they can be out of the way when you are using riflescope. You would need a really huge riser to clear the fixed irons otherwise and you might have a hard time with enough adjustment in your scope to get it down if you use a riser, especially since your shooting a .22lr

[appagohm]

I've owned and shot my colt m4 uramex 22lr with a aim point 4x32 scope. I have it rised 1/4 inch for comfort only. The front sight post won't be a problem, just keep the front sight post on and attach the scope and you'll see what i'm talking about. The only reason you want to rise a scope is for you comfort.

[LADave]

Ok mixed advice floorance is saying i wont clear the front sight and it needs to come off and appagohm your saying it can stay? And what about the back sight it absolutely needs to come off..? Sorry guys as I mentioned before its my first time doing this so bare with me lol thanks again

[floorance]

Let me clear this up a bit, if you put that riflescope on your 15-22, you wont see the front sight at all, even on 3x power. I just took this picture below of my 15-22 with the front sight on. I stuck my Nikon Prostaff Rimfire 3-9x 40mm obj on it with a med mount, as you can see you wont clear any rear flip BUIS, you will need a much higher mount. You will have to mount the scope pretty forward if you have your stock fixed BUIS from S&W. If you look through the scope at 3x, you still will not see the front post in your view. Hope this helps, if you run a scope that big in size on the 15-22, you are better off with No BUIS or with some extended eye relief mount (like typical AR's) high enough to clear a rear BUIS if you wish for a rear sight.

Ok mixed advice floorance is saying i wont clear the front sight and it needs to come off and appagohm your saying it can stay? And what about the back sight it absolutely needs to come off..? Sorry guys as I mentioned before its my first time doing this so bare with me lol thanks again

[Merc1138]

Ok mixed advice floorance is saying i wont clear the front sight and it needs to come off and appagohm your saying it can stay? And what about the back sight it absolutely needs to come off..? Sorry guys as I mentioned before its my first time doing this so bare with me lol thanks again

You won't see the front sight post above 5x, and even at 3x it'll only be a faint shadow(barely noticeable) at the bottom of the sight picture. It's not an issue.
If your rear iron sight doesn't already fold down, just toss it or replace it with a folding backup iron sight, so you can fold it out of the way and mount the scope above it. You don't need a mount high enough to clear the irons(you'd never get a cheek weld if you tried anyway), floorance doesn't know what he's talking about.

edit: Looks like floorance posted and actually clarified what he meant about the front sight. Although that's still an unusually low set of rings he's got on his. There are plenty of AR scope mounts available that will get your scope high enough to clear a folding rear iron sight(assuming you don't have some funky garbage scope with a huge eyepiece, or some cheap BUIS that's still too tall when folded).

[floorance]

The rear BUIS on the 15-22 is a copy of the LMT fixed one. Its huge. there is no way that wont physically get in the way if the OP originally wished to use the fixed irons to use the riflescope he was given unless he mounts the scope very forward, or if he physically wants to clear the line of his vision (this is the rear sight I am speaking of) with mount some ridiculous high riser. The scope that i put on right now and snapped a pic on the 15-22 is just for show for the OP (this scope is on my Sig 522, which has a much lower cheek weld) to put in perspective of how much room physically is on the rail if he intended to sandwich a riflescope in between the fixed Irons that came with the S&W. .

Heres a pic that shows your the front and rear stock fixed irons that came with the 15-22, not alot of real estate raised mounts or not with the factory irons, like i said originally it would be absurd to mount some high riser to clear physically both of these irons, better to get flip rear BUIS and a normal AR type mount where your BUIS can fit under if you have to have irons. Running a 3-9x riflescope on a 15-22 with the fixed stock irons just wont work (right) that is. You can keep the front, but the rear definitely would have to go.

One has to realize that the fixed Rear gets in the way, and if you treat it like having Irons with a RDS (think of it like cowitnessing), with a magnified riflescope, the front will not be an issue, the fixed rear would be smack dab blocking your view. Thus the OP has two real options, either you get rid of it and replace with a flip rear BUIS, or the absurd notion of some High riser /ring combo that physically would clear it.. which i think wouldn't even be possible (even if it could it would look real stupid, prob 3" riser)

[LADave]

It all makes sense now. Thanks for your help fellas, ill let you know how it goes and post some pics

[roushstage2]

As for taking the iron sights off, it's just the one screw on each.