There’s no shortage of BUIS — back-up iron sights — on the market, as long as you’re happy to choose fixed, flip-up, or offset versions. But with the TUOR Sights — both their MKI and MKII models — you get all of those in one. The same folding sights can orient straight up and down to co-witness with an optic, or can be rotated 45° in either direction for offset use to the right or the left . . .
While both the MKIs and MKIIs rely on twin ball detents to hold the sights in either the collapsed or deployed position, only the MKIs also employ detents to control sight rotation. TUOR’s MKII sights take things a bit more seriously, physically locking in vertical, offset left, or offset right orientations.
Rotating either the front or rear sight is accomplished by pushing the sight itself into its base, then turning it in the desired direction. An internal spring pushes it back out, firmly locking it in place.
The rear sight is a standard peep style with both small and large apertures on a flip-over plate. It’s easily click-adjustable for windage.
The front sight houses a standard post, adjustable for elevation, protected by wings.
The bases are nitrided steel, while the sight arms themselves are hard coat anodized aluminum.
Sight height will co-witness with most AR optics.
The high riser on this Holosun puts the TUORs at a lower third alignment position. Of course, the point of sights that are offset to either side is so that you don’t have to co-witness, or because you can’t co-witness.
If this Holosun were an optic with any degree of magnification, co-witnessing wouldn’t work and offset BUIS would be a necessity.
While the TUOR sights function flawlessly and smoothly — they fold and deploy on clean, solid detents and lock into rotational orientation easily and securely — I did encounter a rather frustrating problem.
They’re too tall. That is, the curved top of the mounts themselves prevents the sights from fitting under some (or perhaps most) scopes with standard AR-height mounts. I was physically unable to fit the rear sight underneath a Primary Arms 1-6x scope. Running a SIG SAUER TANGO6 3-18x scope in a Burris AR-P.E.P.R. mount, there was barely enough clearance for light to squeeze between sight mount and scope tube, and the sight’s ability to switch orientation was blocked.
Frustrating, indeed, as I intended to use these with a scope and in many cases that clearly isn’t possible without an extra tall mount or rings. Or, if they actually can be squeezed in there, the tight fit can easily negate the TUOR’s trick up its sleeve. Looking at photos on TUOR’s website and elsewhere, it’s apparent that the promoted use is with a small, magnified optic like an ACOG or another short tube, low magnification (a fixed 2x or 4x, typically) optic.
To be fair, TUOR does have a very good fit and setup guide on its website, which will help prospective purchasers plan a setup that works properly. I saw some photos online with the rear sight actually in front of the scope, but must admit I don’t currently have a rifle with that sort of “rail estate” and am not the biggest fan of what that does to the effective size of the rear sight aperture.
The quality of materials, machining, fit, and finish here is top notch. Flipping the sights up and down and transitioning between the three possible orientations is quick and smooth. The sights lock securely in place with more than enough precision to ensure repeatable alignment and accurate shot placement even if the sights have been flipped back and forth repeatedly.
The price is a tough pill to swallow — MSRP is $229.95 — but it’s actually as much as $60 less than some competing flip-out (only to one side) and offset-yet-foldable sights. If only they were a few millimeters shorter, they’d really have all of the bases covered.
Specifications (TUOR Sights MKII):
Material: Nitrided steel and hard anodized aluminum
MSRP: $229.95 (30% discount for MIL/LEO)
Ratings (out of five stars):
Quality * * * * *
Flawless. Machining, fit, and finish are great. Action is smooth and precise.
Practicality * * *
The sights’ height is a problem for scope clearance in many cases, and it’s hard to overlook the fact that the whole point of offset sights in the first place is to clear a scope. Still, if that’s a problem, there are multiple work-arounds (bumping scope height up a few millimeters, running the TUORs in front of the scope, squeezing the rear sight in and leaving it fixed to one side or the other).
Overall * * * *
Despite the clearance issue I ran into, the TUORs still offer extreme versatility. I don’t believe there’s another iron sight on the market capable of co-witnessing with a 1x optic (or being used on their own in standard, upright config) and transitioning to offset duty. Never mind one that swings 45° in both directions, locks solidly in place at 10:30, 12:00, and 1:30, and flips up and down regardless of orientation. This means the same pair of sights can work on all sorts of rifles in all sorts of configurations with all sorts of optics…height permitting.