Accessories to your rifles make them capable
 

I read an article in SWAT magazine about the positives of having the red dot sights, foregrips, a rail system to attach a flashlight, etc and how it should be noted on the effectiveness of such a setup over plain KISS carbines.

What are your thoughts on the matter of setting up your rifle? Be it AR-15, AK, or other brands.

A scope is all I need. For me, anything else would be pointless

How powerful is the scope? What if you have to use it in close quarters? Would you have back up iron sights?

I'm looking at the rifle not just for shooting targets down range.

I have shitty back up sights and the scope is medium powered. I only use my AR to plink though. If I were going to fight, I'd probably prefer to use a plain jane AR

Reading the article made me think that just a KISS rifle during actual combat might not be the best thing anymore. It is harder to sight while moving and aiming at moving targets. A RDS can help with that. Flash light can help with low light, foregrip for better firing stability, etc

Having some type of rail forearm is nice, at least for attaching a vertical grip.

As for sights: Personally, I still don't trust anything besides iron sights. Maybe if I were not in combat, but if I were infantry, I'd rather just have iron sights over some expensive optical or holographic sight that might get damaged. That being said, it would be nice to have both the carry handle (or at least flip-up iron sights) and a more hi-tech scope just in case.

Are combat troops are in the habit of carrying back-up iron sights even when they have an Aimpoint or Holosight on their weapon?

I guess you're right about that, but there's nothing stopping our troops from getting their own back up iron sights and attaching a red dot or ACOG.

I am, suprisingly, more accurate with an AR that has open carry handle type sights than I am with a scoped AR

At what range?

100 yards and less

I don't think you're alone either; I've seen some people on the AR-15 boards claim the same thing.

I think the only reason its like that for me is that my scope is not very good.

What about shooting with that same plain Jane rifle in the dark or low light? Would you claim the same amount of accuracy?

I could, but lying is a sin

Sure, I can shoot well in the daytime, when it's bright outside or in a brightly lit room, but when the sun starts to go down and there's shadows, it is harder to hit a target and harder to ID if the target in front of you is a threat or just waving his hand.