this weekend i am going to buy my first ar and it will be a flat top so i plan to put some glass on it when i buy it. for now it will be just a mil-dot bushnell but my question is: will normal rifle mounts work on a flat top?
Actually, I think that will depend upon whether or not your rifle is a flat-top all the way down.
If your rifle still has the standard front sight assembly, then, while a standard mount will do a fine job of attaching the scope to the rifle, it'll accomplish little more than providing you with a magnified view of......the front sight assembly.
I'm not sure how much of a lift is needed to clear the front sight assembly, but I do know that others have already figured it out and made "risers" specifically for that purpose.
OR.......you could buy a flat-top front sight assembly to replace the factory one.
My AR is set up as a long range tactical and I like it heavy so I used Badger Ordinance rings designed for a .50 BMG. My Leupold Mil Dot is rock solid in that mount.
Normal rifle mounts usually means weaver rings and they will mount on a picatinny rail. But, if the scope was already mounted in rings that fit on a weaver rail, then you will need to move the rings around because the spacing on a weaver rail is different than a picatinny rail.
Just because you can physically attach the scope does not mean that you'll be happy with the result. Per internet wisdom, most ar shooters prefer the center of the scope about 1.5" above the rail for optimum cheek weld. I prefer that height too. Some use extra-tall rings to get that high but those are not always the best solution. For that reason, there are a multitude of risers of different height that attach to the picatinny rail. The risers themselves are simple lengths of picatinney rail and can raise the mounting surface 0.3", 0.5" or 0.625" higher than the ar rail. Some of them are quick-detachable. Some even have the rings built in. In addition, these risers often extend forward over the handguard to allow the rings to be mounted on the scope in an optimum way.
An additional benefit of the scope mounted 1.5" above the rail is that the front sight post will be completely out of the optical field of view like Sergeant Mac said.
If your going to keep the front sight gas block on the rifle you'll need additional height ring mounts or a one piece rail mount. As mentioned, removing the front sight gas block and installed a milled flat top block is also as easy and you can simply mount a front folding sight from Troy Industries.
Just do yourself a favor and go straight to the LaRue Tactical SPR-E mount.
It's a one piece CNC machined mount with two throw lever tightners. It provides enough lift to over come the standard front sight gas block and "Extended" out an ince and one quarter for better eye relief. This would be my first choice for a variable power long rang scope.
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