How useful do you find these? And can they work on a bolt action? I'm looking into getting some, but since I'm left handed, do they make lefty versions or can I just flip the rights? or are they pointless on a scoped rifle?

Some people like offset sights. Some don't. Personally, I find them to be quite useful on AR-style rifles with magnified optics, and have installed them on a few rifles.

There's no way to cowitness iron sights with a magnified optic, so you're stuck with either having no backup sights, putting the optic on a QD mount that you simply remove if you need to use BUIS, or using offset sights.

Both using offset sights as well as putting the optic on a QD mount still allow you to have irons as a backup, in case something happens to the optic. But offset sights have the useful added benefit of allowing you to quickly engage close-range targets using the sights, while leaving the magnified optic mounted to engage longer-range targets. Makes for a more versatile setup. (Finding and engaging close range targets with a magnified optic, especially one with high magnification, is challenging.)

Many brands of offset sights can be used on either side. My preference is for the Troy offset sights, and on those, the sight body is attached to the offset mount with a couple screws. To swap to the left side, you simply detach the upper sight portion, flip it around, and reinstall the screws.


Specifically regarding their use on bolt action rifles, I think your biggest challenge will be finding a workable solution for properly mounting them and achieving a proper sight picture and cheek weld.

With something like an AR, you can mount the front sight on the gas block or the front of the free-float handguard, and the rear sight on the rear of the receiver. Basically the same spots you'd mount traditional iron sights, just offset. But I don't know of many bolt rifles that have rail mounting points at both the muzzle end and receiver of the rifle. Most bolt rifles will have a relatively short rail on the receiver for scope mounting, but mounting AR-style rifle sights with both the front and rear sight on the receiver - resulting in a ~4" sight radius - doesn't make much sense.

In addition, all the offset sights I'm aware of are made for AR-style rifles which use a straight stock that's in-line with the bore. This allows you to simply rotate the rifle around the bore/stock axis to access the iron sights, while keeping the same head position. But with bolt rifles, nearly all of which have a drop comb stock that is not in-line with the bore, it would be much tougher to get a quality sight picture and cheek weld when you rotate the rifle to try to line up the iron sights. The stock would now be angled down and away from your face, and your head would be in a different position.

So while I like offset sights on ARs and similar style rifles, I can't see myself using them on a bolt rifle. If you're concerned about the ability to engage both closer and longer-range targets with the bolt rifle, something like a 1-6x or 1-8x variable power scope would be a better choice. Dial down to 1x at close range, and dial up to 6x/8x at longer range.

I have one on my AR that I use for hunting. Useful for close-in shots. I think you can flip them around and use them on the left or the right.