The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Building America's Rifle => Topic started by: Big Frank on November 10, 2023, 04:00:04 AM
-
I replaced the rear sling loops with Ace Ltd. Push Button QD Sling Swivel Sockets from DoubleStar, and put Grovetec 1.25" Heavy Duty Push Button Swivels on. The loops on these are way thicker than the swivels from Advanced Tactical I just put on my 10/22. I had to cut a square notch in the M4 carbine stock because I didn't buy the QD swivel stud adaptor that someone else makes just for it. And I replaced the stock trigger guard on the DPMS with a JE Machine Tech anodized aluminum Advanced Operator Over-Sized Trigger Guard, but I haven't switched the Colt trigger guard out yet. That one's still setting here on my desk. You get solid aluminum for the price of a plastic MOE Enhanced Trigger Guard. They're 13 bucks cheaper than an Aluminum Magpul Enhanced Trigger Guard. That's the budget-friendly type of thing I seek out when possible.
I replaced the trigger group on the DPMS with a drop in Rise Armament Rave 140 3.5 lb. Pull, black, curved trigger with Anti-Walk Trigger Pins. It has ZERO take up, and is possibly the best trigger you can get on a $150 budget. I replaced the selector lever with a Rock River Arms Star Safety Selector to match my Colt AR-15. It also allows you to rotate the lever to any of the FOUR positions of the M16A2 Enhanced Rifle trigger group. That has a 3-round burst PLUS a full-auto giggle switch for twice the fun. ;D ;D I swapped out the Badger Ordnance Gen I Tactical Latch (The original charging handle enhancement!) for a Strike Industries Charging Handle Extended Latch. I have a Yankee Hill Machine TACTICAL CHARGING HANDLE LATCH I'm going to put on instead, because I just checked it's a little bit longer. Then I'll put this one on the Colt.
Whenever I find the extra selector lever spring(s) I bought, I'll put a new grip on the Colt. I know I bought 2 springs because the lever rotates way too easily, and I already found a new detent I bought for it. But I have boxes of parts in 2 rooms here, with other stuff piled all over the place. My Vortex mount should be here early in the afternoon, but I think I'll wait until I swap uppers before I use that to mount my Vortex scope. Maybe sometime this winter.
https://doublestarusa.com/umpb-ars-push-button-sling-swivel-socket-for-a1-a2-m4-stocks-a200.html
https://grovtec.com/collections/push-button-swivels-qd
https://jemachinetech.us/ar15-m4-advanced-operator-over-sized-trigger-guard/#topOfPage
https://risearmament.com/product/rise-armament-rave-140-curved-trigger/
https://www.badgerordnance.com/tactical-latch-gen-i-249-02.html
https://www.strikeindustries.com/si-ar-latch.html
https://yhm.net/accessories/ar-15-replacement-parts/tactical-charging-handle-latch/
-
Here's the Vortex scope and mount on the newest upper I bought. I can't remember where I bought it, but it's an M16A4 type flattop without feed ramp cuts. The Windham Weaponry flattop upper I bought with M4 feed ramp cuts wouldn't work with my original Colt AR-15A2 barrel. I never got around to returning the upper and now WW is out of business, so I'm going to use that one with my Can Cannon, instead of the X-Products billet upper it came with. I'll either toss that in the trash, save t for a spare, or sell it if anyone wants it. I should have bought the Vortex mount with a 2" offset instead of the 3", but didn't measure anything before I placed my order. They were the same price, but I don't need the extra inch and it should weigh a bit less. Vortex lists the weight as 6.7 oz, but doesn't specify which one that is. I believe it's the 2". This is the Sport Cantilever 1-Inch Mount. It has 4 Allen screws instead of 2 hex head nuts like the Pro Extended Cantilever 1 inch Mount. That's one reason it's $179.99 MSRP, instead of $224.99. The Sport mount puts the scope 0.15" higher. The Center Scope Height is 1.59 inches instead of 1.44".
-
I put the Yankee Hill Machine charging handle latch on the AR-15 with the scope, since it's a little bit longer. And put the Strike Industries latch on the other one which has a 12.7" barrel on it at the moment. The YHM latch is steel, and the SI latch is aluminum that won't wear a hole in the upper.
-
Here's the QD socket I should have bought to fit the M4 carbine stock. It's actually made for it, and it's cheaper, but is probably longer, and the swivel sticks out far enough past the butt already. But the other one looks better to me, and I didn't want to place 2 separate orders from 2 different places to get one of an A2 stock and one for a carbine stock. Besides, I forgot who made it. :) Windham Weaponry's website is up again. Maybe they didn't close like all the gun industry sources and media personalities said. Maybe they're going through a bankruptcy. Who knows? Not me.
-
Grovetec also makes a AR Buttstock Limited Rotation Push Button Base for 12 bucks but it looks a little longer than what I used. I took the ERGO Grip off my 20" rifle and put a Strike Industries AR Overmolded Enhanced Pistol Grip on. It comes in 15, 20 and 25 degrees, and I have the 15 degree grip. The shallower angle should work well in the prone position. It costs $5 more than their Enhanced Pistol Grip that's not overmolded. The Strike Pistol Grip Plug Tool Holder Insert isn't compatible with the overmolded grip, or I would have bought it.
The ERGO grip was really comfortable but I had a problem with mine. If felt like the selector lever spring was binding in the hole. I tried reaming the hole out a tiny bit, but may have drilled it deeper. There was way too little tension on the selector lever. I put the Rock River Arms Star Safety Selector on to match the other gun, and replaced the spring and detent when I changed the grip. I took the old detent and stuck it in the ERGO grip point down and pushed it down with a punch, and it went down and out the side of the grip. Then I threw the grip away.
I also installed a Rise Armament Rave 140 Drop-in Trigger, 3.5lb. Pull with Anti-Walk Trigger Pins, black, with curved trigger in the rifle. The carbine has a JARD AR Two-Stage Trigger Kit. It's non-adjustable, but you can order them with 2 - 4.25 lbs. pull weight with a regular spring, and 4-4.5 lbs. with a heavy hammer spring. They make 7 different kinds of AR triggers including a set trigger. It's the only set trigger made for ARs. It features a single stage regular pull weight of 3-4 lbs. But unlike any other AR trigger on the market, it also features a set function that allows the user to push the blade of the trigger forward to the set position, reducing the pull weight to just 13 oz.
I have a Magpul MOE+ Grip on the other AR. That one has a Magpul MOE SL Carbine-Length Hand Guard on the 16" barrel, so the grip matches. The MOE+ Grip is also overmolded, and costs $4 more than the MOE (Magpul Original Equipment) grip. That's what MOE stands for if you didn't know, and SL is Slim Line. The Magpul MOE+ Grip only comes in a 25 degree angle and costs a dollar more than the Strike Industries AR Overmolded Enhanced Pistol Grip. The MIAD/MOE Bolt & Firing Pin Core and MIAD/MOE CR123A Battery Storage Core won't work in the overmolded MOE+ Grip, but the MIAD/MOE AA/AAA Battery Storage Core and MIAD/MOE Lube Bottle Core should work. I ordered the latter and it includes a 1/2 oz reusable lube bottle.
I put a Midwest Industries Tactical Light Mount on the 12.7" barrel and have the sling mounted on the right side with a QD swivel. On the left side is a free Harbor Freight 3-1/2 in. LED Mini Flashlight. It has 9 LEDS and runs off 3 AA batteries. I have serious lights for serious guns, but that light's just a placeholder until I decide I want to put one on the good ones on. It's on the left side so I can hit the button on the tailcap with my thumb.
https://grovtec.com/products/lr-ar-buttstock-push-button-base
https://www.ergogrips.net/product-category/gun-parts/ar-15/grips-ar-15/
https://www.strikeindustries.com/products/ar/lower-parts-kit/pistol-grips.html
https://magpul.com/firearm-accessories/grips.html
https://risearmament.com/product/rise-armament-rave-140-curved-trigger/
https://jardinc.com/ar-triggers
-
The Harbor Freight flashlight looks like this but it's black. Since it's 1" diameter, it fits quite well in the mount I stuck it in. I have 2 Strike Industries Enhanced Bolt Catches coming any day now. I like that these don't stick way out in any direction like some of the others do. They have one that sticks out way to the left, and some other companies make some where the bottom lever looks like it sticks out a lot farther. Here's another look at the Strike Industries AR Overmolded Enhanced Pistol Grips. The non-overmolded grips look just like them
-
I also finally got around to putting the Tubb Precision AR-15 Flatwire Buffer Spring in the rifle. It's 2 1/2 inches longer than my old spring that's been in the rifle for 35 years or whatever it was. But when it's fully compressed it's a lot shorter. It fits both Carbine and Standard length buffer tubes and it's strong enough for either length. I lubed up the buffer and spring with Breakthrough Clean Technologies Battle Born Grease with PTFE. Plain old white lithium grease would also work, but I used what I had. The 12cc syringe burst and grease came out the side so I used what spilled out the side first, plus some more. When I was done, I taped up the side of the tube. It protects your guns against wear and withstands extreme temperatures ranging from -75 degrees to +510 degrees Fahrenheit, but at $13.99 for 12cc, it's $551.65 per pound if I calculated correctly. When I run the bolt carrier back and forth, back and forth, it's a lot quieter than before. I should put some big globs of grease on the spring. It's supposed to take the pogo stick sound you hear when you shoot out your AR. The round spring in the carbine either has a coat of oil on it or it's dry at the moment, and it makes a terrible amount of noise.
https://www.davidtubb.com/tubb-springs/ar15-bufferspring
https://www.breakthroughclean.com/breakthrough-clean-technologies-battle-born-grease-w-ptfe-12cc-syringe-clear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZQUYGbGmr4
-
3-in-1 sells a PTFE lube that I've been thinking of trying on some of mine.
https://www.amazon.com/3-ONE-Multi-Purpose-PTFE-Lubricant/dp/B00J25JDDY?th=1
There's also one called Super Lube that is a synthetic with teflon additives.
https://www.super-lube.com/multi-purpose-synthetic-grease-with-syncolon
-
There aren't many places that guns need grease instead on oil, but it should be good for things like 1911 mainsprings and mag catch springs. Lets face it, most people will probably never take their mainspring out and oil it. But if you grease it one time, you shouldn't have to touch it again unless you take your gun swimming.
I forgot to mention that a few days ago I changed the front sight post on the 12.7" barrel from the "period correct" XM177E1-style round post to a square post. I couldn't find my A1-style front sight tool with 5 teeth at the time, so I did what I could to make it easy. I held the detent down with a small hex key and unscrewed the sight with an M16 firing pin I picked up while I was in the army. In basic training some of the drill sergeants had a spare firing pin stuck in their pistol belts when we went to the range. It makes a mighty handy tool for working on M16s and AR-15s. That's one of the things it's good for. Sometime after I switched to the square sight post I found the front sight tool for round posts, which also works on rear sights when you flip it over. It was in the muzzle cap lying next to the gun case instead of being in a pocket of the case. Somewhere I had a front sight tool with 5 teeth on one end and 4 on the other, but I don't know where it went. I still had a short one for A2 front sights only and bought another one that can go on a key ring.
When I was in the army, we didn't have front sight tools, but there was a drawing in the back of the TM showing the dimensions of a tool they that could be fabricated. They didn't explain exactly who was supposed to fabricate the tool, but you take a steel rod of the outside diameter needed and drill a hole the of the inside diameter needed, to an adequate depth. Then remove all the metal around the edge except for the 5 equally spaced teeth of the right size. The marines adopted the M16A2 before the army, so I bought a marine corp TM for it before the army manual came out. As far as I know the air force still uses the army manual. This one has the same thing except the tool has 4 teeth for the A2 front sight. And to go with it is a front sight detent depressor fabricated from .08 in. music wire or equivalent. It's shaped like an S with a big hook for your finger and a small hook to pull the detent down.
I never had that either. Or the pivot pin removing tool fabricated from a 1/16in. socket head screw key, or a fabricated pivot pin installation tool. But I have an AR Takedown Tool now that will do both jobs. There's a fabricated key tool that I never had, too. But if the edge of a bolt carrier key wasn't right I just put a drive pin punch, with a tapered shoulder between the handle and shaft, in the hole and gave it a whack. Either it straightens it out or you replace it. Most of the time, if there's not a piece chipped off and it's just lopsided, that does the trick. One easy to make tool is a slave pin that's used to hold the burst disconnector, semiautomatic disconnector, and trigger assembly together so they can be installed as a unit. This would work on any AR if someone has a hard tome getting the disconnector and trigger lined up with the hole in the receiver to put the pin though all 3 of them. Just take a spare hammer/trigger pin and cut off the end with the groove in it to .625" long and bevel the end to match the other end. I wouldn't worry about the heat treat:quench and temper to hardness specified, or finish: MIL-STD-171.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYOlryNIDjg
-
I put a Magpul Enhanced AR Magazine Release on the 20" rifle the other day. it was a really loose fit so I took it off and tried it on my other lower. It was the same so I took it off. I eventually put it back on the rifle, but the button is undersized and rotates a little. I never expected Magpul to make such a piece of crap. Instead of a Magpul Rail Light Mount, Left or Right, I got a Light Mount V-Block and Rings that allows you to install lights with a body diameter from .75" to 1.04" onto the MOE Scout Mount as well as a variety of M-LOK Cantilever and Offset Mounts in both Aluminum and Polymer. And I bought the M-LOK Offset Light Mount, Polymer to put it on. I got the black Harbor freight flashlight out of my Mechanix Wear bag and put it in the mount. It said to only tighten the screws to 15-20 inch-pounds or you could break your light. I tightened both screws to 20 inch-pounds and it crushed the cheap flashlight so bad it wouldn't even turn on. I had to clamp it in my bench vise and use Channellocks to unscrew the tail cap. The batteries and tail cap worked with the other flashlight on my 12.7" carbine, and after I squeezed it back into shape, I got it working again too.
https://magpul.com/enhanced-ar-magazine-release.html?mp_global_color=118
https://magpul.com/rail-light-mount.html?mp_global_color=118
https://magpul.com/light-mount-v-block-and-rings.html?mp_global_color=118
https://magpul.com/m-lokoffsetlightmount-polymer.html?mp_global_color=118
-
Yesterday I took my SIG Sauer Romeo-MSR 1x20mm Compact red dot off it's absolute co-witness riser mount. It doesn't come with a low mount or spacers or anything else for different heights. But it fits perfectly on a Vortex Sparc II Red Dot mount. I have a Sparc II mounted on my Mech-Tech CCU with a high mount. It also came with a low mount and a spacer. I may add the spacer to the unit on the CCU, but wasn't using the low mount for anything, so I put the Romeo-MSR on it, and mounted it on the APG Defense Ultimate Offset Sight Mount I got a couple weeks ago. I moved the Vortex Sport Cantilever 1-Inch Scope Mount ahead a a little bit on the flattop upper and put the Ultimate Offset Sight Mount with the Romeo-MSR on the back of the Picatinny rail where it doesn't have a slot in it, with the red dot off to the right. Whenever I get around to putting the rifle together with that upper, I plan on running the Romeo-MSR as a backup/short-range sight, instead of the pair of JE Machine Tech AR15 45 Degree Offset Flip-Up Gun Sights I bought as backup sights for it. The 20mm red dot is so small I don't think it will be getting in the way.
https://www.apgdefense.com/product-page/ultimate-offset-sight-mount
https://jemachinetech.us/ar15-45-degree-offset-flip-up-gun-sights/#topOfPage
-
The thing I noticed about the 3-in-1 oil was the extreme temp range.
-
That's really extreme. Teflon doesn't melt or burn easily. Entering Earth's atmosphere it gets hot enough to burn up, but under normal circumstances, it really stands up to the heat. A lot of good synthetic oils don't freeze easily either, but sometimes those types of oils are crazy expensive. I'll bet the 3-in-1 isn't too bad for what you get. I still have a can of 3-in-1 20W motor oil I bought when I lived in a mobile home back in the '80s. I used to pull the blower motor out of the furnace every year and add a few drops of oil on each side IIRC. Maybe 5-10 drops, I can't recall. Now I use it as cutting oil for my taps and dies. It's not the right consistency, but on smaller threads I hit it with something like WD-40 too. Or when the chips start to pile up I blow them away with the aerosol lube.
During the Vietnam war, some guy invented Dri-Slide molybdenum disulfide dry film lubricant and sent it to the troops, free of charge. In our TMs that told how to repair M16s, anyplace the finish was rubbed off and it was shiny it said to spray it with dry film lubricant. It probably still does. And there's a Dri-Slide company making moly dry film lubricants and stuff again now.
https://www.drislide.com/
P.S. Weapons Lubricant https://www.drislide.com/collections/weapons-lubricant-1
-
I was so impressed with the Olight PL Turbo Valkyrie Tactical Light that I put on my VRF14, that I bought an Olight Baldr Pro Tactical Light & Green Laser to mount on one of my ARs. It's powered by two CR123A batteries, side by side and has a strobe mode just like the other light. But has a max 1,350 lumens instead of 800, max light intensity is 16,900 candela, and beam distance is 853 ft (260 m.). Plus it has a green laser. There's a toggle switch at the rear of the laser that allows you to choose between the white light or laser, or both at the same time with the switch in the center position. It's Left for Laser, by the way. This one has a quick-release throw lever too, which will make it east to move from one gun to another. Right now it's is clamped to an aluminum 5 slot M-LOK Pic rail I'm putting on my UTG Pro Super Slim rail. All the UTG Pro stuff is made here in Michigan. I don't usually buy Chinese stuff, but made an exception with Olight and bought a dozen lights. If the name Baldr sounds faintly familiar but you can't place it, he was the Norse god of light.
This light is going for $149.95 right now in black or desert tan, and the midnight blue version for 10 bucks more should be out around Wednesday. Olight is made in Dongguan, China, but it's not the typical Chinese junk. This is a state of the art factory full of robots, not peasants. Their torture lab is no joke either.
https://www.olightstore.com/baldr-pro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd5twARyguQ
-
These guys like Olight too, and I trust sootch00 more than the average YouTuber. If Olight is good enough for his EDC, and he knows his life could depend on his ability to see with it, it can't be too bad.
Long Live The Demolitia! ;D
-
If I remember it right, 3-in-1 is a 20 weight oil blend. Our tool and die department used to order 19W tool oil by the 55 gallon drums...usually four at a time. They used it for cutting oil and air tool oil. Smelled just like 3-in-1 branded oil.
The company I worked for had a lot of high heat areas....some up to 1400° F and we were constantly looking for grease to use in bearings in those areas. We used teflon grease in a lot of high heat areas and it did a good job.. we also used a brand from a local area company about thirty miles away called Alithicon B-51.
THE B-51 ALITHICON SYNTHETIC HIGH TEMPERATURE BEARING LUBRICANT IS SPECIFICALLY FORMULATED TO BE APPLIED WHERE CONVENTIONAL SOAP-THICKENED, OR SO CALLED NON-MELT GREASES, WILL NOT PROVIDE ADEQUATE PERFORMANCE.
THE B-51 ALITHICON LUBRICANT IS A SYNTHETICALLY THICKENED GREASE WHICH EMPLOYS A HIGH THERMAL STABLE SYNTHETIC BASE FLUID, ALLOWING IT TO PROVIDE SUPERIOR LUBRICATION AND PROTECTION TO BEARINGS WHICH MUST OPERATE IN TEMPERATURES OF UP TO 700° F WITHOUT MELTING OR HARDENING IN SERVICE.
TWO ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE B-51 ALITHICON LUBRICANT IS: BEING WATERPROOF, RESISTING WATER WASH-OUT, AND HAVING A LONG SERVICE LIFE, REDUCING GREASE CONSUMPTION AS MUCH AS 800% WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER GREASES NORMALLY USED IN THESE APPLICATIONS.
THE B-51 ALITHICON LUBRICANT HAS AN O.K. TIMKEN LOAD RATING OF 100 lbs, MINIMUM, AND WILL PRODUCE AND EXTENDED BEARING LIFE OF UP TO 400%.
IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO LIMIT THE USE OF THE B-51 ALITHICON SYNTHETIC BEARING LUBRICANT ONLY TO BEARINGS OPERATING UNDER EXTREME TEMPERATURES OR WET CONDITIONS TO JUSTIFY THE ADDITIONAL COST. MANY LONG-TIME USERS OF THE B-51 ALITHICON LUBRICANT STATE THAT IT WAS PRIMARILY PURCHASED FOR USE IN THESE EXTREME, HIGH MAINTENANCE AREAS, BUT IT WAS LATER TRIED IN BEARINGS ON MACHINERY OPERATING IN AMBIENT TEMPERATURES AND UNDER AVERAGE CONDITIONS. BY REDUCING LUBRICANT CONSUMPTION, THE COST DIFFERENCE WAS JUSTIFIED.
USER BENEFITS:
* WITHSTANDS HIGH TEMPERATURES OF UP TO 700° F
* WATERPROOF * EXTENDS BEARING LIFE OF UP TO 400%
* WILL NOT MELT OR SLING FROM BEARINGS
* REDUCES LUBRICANT CONSUMPTION OF UP TO 800%
* EXCELLENT PUMPABILITY THROUGH CENTRALIZED LUBRICATION SYSTEMS
* AN O.K. TIMKEN LOAD RATING OF 100 lbs, MINIMUM
-
When I was in the army I used 2 different kinds of grease. When motor pool pulled the wheel bearings out of my truck to be cleaned and repacked as part of regular PM, they didn't have time to do it. That was my job, so off to the solvent tank I went. Then I sat next to a bucket of BRB -- GREASE, BALL & ROLLER BEARING, and got busy working it in with my bare hands. Good thing my truck was only a 6x6 and the trailer only 2 wheels. ::) That stuff was almost the color of peanut butter, but lighter, and way stickier. I tried finding a picture of a can online and came up with a NSN. When I looked that up I came up with AeroShell 22. Shell's page has all the specs on it and the first picture I found was on a site selling packages of 6, 1/2 ounce capsules to lube locks with. They say, "Although AS22 is formulated as a lubricant for aircraft, testing of over 180,000 continuous opening cycles on a combination lock without a single miss has shown it to be an excellent lubricant for mechanical combination locks as well." I'd hate to be the person who had to open a combination lock 180,000 continuous times. I'm lucky if I can open one 3 continuous times without screwing up. Shell says it has a useful operating temperature range of -54°C to +177°C. My computer's calculator says that's -65.2 to 350.6 when converted from Commie to Freedom units. ;)
The other grease, which I actually used a lot of was GAA, GREASE, AUTOMOTIVE & ARTILLERY. It was just regular grease, kind of a golden brown-yellow gel. I had to repack the shocks on four-deuce mortars a lot. Especially when they sat out in the rain, which seemed to happen a lot, except in the dead of winter. I had to repair a lot or T&E (traverse & elevation) mechanisms on those and 81mm mortars too, no matter the weather but especially when they sat out in the rain. I didn't check the specs on GAA since it's plain old grease and it doesn't matter.
https://www.shell.com/business-customers/aviation/aeroshell/aeroshell-greases/grease-22.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M30_mortar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M29_mortar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M35_series_2%C2%BD-ton_6%C3%976_cargo_truck
-
If I switch my CCU to QD swivels to match everything else, it's going to be a little more difficult. It has a plastic CAR-15 style stock with no metal sling loops, and no holes to fasten one into. I compared this stock to my 6-position M4 stock and the butt is about 1" shorter top to bottom. The funny thing is, I have slip-on rubber butt-pads on both of them and they each fit. I knew there were 2 sizes of stocks but never thought about my butt pads and stocks being different because I never compared them to each other. To be honest, I forgot it was a CAR stock. I think someone makes a double ended QD socket, so I can drill a hole sideways through the web of the stock to put it in. I just have to find it online and see if it works. I've seen some plastic coated metal reproductions of the original CAR-15 stocks for people building reproductions. I just checked and found a black coated aluminum one for $229.00. Wowzers! I like the $50 and under price of plastic a lot better, authenticity be damned. I never did like the way the sling is on the top of this stock, but didn't want to rig it with a loop of paracord, so I left it alone. I have an M16A2 Top Sling Adapter I could use to go from top to bottom on it, instead of bottom to top, but I think it would look goofy, and I want QD swivels anyway.
P.S. Maybe there's a QD socket that fastens through the sling slot, so I wouldn't have to drill a hole in the stock. Anyone know of one?
-
So, I used the Midwest Industries QD Rear Sling Adapter for 4-position CAR Stock on the CCU. Another good option I saw was the Grovtec Hollow Stock Push Button Base for $20. I would have had to drill a half inch hole in the thin web of the stock and screw this thing in, just like this pistol brace. But, since there's a hex nut on the other side, and a hole to stick a hex key in, it's strictly one-sided. Once get another Magpul QD socket to go on the right front rail I'll be all set for a QD sling. I have a tactical light on the left rail.
https://midwestindustriesinc.com/qd-rear-sling-adapter-for-4-position-car-stock/
https://grovtec.com/products/hollow-stock-push-button-base-gthm198-coming-soon
-
I took the can cannon off the piece of crap X-Products billet upper, and put it on the Windham Weaponry upper I never got around to returning last year, or the year before. Now the upper and lower fit together nice and tight like they're supposed to. No more rotation around the axis. I bought a forward assist assy. with pin from CDNN Sports for $7.99. I planned on buying a teardrop forward assist for my Colt "A1.5", M16A1E1-type upper and using the round one off it on this upper, but I'll keep a round one on that upper too, for now. I took the ejection port cover off the Colt and put it on the can cannon WW upper. I replaced it with one I bought a year ago, or whenever. I put the can cannon and Colt upper away in their FIELDSPORT AR15 UPPER PADDED SLEEVES from CDNN, then got the Colt back out. I got out some spare M-LOK hardware and put the Midwest Industries Tactical Bottle Opener, M-LOK on the MOE SL Hand Guard, Carbine-Length – AR15/M4. Then I added the M-LOK AFG - Angled Fore Grip right behind it. There was half a slot exposed between them so I cut half a section off an ERGO 4 slot M-LOK Rail Cover and popped it in there. It fit right the first time.
https://www.cdnnsports.com/ar15-upper-padded-sleeve-fieldsport.html
P.S. I forgot to mention I added a red/green optic with riser to the can cannon, now I don't need a riser for the red dot I had on it. I bought a 3/4" high 5" 14 slot Picatinny riser from CDNN and have to send it back. I tightened it up all the way and it flopped around. I tried it on 2 flattop uppers with the same result. I think I only have 7 golf balls, so it's going to be hard getting the sight zeroed in before I lose them all. Then I'll have to unscrew the golf ball launcher tube and switch back to cans.
-
I put Magpul green followers in the 20-round Colt mags with Tubb 30-round flatwire mag springs and Brownells baseplates. The original Colt baseplates were held by flat spring catches that were riveted on, so they don't have catches stamped in to hold onto the bottom edge of the mags. They held 17 rounds apiece, but I took one round out of each mag to make it easier to feed the first round, and easy to insert them into the rifle with a closed bolt and a round in the chamber (tactical reload). So, instead of 2 20-round mags, I more or less have 2 16-round mags at this time. I thought about taking one more round out of each mag so they'd equal a 30-round mag, but 32 is better.
When I put this Samson Manufacturing Multi-Mag Holder on my 20-round aluminum mags and clipped them together side by side, they were too close together to insert the left-hand mag in my DPMS lower, because it wouldn't clear the part of the ejection port cover that houses the detent. So I had to flip one over upside down, and now I can barely fit them in a G.I. mag pouch that holds 3 30-round mags. I took the heavy steel mag clamp off that was made for 30-round mags and I previously cut the top and bottom off of when I bought this one. It had a wider space between the mags and worked right. This one would only work with the mags side by side with my Colt lower that doesn't have a fence around the mag button and pivot pin detent, because it has the oversize Colt 5/16" (.3125) 2-screw pivot pin, instead of a normal captive 1/4" (.250) pivot pin. The ejection port cover opens flat against the lower since there's no raised ridge across the top edge. But on a normal lower, the ejection port cover sticks out a lot farther and and the mag won't clear it. And the 20-round mags aren't long enough to have the right hand mag set below the ejection port cover.
BTW, I took the stock pivot pin out of my Colt and replaced it with a quick release pin as soon as I saw them for sale someplace, probably Brownells years and years ago. So I can quickly and easily take my upper and lower apart, but it's not a captive pin. When I use an adaptor to put a different upper on the Colt lower, I just stick the QR pin in the upper so I don't lose it.
https://www.samson-mfg.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MMH&GD_Ratings:Reviewed=1
-
Since the Samson Manufacturing Multi-Mag Holder wasn't working the way I wanted it to, I took it off and put my modified Choate (CMT) M16/AR-15 Magazine Connector back on, after I reinstalled the Magpul Ranger Plates. Magpul also makes L-Plate rubberized bumper floorplates for USGI 5.56x45mm mags, which sounds like a good idea if you're in the habit of dropping your mags on the ground. They're $24.95 a 3-pack, just like the Ranger Plates. I can still get 17 rounds in each mag but now they just barely fit. I took one round out to see how well they seated in my ARs. They seated in my Colt easily, but took more effort to seat in my DPMS. ??? The Colt has a cut-away AR-15 bolt carrier and you can see the firing fin from the collar back when you look in the mag well. The DPMS has an M16 bolt carrier and is solid in that area above the bolt catch. So I took one more round out of each mag, and now I have a total of 30 rounds instead of the 40 rounds they were meant to hold. I leveled off the bottom coil of the magazine springs where the end was angled down, and bent them just slightly inward. That's a lot easier to do on round wire than bending flatwire springs sideways! There are a lot of mags that the floorplates are much easier to seat if the last coil is just slightly inward of the rest. It keeps it from popping out in the way if its outer edge is even with the inner edge of the other coils. It seems like I went though a whole lot of crap with these 2 mags over the last year, just to end up right back where I started. :-[ Except now I have 30-round flatwire springs in them that will outlast me by decades. At least I'm getting practice loading and unloading with the Strip-Lula I bought!
I put the 2 steel plates of the Choate mag connector over the open jaws of my vise and gave them a few love taps with my 2 pound ball peen hammer (AKA Ma Deuce Adjusting Tool) to bow them out in the middle. It was almost too far for me to get the screw in and connect the mags. I put blue Loctite on the end of the screw and torqued it down to 30 inch pounds. It's VERY close to the edge of the mags, and very close to the trigger guard too, but should stay put. If It slides toward the trigger guard and causes any trouble I'll move it down just a hair and re-tighten it. I'll probably do that anyway. The mags with ranger plates attached are halfway between the length of a 20-round mag without them and a 30-round mag. When I put them in a G.I. mag pouch, I have a foam rubber stress ball in the bottom of the pouch. The ball and ranger plates compress slightly to keep the mags firmly in place, and when I open the mag pouch they pop up like a jack-in-the-box. ;) Just kidding. They pop up 1/4" or something like that, and they're a lot easier to grab hold of than any of my other mags. But they only have 30 rounds total where there should be 3x30 rounds, or 3x27 minimum. I'm not worried about putting he 5-round limiters back in if I use one of my ARs for hunting again. I have 10-round Amend2 mags with 5-round limiters for that. I marked the picture of the Choate mag connector where I cut off the plastic part, and cut off the steel parts to match. It looks like half a mag connector now, if that, and is still almost too long to work. That's why I bought the Samson mag connector, but for some reason the mags were just a bit too close together. It's machined from 6061 aluminum alloy bar stock tempered to T6 and features a MIL-SPEC (MIL-A-8625) Type III Hard Coat Anodized finish in a subdued gray color. So it looks good. It just doesn't work as advertised to hold two (2) thirty-round or two (2) twenty-round 5.56 NATO magazines side-by-side, for rapid reloads. It's possible there's an angle to them I didn't notice before, and they flare outward slightly and I had them pointing toward each other instead, but I don't think so. I should try again, with the mags coming out one end, then the other, and flip one part over to see if they're parallel or not.
https://www.riflestock.com/store/product/m-16-ar-15-magazine-connector/
https://magpul.com/l-plate-usgi5-56x45-3pack.html?mp_global_color=118
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooT13puM4p0
-
I have all 3 of these mags loaded right now, with OTM ammo IIRC. I would have to look at the boxes that are still out and see which one only has 5 rounds left in it to be sure.
-
I looked to see what I had in those mags. I knew it was something you can hunt with not FMJ, but couldn't remember what it was. It turns out it was Remanufactured Freedom Munitions .223 Remington 60 grain Pointed Soft Points. They're $29.99 for a box of 50 New, and the Remanufactured 223 60 gr PSP ammo is $24.01 for a box of 50. Take your choice when they're in stock, $.60 a shot or $.48. They both have almost all 5 star reviews. A lot of people go with the 20% savings like I did. I don't reload and don't care if the brass has been already used once, as long as everything works like it's supposed to.
https://www.freedommunitions.com/223-60-gr-psp-new.html
https://www.freedommunitions.com/223-60-gr-psp-reman.html
-
I have a Midwest Industries Tactical Light Mount on my 12.7" barrel and bought a Picatinny Flashlight Mount, 1" from CDNN to put on it. The site says it's 1.35 inch long, but the box says it's 1.75" long. It's not the same thing it shows on the website, but it's not a bad mount for $3.99. The problem is, since it's .40" longer than it was supposed to be, it requires 4 slots worth of rail to attach it to, instead of 3. The MI mount on the barrel is just the right length, but needs one more slot, since one of the cross bolts goes across the QD sling port. So, I had to file a slot there myself. When the slot was about full depth, I took a drill bit, 7/32" I think, and used the side of the bit to mill out the slot that was too narrow. I finished it off with a half-round Swiss pattern file and covered the raw aluminum with a black Sharpie. The mount holds flashlights up to an inch in diameter, so I wrapped 2 pieces of electrical tape side by side, 3 layers thick on a free Harbor Freight flashlight, right in the middle where it was a little bit thinner. That made it the same diameter from end to end. It's not a great tactical light, or the best mount, but it's good enough for government work. I won't likely ever need to shoot this upper at night, but if I have the gun with me and see a porcupine in the woods, it might get poached. I really need to buy a round file like a chainsaw file, for when I need to make my own rail slots.
https://midwestindustriesinc.com/mi-tactical-light-mount/#product-reviews
https://www.cdnnsports.com/picatinny-flashlight-mount-1in.html
-
The Vortex Sport Cantilever Mount with 3-inch Offset just isn't going to work out for me. If I didn't put anything but a scope on my rifle it would be okay, but the folding rear sight, offset 45 degrees to the right is mounted so far back it's only 1/8" from the front of the charging handle, and 1/8" back from the brass deflector. It fills that space right up. And the scope is 1 1/4" forward of the charging handle. I want to mount it so it's more even with the charging handle. So I have an Anthlon Optics Armor Cantilever Scope Mount 1 Inch on the way. It has such a small offset I'll be able to mount the Vortex 3-9x scope and back up sights, with my 2 MOA red dot SIG Romeo between the mount and rear sight. Its mount from APG Defense is less than 5/8" wide and doesn't need a rail slot to mount in. I wanted to start building this rifle over the weekend but have other things I need to do first, when I feel well enough to do anything.
https://athlonoptics.com/product/armor-cantilever-rings-1inch/
https://www.apgdefense.com/product-page/ultimate-offset-sight-mount
-
$3.99 is a good price.
-
You can't beat that light mount for the price.
-
I got the Anthlon Armor mount today and tried mounting the scope, Romeo red dot, and flip up rear sight. The sight looked like it lined up with the rim of the red dot, but when I put it on a tall riser, it looks like I can peep through it. Barely. I don't think I'm going to put the red dot on at all. Or if I do, it will have to be attached to the scope or something different from this setup.
-
My Brownells XBRN177E2 upper with a 12.7" pinned and welded barrel was too long to suit me. The OAL barrel length was 16 5/8", which I thought was 1/2" too long. I never liked it and finally did something about it. I have a trusty Greystone brand hacksaw that solves many such problems. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic saw and said, "By the power of Greystone, I have the power!" ;D
I covered the flash hider with masking tape to keep it from getting all scratched up and hacked the end off at about 16 1/4". I left room for error, because I figured I was likely to err. Being human and all, you know. I ground the end down just slightly, filed it, and sanded it. It's roughly 16 1/8" which is what I was aiming for with this barrel, no pun intended. I'll be able to measure it better once I get it back on an upper, but not the one it was on. It's going on the Colt upper. Now it has a 6-prong flash hider instead of a closed end, but the barrel isn't excessively long anymore. I'll eventually apply some cold bluing or paint to the end.
The other side isn't scratched up, but the file got away from me a bit on this side. Oh, well. I'm used to that. When you look at it with the slots pointing upward, it reminds me of a rook on a chessboard.
-
I temporarily put each 16" barrel back on its upper, the stainless steel carbine barrel on the Colt upper it's been on for many years, and 12.7 Brownells barrel back on it's upper, which is a NDS forging. Am I the only one who thinks NoDak Spud sounds like the name of a cheap potato cannon, and not a real gun? "I just bought a NoDak Spud gun on TEMU. I like it better than the old Zamak Spud gun" ;) These barrels will be swapping uppers very soon, so the Colt lower with a carbine stock will be dedicated to the 12.7 barrel, and eventually the Dead Foot Arms Modified Cycle System (MCS) with GEN 2 Folding Adaptor. I bought the Right Side Folding adaptor so I can sling the rifle close to my chest with the stock folded, and flip it out at will. The 16" carbine barrel, 20" rifle barrel, and Can Cannon uppers will all interchange without an adaptor pin on the DPMS lower with an A2 stock. It's been awhile since I had the 16' barrel and full-length stock together, but that's what I used for years before I bought another lower with an M4 carbine stock.
I put a 1/4" bolt through the lugs on both lowers to line them up and looked at the muzzles. Despite what it looks like in the picture, the 12.7" barrel is shorter than the 16" barrel by less than the thickness of one cent. I figured that out when I held them together and stood them on their muzzles. They aren't exactly the same length, but nearly identical. Good enough for government work, and good enough for me.
I used to have an M2037 Flare Gun that looked like an M203 Grenade Launcher mounted on the 16" barrel. I had a regular M203 mounting bracket for 20" rifles, but didn't have the fiberglass insulator/spacers to go with it. So I wrapped some foil-backed sound deadener I got at work around the barrel. It's like butyl rubber or something gummy and sticky. It's self-adhesive and comes in sheets. I put it on 1 or 2 layers thick, then I folded over the end of the mounting yoke to shorten it about 1/4" and slipped it over the sound deadener. When I took the flare gun off it left behind a sticky mess that I scraped off and painted over with cheap spray paint. I just used Goo Gone and a brass brush to scrub the remainder of the mess off, and sanded off the gloss black paint with old 120 grit sandpaper. When a sheet of sandpaper on my 1/4 sheet sander is worn out and has holes in it, It still has life left for hand sanding stuff like this.
I pegged the handguard cap upside down with a scrap of wood so I wouldn't blow paint into the gas tube hole in the front sight assembly. And I taped the slip ring back out of the way so I could prep the barrel for painting. I put about 5 coats of Rust-Oleum high heat BBQ black enamel on, letting it dry just a minute between coats while I shook the can. In a little while, I'll tape the slip ring to the front sight to keep it out of my way, swab the rear of the barrel with denatured alcohol again, and finish painting the rest of the barrel. Then I might mask off the barrel and paint the slip rig. I scratched it up pretty badly putting the Magpul MOE SL hand guard on the first couple of times. After it dies for 24 hours, it will be ready to go on its new upper. I could blacken the aluminum slip ring but flat black paint will look better than the glossy black finish it has.
BTW, NoDak Spud makes AR-180 type lowers that use AR-15 parts. It has imitation spot welds at the rear that make it look more like an authentic sheet steel lower.
-
I'm done painting my barrel. This looks SO MUCH better than when I sprayed it with 99 cent gloss black paint before. Even if no one ever sees it again, at least I think it looks good. And that's what really counts. And as long as the barrel doesn't get over 1,200 degrees the paint shouldn't burn off. I think the gas tube would fail like it should and save my paint job before that happened.
Rust-Oleum High Heat BBQ Black enamel is also called BBQ & Stove paint. I think that's the new name for it. Home Depot has it under the old name for $6.98. A 12 ounce can will probably do a complete AR-15 from flash-hider to butt-plate with plenty leftover. You could probably paint all the metal on 2 ARs with one can. They also make Automotive High Heat paint that's good up to 2,000 degrees, but I think I'll drop my gun on the ground before it hits 1,200, so this paint should work well enough. ;)
-
I finished painting the slip ring and unwrapped the barrel. The barrel nut sliding around scraped up the paint, and when I rubbed a little oil on, it wiped off a trace of paint. But there are spots where it's completely gone and bare metal is showing. :( I guess if you want the paint to stick you have to wash it with soap and water like the directions on the can said, but I don't like washing any gun parts in water unless they're plastic. I could have sprayed it with degreaser if I had any, but I still don't know if the paint would stick after using it.
-
I repainted the barrel again yesterday. I didn't mask anything off, except by hanging onto the front sight assembly with a nitrile glove on my left hand. I didn't touch the barrel again until today, and didn't scratch any of the paint off. I got some overspray on the handguard cap, but kept my Night Fision tritium sight nice and clean. I may take the sight off and paint the rest of the barrel. it was set-screw dings in it from when I had a fake suppressor over it. If I do paint it, I'm only masking the muzzle and flash hider threads.
I have both carbine gas tubes soaking in the bucket of gun cleaner in the kitchen. When I take them out I'll swab them out with some extra long pipe cleaners made just for cleaning gas tubes. They're almost 16 1/2" long instead of 6 1/4", and a little bit thicker too. If you think you have carbon building up in your gas tube you can soak the pipe cleaner in something like the Modern Spartan Systems Carbon Destroyer I have, stick it in and let it work for awhile.
Carbon Destroyer has “shock & awe” power. This proprietary formula was originally designed to replace dangerous high VOC solvents used to remove the heavy baked-on carbon deposits from fighter jet engines and machine gun ports, such as on the 30mm GAU-8 Avenger and its cannons. It quickly and aggressively destroys the carbon, including the deeply embedded carbon hiding in the microscopic gaps of the substrate. Shooters tell us all the time that “it is BY FAR the BEST FIREARM CLEANER ON THE MARKET.” (Watch the video to see carbon melt away).
I have a bottle of their Accuracy Oil too, but haven't used either one of them yet. They make Carbon Destroyer XX, the double concentrated BIG BROTHER to the already EXTREMELY tough and powerful Carbon Destroyer. A Suppressor Shield Pre-Treat Kit, an engine oil additive, etc., too.
https://modernspartansystems.com/product/carbon-destroyer/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nob84zGst10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6GVqqHFNg0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64oQSILZJrU
-
One upper done, and two to go, plus some work to do on both lowers. I don't have any fancy black nitrided gas tubes, but I have black spray paint. I painted both of them for the 16" barrels, except for the ends, and will paint the one for the 20"barrel when I paint the barrel and DTA Mil-Brake with its jam nut. That's what I bought the spray paint for in the first place, and might need to buy another can to finish it. The paint on the gas tube on this one ends dead even with the rear of the barrel extension. I didn't paint all the way to the end because I didn't want paint rubbing off inside the bolt carrier key. No one can see this gas tube, but the other two will be visible through the handguards and I painted both of the carbine gas tubes the same time.
I torqued the barrel nut to 35 ft-lbs 3 times. With a new barrel and new upper you have to because the parkerizing on the nut wears down, and threads on the upper stretch so much, but I always do it, even when I put an old barrel on an old upper. I have an alignment gauge that goes in the bolt carrier key, but the first 8" of an extra gas tube, or a #15 twist drill (.180") would also work. You just stick it as far in the carrier key as it will go, and see if it clears the teeth on the barrel nut. If not, you have to crank it down until you get to the next space. I barely had to go any farther to get it lined up this time. I changed a lot of barrels in the army, and sometimes I had to crank them down to around 80 ft-lbs to line up right. Since I only had aluminum jaws around the barrel then, I had to take something like a scrap barrel and shove it through the front sight assembly to keep the barrel from spinning in the vise when I changed barrels. My OCT 1984 USMC TM says to use a pry bar through the front sight, and use the buddy system to hold the pry bar. The bench top was my buddy system. ;) Once the "pry bar" hits that, it's not going any farther.
When I first put this together, I cut a piece off the top of the left handguard, to clear the cheap flashlight mount that fits the MI Pic rail so well since I modified it. Then I took it off and mounted the Olight Baldr Pro 1,350 lumen light with green laser in its place. And secured the APG Defense Bayonet Lug Extender - Adapter with red Permatex threadlocker. It (barely) makes up the difference in length between a 16" barrel and 14.5" gas system. It works great but should be 1/16" longer IMO. The bayonet ring would fit the flash hider better if there wasn't a washer in place. This is the first crush washer I ever used, BTW. I turned it finger tight, plus 1/4 turn, then had to crank it WAY around to index it. I don't think it could go much farther. I think they max out at 1 1/4 turns past finger tight and I had it about 1 turn past. I have no idea what the torque value was, but it was higher than the barrel nut! I think I went a few degrees too far but can't back it up. Peel washers are better in some ways, especially the fact you can reuse them several times.
I have the Magpul MOE SL hand guard and AFG angled fore grip, with a MI Tactical Bottle Opener, M-LOK. One strip of M-LOK Rail Covers, Type 1, cut in half covers both sides of the hand guard 3 + 3 slots, and a small piece covers the single hole between the AFG and bottle opener. When I took my Night Fision tritium front sight off prior to painting the barrel, the plunger and spring parted my hair as they got away from me. They use a plunger that's slightly different from stock because their sight is 2 layers of metal thick, so I need to get the parts from them if I can. I need to swap the large aperture peep sight over to this upper, too. After I got a little molybdenum disulfide grease on the barrel from installing it, I wiped it down and liked the sheen it gave the paint. So when I put the flash hider on, I greased the threads on the barrel and rubbed the tiny bit of grease that squeezed out on the front of the barrel, plus I dipped my finger in the grease to get a bit more on it. I don't know if it penetrates and sticks to paint the same way it does pores in metal, but that's as close to plating as the stainless steel barrel will ever get. The Mil-Spec grease is pretty good protection.
-
Here's the other gas tube I painted. I took pics from both sides. I used regular masking tape to mask off the end with the gas port, and the end that goes in the bolt carrier key. Everything that will show through the holes in the XM177E2 submachine gun / M4 carbine handguard is solid black. It's more tacticool and stealthier looking this way. :) The paint seems to be sticking better than it did on the barrel. I couldn't even pick it up and move it across my desk without scratching paint off it.
-
It took me HOURS to clean all the metal shavings and black crap out of the 12.7 inch". It had a big brass colored bump sticking way out where it was pinned and welded. It was too hard to file, so I know it wasn't brass, but I don't know what it was. It felt like a hard stainless steel but the surface was yellow. ??? I used my angle grinder to very carefully grind it down, but at 12,500 rpm, mistakes happen fast. I just bought a new roll of 120 grit sanding cloth, mainly made for cleaning copper pipes before sweating them, and had about 11" left of the last roll. I tore that in half, and folded it in thirds lengthwise so I could sand around the divots where I ground a bit too deep. When the middle of the sanding cloth was worn out. I wrapped it around a flat file so I could use the ends of the cloth. The 2 little pieces were enough to sand it down before I painted the barrel. See the center of the groove where the arrow is in the 3rd pic. It looks really good to me. I know I should have let the paint dry overnight at least, but went ahead and put the upper together not too long after I painted the barrel. A little paint rubbed off, but it would be easy to touch up if I didn't run out of paint.
I took the Magpul extended mag release off the DPMS lower and put it on the Colt. I like the Armaspec B1 Extended Magazine Release - Aluminum a lot better, and put it on the DPMS instead. After I had both extended mag releases Loctited on, I noticed that when the button on the Armaspec B1 is fully depressed, the mag release doesn't stick out half as far as the one with the Magpul button. I think I need to take the top off the button and unscrew the latch at least one turn so it's easier to drop the mags. The bottom part of the button may be thicker than stock, and the latch screwed in farther. It's always something. So, the Colt upper and lower are finally reunited, but with the CAR-15 barrel now. It's the same length as the other barrel, but looks shorter because the other barrel has the extra length of a flash hider in addition to the 16" barrel. The M4 carbine stock has a longer maximum L.O.P. than the A2 rifle stock, especially with the rubber butt pad adding another 1/2" or so. I didn't measure it but I think it's a maximum 15" with the pad.
-
SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!!! It will be even littler when I put the folding stock adaptor on it. In the 2 pics of both carbines, you can see the Samson Swivel Stud QD Adapter attached where the front slip loop used to be on the 12.7" barrel. After I took the sling swivel off, I squeezed the sides of its attachment point together in the vise, and hammered them down until they touched. I ended up grinding and filing some metal off the bottom, drilling out the holes for the sling swivel rivet and the unthreaded hole in the QD adaptor, and filing the inside of the QD adapter to get it to fit over the 2 swivel mount projections, instead of the parts being halfway inside each other. It was a lot of work, and although I think it looks better with the Swivel Stud QD Adapter over both sides of the swivel mount, it was so much work that if I had a choice to do it all over again, I wouldn't! I'd just have them overlap each other instead, and not risk breaking anything.
I think I'll get the Samson Quick Flip Stock and once I get the folder installed, put that on too. The hinge adds 3 1/2" to the length, so the buffer tube will be long enough without the additional length of the M4 stock. And I can buy another carbine buffer tube, and put the M4 stock on the DPMS rifle with the 20" barrel, 16" barrel, and Can Cannon uppers. That way the 12.7" barrel stays on the Colt permanently, and I don't have to screw around with adaptor pins for any of the uppers. And this year, I'll FINALLY be able to fire "my little friend" as much as I want to with the stock folded. The quad-stack Schmeisser 60-round mag should work well since it only sticks out about 1/8" past the edge of the magwell.
-
I don't think it was until a couple nights ago when these 2 ARs were lying side by side, that I finally noticed how the newer lower is reinforced in the area I highlighted. I think that was one of the improvements made when the M16A2 came out. It may have even been on some M16A1s but it wasn't on all of them, so I really don't know when the change came about. It's approximately the area I marked on the forging where it's flat.
-
I got back from the store 20 minutes ago and when I took my coat off I saw the front sight detent spring I lost April 3rd just lying on the carpet by my feet. I found the Night Fision detent with its slightly longer nub 2 feet away last week. I couldn't find then when I was no my knees with a high-powered flashlight, sweeping the area with a 4.5" x 1" x 1.25" industrial magnet, but after I gave up and decided to buy more parts, they just showed up. I don't know if I have a house fairy or magic mouse or something else helping out, but I would never pray for anything as trivial as that, so I don't think it's divine intervention. But you never know. God works in mysterious ways. Whatever brought my parts to me, I appreciate. It just seems to defy logic, but maybe something got kicked around and they flew out of their respective hiding places. Now I just have to find the front sight. I think it's in the pile of receipts and stuff next to me on the desk. If I find it, I need to take the large aperture rear sight off the Colt upper w/Brownells barrel and put it on the Brownells upper w/16" barrel.
-
I also recently found what I believe are the safety plunger and spring for my 10/22 that went flying weeks earlier. I remember hearing 2 impacts, one way over to my left and one to my right. I looked all over with a flashlight and magnet before I got new parts. They were still assembled and lying on the floor to just the left of my chair where the other spring was yesterday. Weird. No matter how many parts fly in which direction, they all end up in the same spot next to my chair or slightly behind that. Now I know where to look. And to keep looking until they show up.
-
Here's why it was so important I have the Night Fision front sght detent and not just any other for my night sight. You use a sight adjustment tool to adjust the bottom part to the right height, then turn the top part around facing you. The detent in the middle of the picture I took is the Night Fission flanked by 2 generic front sight detents. The narrow part on top isn't that much longer, but with a smaller taper at the end, it's effectively longer still, and will engage the top half of the sight much better. I'm not the only one who likes them. The only review with a picture says it's the best sight on the market. As far as tritium sights are concerned, I agree. They have more tritium for longer life and are guaranteed to last. This has 4.8 stars based on 14 reviews. The only review that wasn't 5 stars was one where the guy said they sent him the old .12 inch wide sight, not the .09 wide second generation. But I'm sure they would have done a free exchange. The sights are still available with 6 different color rings around the green tritium, including black if you don't want a big colored ring. The custom sight installation tool is included. It has a large hollow center to accept the sight blade.
https://www.nightfision.com/product/night-fision-perfect-dot-tritium-night-sights-for-ar-15-and-ar-10-rifles
-
I ordered a charging handle for the can cannon, a KNS Precision PERMA Pin, and 2 Luth-AR helical 1 Piece gas rings, along with some other stuff from Detroit Ammo Co. I'm TRYING to finish these builds. I still need to buy a .315" push-button QR pivot pin from KNS, for 25 bucks.
https://knsprecisioninc.com/push-button-pivot-pin-315-dia/