.22lr fixed sight upper for SBR

[les snyder]

after cataract surgery and new glasses, I can actually see a front sight again  .... so decided to make n new upper to compete in the rim fire rifle irons (RFRI) division of Steel Challenge, but still wanted to shoot a short barrel on my SBR... additionally, I wanted to use an AR front sight tower sight if possible... so my cousin drilled and tapped the bayonet lug and existing access hole of a spare sight tower for an 8-32 hex set screw... a painting of fluorescent pink on the front sight.... and I had a temporary proof of concept unit to see if I could focus at shorter distances (I didn't want to use a flip up front sight on the rail)... success... I then pulled a couple of uppers apart as I wanted to use the same fore end on my red dot upper... chucked the barrel in the lathe, parted the barrel, faced it off, cut a crown... then went to the mill and indexed the front sight with the center of the upper, temporarily set screwed it in place, then drilled for a roll pin to lock in place....I may need to shorten the protective wings, but haven't shot it at match targets.... looks to be a winner... regards Les

[tombogan03884]

"chucked the barrel in the lathe, parted the barrel, faced it off, cut a crown."

Isn't that the part that costs $200 ?
Or does it not matter on an existing SBR ?

[alfsauve]

.... looks to be a winner... regards Les

WITHOUT PICTURES IT DON'T LOOK LIKE ANYTHING.

[les snyder]

Tom... only the lower receiver is registered via the $200 tax stamp... any other barrel(s) other than the one described on the original paperwork can be listed on an addendum to the revocable living trust to which the Form 1, (permission to build a short barrel rifle) is issued ..the SBR is registered to the trust, a living entity, and I as the executor of the trust have access to it, as well as others listed within the trust documents... BATFE suggests that they be notified of additional uppers in case of theft, but it is voluntary

[les snyder]

Alf... I still don't have a posting site, but did post a pic on "rimfire central" sub section on rimfire Steel Challenge... you need to sign in to see attachments (I think)

Les

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Tom... only the lower receiver is registered via the $200 tax stamp... any other barrel(s) other than the one described on the original paperwork can be listed on an addendum to the revocable living trust to which the Form 1, (permission to build a short barrel rifle) is issued ..the SBR is registered to the trust, a living entity, and I as the executor of the trust have access to it, as well as others listed within the trust documents... BATFE suggests that they be notified of additional uppers in case of theft, but it is voluntary

As I understand your reply, the tax stamp is for the part that RECEIVES a short barrel, they don't care about the barrel it's self ?
Which would avoid the whole "registering pistols" nightmare.
Which illustrates the problem with letting lawyers and politicians decide anything.
You can have a pistol with no barrel, or a "long" gun , but it takes Govt approval for something in the middle.

[alfsauve]

Alf... I still don't have a posting site,

All you have to do is crop the picture to get rid of unwanted area and resize it down to <150K, then Marshall will let you upload it directly to this site. 

This doesn't require fancy s/w.   I use a free utility called IrFanView.  (Windows only)  I got it because it will do batch conversions but so simple to do simple crop/size things one at a time as well.  Loads 10x faster than Photoshop too.   I bet there's something similar if you're a MAC addict.

[les snyder]

well after all my cousin's hard work, I couldn't track the front sight quickly enough with the protective wings of the factory AR sight tower, so removed the sight tower, as I didn't to ruin all the hard work... put the longer fore end with rail back on.... cut the wings off a cheap UTG flip up sight and painted the sight post.... the lone colored sight post stands out much better, and more easily tracked...., but the small spike post looks pretty fragile... ordered a Blitzkrieg sight post that is thicker front to rear... I think I have a RFRI option, though it is still a work in progress... it naturally handles very similar to the open upper... may even be a little lighter than the HS510 sighted upper... regards Les


with the primer shortage, the .22 rimfire for Steel Challenge allows me to shoot 3 matches a month and 3 practice matches for what would be the cost of primers alone

[les snyder]

OK, bit the bullet and got one of the flip up fiber optic sights from Striplin Custom... works well, bright even in umbrella shaded shooting box... now I just have to get used to using a front sight and looking through an AR rear sight... 

[les snyder]

finishing up the thoughts for this thread... the original AR rear sight was not in my opinion ideal for Steel Challenge... the small aperture was way too small to shoot quickly, but the large aperture not precise enough for quick shots on  8" plates.. I didn't have a set of number drills at my location, so it was trial and trial again... I started with a 5/32" (.156") drill through the small aperture...I could shoot it quickly, but still too large an aperture to keep the dot centered sub-consciously....found an aftermarket flip up in my parts box that had a 3/32" (.094")small aperture... I'd never changed out an aperture on an A2 drum sight so thanks to Brownells and youtube, was an easy job... I used a butane lighter to soot the sight as there appeared to be some ghosting or possibly light wave interference at the edges... will give it a try at practice Friday... can go larger if needed... regards Les