My 16 inch AR is almost done.

[Big Frank]

Like it says, my 16 inch AR is almost done. Last week I moved the Picatinny rail back 1/2 of an M-LOK slot and moved the Sigurd WML back with it. There's 1/2 a slot worth of M-LOK Rail Cover, Type 1 that cover six full M-LOK slots in front of the light. It was behind the light before, but when I temporarily used my bottle opener as a thumb rest, I decided to move everything back. Now I have a Meta Tactical thumb rest on it. These come in pairs, so if any of you guys is a lefty, make me an offer. Meta is the guys who make the Glock Bullpup Conversion. There's a flat side and a curved side to the thumb rests and I paid way more for these than I could have gotten a flat one for, but this is what I wanted, and it feels great.

The NcSTAR Classic buttstock for COMMERCIAL SPEC AR style buffer tubes fits great on my Mil-Spec buffer tube. It says, "Sleek design with QD hole on each side for QD cup base.", but before I talked to them about it, it said that it had steel inserts so you could use QD swivels on either side. That leaves me with just the Magpul ASAP QD - Ambidextrous Sling Attachment Point QD, and when I tried several different slings the stud wouldn't go all the way it and latch. I was getting ready to drill out the hole in the back of the lower that A1 and A2 stocks key into so they don't rotate. Then I noticed the ASAP wasn't quite lined up straight. I gave it several hard whacks with a plastic mallet to rotate it clockwise a degree or 3. It was already staked to the nut in 2 places and didn't want to turn, but I got it move far enough for the QD studs to fit in it.

It barely had to move, and as I like to say, if I have the right hammer I can fix almost anything. Sometimes it takes a mallet instead of a hammer but I have a rubber mallet and a plastic mallet for those situations. No rawhide mallet, as the plastic one works just about as well and is 40%(?) cheaper. I use an 8 ounce, 12 ounce and 32 ounce hammer on a lot of things. I don't have a 4 ounce brass hammer like I did in my toolbox in Germany, but the 8 ounce ball peen works well for most of the same tasks. The big persuader is a 16 pound sledge hammer. Don't ever send your spouse to the store to buy tools. I sent my ex to the store to get a sledge hammer so I could pound wooden stakes in the garden. She came home with that when an 8 pound sledge would have worked better.

So I still need to get a pair of QD cups. A Magpul Sling Mount Kit - TYPE 1 in one side and a Sling Mount Kit - TYPE 2 in the other will work, but the type 2 isn't in stock. If it was, it would cost $34.90 for the pair of them. I don't really want to spend that much to fix up my $14.81 stock, so if anyone knows of a cheaper alternative, I'm all ears. In the 4th pic you can see where I filed another grove into the front sight rail to mount a cheap light. It goes right across the QD swivel mount, but the sling still mounts into the remaining part of the hole just fine.

https://metatactical.com/product/mlok-thumb-rests/

https://magpul.com/asap-qd-ambidextrous-sling-attachment-point.html?mp_global_color=118

https://magpul.com/sling-mount-kit-type-1.html

https://magpul.com/sling-mount-kit-type-2.html?mp_global_color=118

https://abcsportz.com/ncstar-collapsible-buttstock-integrated-rubber-butt-pad-for-comm-spec/

[Big Frank]

I had to cut a small corner off the ERGO rail cover to fit next to the thumb rest. These are a lot more grippy than the smooth flat Magpul rail covers. I bought OD green because at one point I thought I wanted them to contrast with my forends instead of matching them. Plus black wasn't in stock when I ordered them, IIRC. I changed my mind later and bought black M-LOK rail covers. The size, shape, and angle of the Sigurd didn't quite feel right in my big fat hands, but having the thumb rest to press down on makes all the difference in the world. If anyone has any questions about what brand of arts I chose, ask away. I mostly got whatever I could get the cheapest. Other things I got what felt best to me. I took a Magpul magazine release extension off one of my guns  because I didn't like it as much as the Armaspec B1 extended magazine release.

When you squeeze the lever to adjust the stock, you can squeeze it again, harder, to remove or install it. No more using both hands and pulling the lever where the pin is attached to move it out farther. 

https://armaspec.com/ar-15-parts/mag-release-buttons/b1-extended-mag-release.html

[Big Frank]

The dot on the tritium front sight glows so well that when I had the rifle standing against the closet door, I was lying in bed one night wondering where the light was coming from. It was just a dot in the dark, but I thought maybe a window shade had a pinhole in it and the streetlight was shining on the wall. It took me a minute to figure it out.

[Jim Kennedy-ar154me]

Is that a bottle opener I see???

[Big Frank]

Is that a bottle opener I see???

Yeppers, as my best friend would say. It's the Midwest Industries Tactical Bottle Opener, ​M-LOK. It came with a short ball chain like the kind dog tags hang on, so you can attach it to your key ring or gear. It doesn't come with screws and T-nuts because they don't encourage people to actually mount it to their guns. And I have a Rock River Arms Quad Rail Mounted Bottle Opener on my RIA-USA VRF14. It works great on screw-off caps plus, on the right side when the knob is downward, it has a recessed lip to pop the top on any bottle, screw cap or not. The logo in the picture is rotated 90 degrees in the picture on their site as compared to mine that's right side up on a horizontal rail.

https://midwestindustriesinc.com/mi-tactical-bottle-opener-m-lok/

https://www.rockriverarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=1665

[Sponsor]

[Big Frank]

I just snapped a pic of the RRA bottle opener. I used a black marker on the white logo which is why it looks muddy in the picture.

[Big Frank]

Earlier this week I realized I had a laser I wasn't using. I just got done mounting it on the left side of the front sight mounting rail. I previously cut the top or the forearm off under the mount on the left side so a flashlight mount would clear it. Then I took that light off and put the Olight Sigurd on. I have the laser oriented so the switch slides right to left to turn it on. There's not much chance of me bumping it and turning it on like there would be if it moved left to right to turn on. I have to use the right side QD sling socket, but having the laser where I can reach it with my left hand is worth the inconvenience.

[Big Frank]

Here's what it looked like without the laser. The Hi-Helix flash hider doesn't show up very well. A paint pen works a lot better than a Sharpie for blacking out white logos and writing like on the RRA bottle opener. I redid it and a few other things.

[Big Frank]

Last November I ordered 2 .223 caliber Black Friday Mystery Boxes from Detroit Ammo Co. I got all kinds of ammo including subsonic and blanks, and 2 Tactical Tailor MOLLE cases for AN/PVS-14 NODs, with a removable Velcro-adjustable pad inside. I got 2 cheap generic .223 bore snakes like they sell on Alibaba and eBay for 6 bucks apiece. It took me awhile to find one of them, but I finally remembered it was in a pocket of one of my gun cases. So I folded and rolled it up until it fit in my carbine's pistol grip, just like I previously did with the other lower. Now, no matter which upper and lower I'm using, I'll have one of these bore cleaners with me. I had a pair of CR123A batteries for my WML in the pistol grip before. But I do most of my shooting in the day time and need to be able to swab the bore before I start shooting. I still have a real Bore Snake, and the cleaning kit that came with my Colt AR-15 is in a small toolbox full of gun cleaning stuff. But if I don't have my gun cleaning kit, I'm still covered. I went up north camping and forgot the gun cleaning kit once. Luckily I didn't nee it.

BTW, I have one of the NODs pouches attached to MOLLE loops on the front of my tactical Christmas stocking so it holds a lot more. More room in your Christmas stocking is always good. There's a pocket at the top with Velcro on it for attaching name-tapes. There's no Velcro on the embroidered name tapes I had on my BDUs in the army, so I had a pair on it that said U.S. ARMY and VETERAN. But I recently had some custom made MultiCam name-tapes made, and now it has my first and last names on it.

[Big Frank]

I finally got a Magpul Sling Mount Kit - TYPE 1 and Sling Mount Kit - TYPE 2 for my stock. I ordered them from Cabela's and they came Friday afternoon. When I went to install them, the holes in the stock were too small. The sockets are ~1/2" in diameter so I got a twist drill bit 1 size smaller out of a drill index. I think it was 31/64", but didn't even look at it. Anyway, I chucked it in my heavy-duty 1/2" drill motor, and tried drilling one-handed while holding the stock on top of my vise. The bit... BIT, and the stock spun around and hit me in the face, knocking my glasses off. I thought I broke the stock but it was just a little gouged up. I laid it down on the workbench and drilled through from the other side. ALL the way through. Then I tapped both sockets into the holes with a plastic mallet. The shortest of 4 screws that came with the 2 Magpul kits was too long, so I cut it down with a hacksaw, ground the end and filed the sharp edge off. I screwed it into the sockets and found out I cut it down too short. So I took the next shortest screw and cut it down, leaving about twice as many threads on it. Ground, filed, and installed with blue Loc-tite, torqued down to 35 ft/lbs. It's just metal on metal so I wasn't afraid of breaking the stock or anything. I used a black paint pen to cover the end of the screw. There's nothing holding the sockets in but friction, but I think it will be okay. If they come loose I'll take them out and cut or scrape a groove into the inside of the hole for epoxy to set in. Now I have 3 places to attach the rear sling instead of just one on the end plate. I also bought a Gen 2 PMAG to stick my MagSkin on. If it works out okay, I'll post pics when I get 'er done. That will be practice for when I install the Magwell Skins on both lowers.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1hgyQSsvSI