First Full Build... Lightweight'ish... Battle Arms LW Upper/Lower

So I've put together a few lowers but never an overall Upper and Lower build. Here's my first time putting one together. This was intended to be a Lightweight'ish multi-purpose rifle with some high quality parts. I'm planning to head to the range this afternoon and see how she does. It currently has a Carbine Buffer but I'm also taking an H and H3 buffer to try in it to see how it does.

Upper:
BAD556-LW LIGHTWEIGHT 7075-T6 BILLET RECEIVER SET
Rise Armament RA-901 Slimline handguard (Decided to give some local Oklahoma guys a try... )
Rise Armament M4N-160 Tactical Fluted Barrel 16" in 223 Wylde w/ Lantac Dragon Muzzle Break
Lantac LowProfile Gas Block with Carbine length gas tube
Aimpoint H-1 (2 moa) w/American Defense Mount (Had this one on another rifle but fits this build better) & Magpul Pro BUIS

Lower:
BAD-ASS Safety / Ti Enhanced Pin Set / Enhanced Mag Release
Raptor AXTS Charging Handle
Fail Zero BCG
Spikes Dust Shield
Magpul CTR stock & MOE+ grip
Armalite 6-pos Mil-Spec buffer and Carbine Spring
BCM Gunfighter QD End Plate & lock-ring
Some mil-spec lower assembly parts

I'm pretty stoked how it turned out... although it would've been nicer in the sub 5# weight. I'm pretty happy given it's about 2lbs lighter than my normal AR15 shooter Seekins build I normally lug around. Will see how well it shoots this afternoon I'm hoping.

Here's some pics. Let me know what you think.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psatnfx56n.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...pssdtlllut.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...pscw7yrnen.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psszkn1nf5.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psb19f1pzr.jpg

Here's the weight minus the Aimpoint

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...ps8ajyab2y.jpg

And here's my old-reliable and normal shooter's weight which is sporting a Trijicon TR-24 optic.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psbg43icki.jpg

Sorry for the picture orientation... I tried fixing it on photoshop but it's giving me problems.

So got to the range and had some issues... First round chambered fine, fired but failed to eject. Not sure if the chamber was a bit tight or what... but cleared it and fired a few more rounds without incident. I had laser bore sighted the rifle prior to my range trip. My first 5 shots (50 yards) barely hit the target and were scattered all over the place... perhaps grouping of 16-20" groups. It was HORRIBLE. So in lieu of wasting ammo and time I bagged her up and shot my AR10 and a couple pistols before coming home. I called Rise Armament and they told me it was possible it was a defective barrel and they'd swap it out if I wanted. I took her apart, swapped out barrels for another 16" RA barrel and got it all back together. This time I also decided to not use the Lantac Dragon brake is it it didn't want to thread on the barrel very well. The thread cuts were not good on the Dragon and I had to re-tap the initial threads to get it started. Not sure if it was defective or if this is normal for the Lantac muzzle brake. I had also picked up a Surefire Muzzle brake and decided to use that one on the new barrel. It was late by the time I got my rifle back together so I haven't been able to test it out again.

The ammo I was shooting was American Eagle 62gr Green Tip... it was a new mass batch of ammo but I didn't think it would cause the rifle to be that bad. I didn't see any tumbling/tears in the target but it was horrible. It could be the ammo, barrel or muzzle brake that was causing it. I have no idea... Any suggestions?

Hopefully next time to the range will be a different story and she'll be a sub moa rifle. I'll be sure and take my other trusty AR and see if it shoots the American Eagle 62 grn stuff ok and also take a few other 5.56 type of ammo to test out in my new rifle. Here's hoping it turns out to be something simple.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redsnake

So got to the range and had some issues... First round chambered fine, fired but failed to eject. Not sure if the chamber was a bit tight or what... but cleared it and fired a few more rounds without incident. I had laser bore sighted the rifle prior to my range trip. My first 5 shots (50 yards) barely hit the target and were scattered all over the place... perhaps grouping of 16-20" groups. It was HORRIBLE. So in lieu of wasting ammo and time I bagged her up and shot my AR10 and a couple pistols before coming home. I called Rise Armament and they told me it was possible it was a defective barrel and they'd swap it out if I wanted. I took her apart, swapped out barrels for another 16" RA barrel and got it all back together. This time I also decided to not use the Lantac Dragon brake is it it didn't want to thread on the barrel very well. The thread cuts were not good on the Dragon and I had to re-tap the initial threads to get it started. Not sure if it was defective or if this is normal for the Lantac muzzle brake. I had also picked up a Surefire Muzzle brake and decided to use that one on the new barrel. It was late by the time I got my rifle back together so I haven't been able to test it out again.

The ammo I was shooting was American Eagle 62gr Green Tip... it was a new mass batch of ammo but I didn't think it would cause the rifle to be that bad. I didn't see any tumbling/tears in the target but it was horrible. It could be the ammo, barrel or muzzle brake that was causing it. I have no idea... Any suggestions?

Hopefully next time to the range will be a different story and she'll be a sub moa rifle. I'll be sure and take my other trusty AR and see if it shoots the American Eagle 62 grn stuff ok and also take a few other 5.56 type of ammo to test out in my new rifle. Here's hoping it turns out to be something simple.

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I've had accuracy issues with XM855 before. You might try some 55gr .223 Rem as a starting point and see if it groups any better. Sometimes you just need to find the right round for a particular barrel. Good luck and please keep the updates coming.

Thanks for the follow-up. I've got a few different 223/5.56 types of ammo I'm going to try next range trip. Target/Varment/55grain/62grain/etc... and I'm going to take my ole'reliable AR15 and see if it shoots the American Eagle XM855 any better. If it fails to group w/this stuff then I'll chalk it up to bad ammo and elect to not buy it anymore. It may be a couple weeks before I get to put in some range time as we've got our 1st grand-baby due this week so who knows when range time will happen again. :)

Follow-up: So after swapping out the Barrel w/another Rise Armament 16" and using my Surefire Muzzle Brake... I took this rifle back to the range to see if that was the issue. I started out w/basic Federal 223 55gr Brass ammo in 3 round shot groups. Grouping was pretty good. After firing about 20 rds of the 55gr 223 I stepped up to some of my old reliable 62 gr 5.56 Federal as well as the 62 gr American Eagle which I thought might be the issue... and it grouped well also. So next I shot some Hornady V-Max Varmint 40 grain and it grouped pretty well.

Here's a pic w/my Aimpoint H1 with no magnification, 5 rounds, orange dot is 1", 100 yards:

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...pstnsjfdzq.jpg

Then I loaded various 3 round groups, 62 grain, 55 grain, etc... and shot open sights, same as above:

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...pshyd2u4rd.jpg

I'm happy w/the results. It's hard enough to see that 1" orange dot at 100 yards let alone get close to it for me. I'm an ok shot, but not an excellent marksman like some here. :)

Here are a few more pics. Some changes you can't see is I added a Geissele Super 42 Buffer Combo which functioned well. I also changed out the Battle Arms Mag release as seen in the pics after I got home to one of their over-sized buttons and got rid of the little 'tab'. I don't like the way the 'tab' works as it seems to have a lot of slop/play in it unless you're pushing on the actual 'button' part and not the tab. Guess that was something that looks better in pictures than actual use. Plus a pic of my mug enjoying the day. What's not to like about a nice trip to the range. :)

Great forum here and I've learned a lot from others experiences.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psyux6yilt.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psmt89fjac.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...ps7dbjbuvd.jpg

Nice build! I wish I could have used a lightweight receiver set when building my "lightweight" build. I started with Aero upper and lower and just used to ton of titanium parts and got it down to just under 6 lbs without optic. The biggest difference I think was using a lightweight barrel and titanium gas block. The front end is soooooo light!. Keep us updated on what you do with that first barrel and if RA takes it back and finds anything wrong with it.

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Originally Posted by fubar1217

Nice build! I wish I could have used a lightweight receiver set when building my "lightweight" build. I started with Aero upper and lower and just used to ton of titanium parts and got it down to just under 6 lbs without optic. The biggest difference I think was using a lightweight barrel and titanium gas block. The front end is soooooo light!. Keep us updated on what you do with that first barrel and if RA takes it back and finds anything wrong with it.

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Thanks. Yeah I believe a lot of felt weight could've been saved w/the proper barrel profile and set up. This one was what I had available and local... :) RA has been very good to work with. They basically swapped out my barrel for another one the day I had the issue. When I contacted them last week to see if they'd done any R&D on the barrel I returned they hadn't had a chance too as of yet. Not sure if they will/won't but I think it'd behoove them to verify if their barrel had an issue and get it fixed. I would've gone w/a 14.5" barrel but don't want to deal w/my muzzle device being permanently attached or getting the appropriate paperwork. So far so good the way it is now. Although I tend to tinker too much for my own good and will likely change out something on this down the road to see what happens. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by redsnake

Thanks. Yeah I believe a lot of felt weight could've been saved w/the proper barrel profile and set up. This one was what I had available and local... :) RA has been very good to work with. They basically swapped out my barrel for another one the day I had the issue. When I contacted them last week to see if they'd done any R&D on the barrel I returned they hadn't had a chance too as of yet. Not sure if they will/won't but I think it'd behoove them to verify if their barrel had an issue and get it fixed. I would've gone w/a 14.5" barrel but don't want to deal w/my muzzle device being permanently attached or getting the appropriate paperwork. So far so good the way it is now. Although I tend to tinker too much for my own good and will likely change out something on this down the road to see what happens. :)

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Oh I hear you. I tinker way too much too. I've built a couple of AR's recently (check out my thread in this section) and I'm already moving stuff around!