Upgrading my first AR, need advice.

[TehLlama]

Well when I bought it it was milspec, then added the stuff. At least that's what I was told. Thanks for the advice.

You bought parts with the letters 'mil-spec' somewhere in the product description. Not a bad thing, but there is more to actually meeting a specific stated MIL-STD document. That said, there are lots of things that aren't in the Mil-Std that are definite improvements, so that isn't the end-all of civilian carbines.

What parts are on that rifle? This will dictate what really makes sense to set as priorities budgeting. I have no idea who makes that BCG, and how valid any claims they make are about the materials, processes, and coating applied to it. Same deal with other LPK parts, buffer spring, buffer, etc.

Crush washer will work great for that setup, before you get too far start reading about proper procedures for that before going forward. If you eventually get a can, you'll have to un-do this, but having a properly timed muzzle device should be a requisite part of assembling the upper that was somehow missed.

A 'lifetime warranty' on hobby grade guns are surprisingly affordable to a manufacturer to provide - as most see at most a couple magazines worth of ammunition per year, and is mechanically like offering a 5 year 5,000 mile warranty on a modern car... so Eurodriver is absolutely asking the right question about round count.


For now - go shoot the poop out of the thing. Some of the grit will wear off the trigger, and the nut behind the buttstock will get a lot more proficient too. You'll figure out if mechanically everything is in working order, or if you need to spend money getting the MTBF higher in order to own something actually reliable.
If it turns out to be reliable, then spend money on a sling, some more magazines, some training, spend some more time reading, and then eventually look at a longer handguard and some more accurate ammunition followed by maybe a trigger.

If reliability isn't 100%, either figure out if it can be addressed piecewise, or if you're money ahead selling the whole deal and starting over with a Colt, DD, BCM, LMT, Sionics, Noveske, or KAC complete weapon where there aren't any mechanical issues, and less things would need upgrading.

[GH41]

griz59, Tell us the truth... How old are you? What other weapons do you own? Just trying to figure out where you are coming from and what direction to steer you in.

[Outlander Systems]

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...ormed-consumer!

Lots of wisdom there.

[Junkie]

If you took a rifle with a lifetime warranty and then swapped barrel and BCG I doubt said warranty means much. If you do an engine/tranny swap on a car that's under warranty, do you think the new ones will be covered?

[SocomShooter]

Looking at that rifle, the first thing I'd do--as stated above--is correct the problem with that flash hider. Either re-install it correctly, or have them do it themselves. Second, and again as previously stated, is consider a longer free-float rail. It's just more comfortable for me to move my off-hand forward (more) for better control. Any weight difference in the longer rail should be negligible, and worth the benefits. If you like it, keep it--but research your upgrades for a long time and don't rush them.

[Junkie]

I would expect a quality (meaning not from China) free float rail of some sort - keymod, m-lok, or proprietary - to be marginally lighter than your current quad rail. Looking at the Midwest Industries lightweight Keymod or M-Lok handguards, which I consider toward the bottom of pricing that I'd consider, the 12" is lighter than their 7" quad rails. Also much more comfortable. The ounce or two difference isn't too important, just pointing out that it won't make it heavier.

A longer handguard also lets you mount the front sight farther out, leading to a longer sight radius which helps with accuracy when shooting iron sights.