THE BAD: What AR accessory do you really dislike or is just flat out useless?

[Warp]

Magpul BAD

I don't like that:
-It asks me to do something around the trigger guard with my trigger finger when sights are not on target
-Training with it would likely create habits that simply do not work at all on rifles not so equipped

[Diamondback]

Magpul BAD
-It asks me to do something around the trigger guard with my trigger finger when sights are not on target

As a southpaw, it gave me problems getting my finger back OUT of the triggerguard. I found it easier and safer to whack the bolt catch with my support hand.

[mballz23]

Been seeing quite a few posts about BAD levers creating malfunctions, but haven't seen anyone post what malfunctions they create.

What malfunctions has anyone seen and/or experienced using them?

Premature bolt lock. Closed bolt on empty mag. Premature bolt close during reload. It’s in the trigger guard, ND waiting to happen for those that don’t safe the gun on a reload. The stress it adds to the bolt catch.

I haven’t ND’d a gun with one but I’ve done all the aforementioned points.


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[seb5]

As a southpaw, it gave me problems getting my finger back OUT of the triggerguard. I found it easier and safer to whack the bolt catch with my support hand.

Hmm, you whack it with your right hand? Over the ears I found that retracting the CH was faster for most than hitting the bolt release. Most lefties I've seen would insert mag with thier right hand and then whack it with thier left hand, which was a hard habit to break. Do you roll the weapon inboard to reach it?

[wichaka]

Premature bolt lock. Closed bolt on empty mag. Premature bolt close during reload. It’s in the trigger guard, ND waiting to happen for those that don’t safe the gun on a reload. The stress it adds to the bolt catch.

I haven’t ND’d a gun with one but I’ve done all the aforementioned points.


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So far haven't experienced any of that. Trying to figure out the stress it would place on the bolt catch. Haven't heard of anyone placing the rifle on safe during a reload, guess I don't get around much

I'm the type that believes using the charging handle as little as possible...as well as the forward assist.

[Diamondback]

Hmm, you whack it with your right hand? Over the ears I found that retracting the CH was faster for most than hitting the bolt release. Most lefties I've seen would insert mag with thier right hand and then whack it with thier left hand, which was a hard habit to break. Do you roll the weapon inboard to reach it?

A bit, yes; then again, my normal firing position is with a slight inboard rotate, and I do the Chicken Wing thing too because it seems to be the only thing that works with my weird misbuilt shoulder so far. If you've heard of the McMillan Tilt, I usually use a fifteen-degree or so for stronger bone and joint lockup shooting southpaw, and shooting right handed the full 45-degree to bring sights over to my better eye. (It was developed by a cross-dominant Marine and Olympic gold-medalist.) I *can* shift master eyes at will to match the hand I'm using, but it takes a little effort and a half-squint on the side I'm transitioning from to set it up, a luxury I can't spare in a Game ON situation. (It's a story... but some of the cops I used to shoot with thought me engaging two targets in rapid succession on opposite sides with a 1911 in each hand a la Number 47 was a fun opportunity to separate some of the Bubbas on the line from their beer-money with sucker range-bets. And while it let me get lead on both targets faster, it wasn't as precise as "double-tap left, double-tap right, rinse and repeat"--it's a hole-card to keep up my sleeve and a parlor trick, not a real go-to Primary Technique. Like I've said elsewhere, weird shit happens with and around me...)

[Livefreeordie92]

-Outfitting a 16" carbine gas, fsb carbine with stuff that belongs on a hunting or precision rifle. 3-9x40 scopes and Harris bipods have no place on this type of carbine.
-Cheap anything. Life's too short to buy cheap crap when there are affordable options that work.
-Rifles without buis.
-Stupid color schemes.
-Binary triggers or slide fire stocks. Waste of ammo, waste of barrel life.
- And literally everything he said.

1. Anything "California Compliant" such as bullet buttons, anything "featureless", 10rd mag limits, or any other state-regulated handicap imposed for notional safety (unfortuntley I live in this communist/socialist shithole and as a result suffer with many "gay-R15 rules").

2. Cheap lights/lasers with coiled remote switches hanging sloppily off of the (usually wobbly) carbine length railed handgaurd. Your 10,000 lumen gun show table navy seal tactical light doesn't need a cable like the kitchen phone from my childhood home.

3. Grip pods. Hate em. That cubic foots worth of plastic up top at the mounting point makes them horribly unergonomic imo. Usually found mounted beneath the aforementioned wobbly handgaurd and fitted with a strip of sticky back velcro for the aforementioned tape switch.

4. Cheap "lame point" or "fake-cog" type optics that typically switch between green and red reticules. Invest in good glass or get good shooting with irons (which everyone should be before glassing up in the first place, right?)

5. Lowers with skulls or a spartan helmet or whatever shaped magwells. That shit is gay. If you own one you probably wear Affliction shirts in public and sit down to pee in private. They should make one that looks like a little misshapen dick cause that's what you'll look like showing that thing off.

6. 3-point slings. Overly complicated and cumbersome. I've seen bondage gear with less strapping and buckles. It's as if some worker at a sling factory in the late 80's was being paid by the yard to come up with something new.

7. Pink or purple furniture. I get it. Make em cute with barbie-brand accessories so our girls will like this sport like we do. Cool. Whatever you need to do I suppose. My wife also has an AR. When she was picking out plastics I told her if she went with a bubblegum scheme I wouldnt let it in the safe with any of mine. She rattle-canned it in dull greens like a piece of kale and named it "kale-er" (say it out loud). That combination is sexy. Plus it blends. As a result I'll suffer a vegan restaurant every now again for her.

8. Anything "zombie".

9. This obsession with shaving every possible ounce and gram off of the rifle. Some of these setups are more perforated and porous than a tennis racket. If 7-10lbs is too much rifle for you, get some Kryptek or Multicam yoga pants to prance around in while doing crossfit or whatever.

10. Those little rail-covers/panels with the gadsen, molon labe, punisher skull, biohazard, III%, 2A, sheepdog, or whatever graphics. Any available rail space does not need to be a sounding board for you to slather with tacky bumper stickers like the bizarro version of a lesbians subaru. Leave the rifle alone. You most likely already have the same patches on your velcro cap.

Can't think of anything else really. Every shooter's different and what works ergonomically for one doesn't for another. So I don't harp on VFGs (except #3) or AFGs or handstops, buttstocks or whatever. If it fits your form and makes you a better shooter to have your hands/cheek placed a certain way then get at it. My AR setups have evolved considerably over the years and will probably continue to do so. But gimmicky shit is just that. Shit.

[Diamondback]

The only "funky-shaped" magwell I could see myself considering would be the original (not the new "lightweight") Spike's Hellbreaker, and that only if I was doing a "Flying Tigers"-themed build and having it Cerakoted in the colors of an American Volunteer Group P-40.

[0uTkAsT]

Lasers and illuminators when the owner doesn't own, or have access to, NVDs. Magwell grips. Lights mounted at 5 to 7 o'clock or 3 and 9 o'clock while massively protruding from the side of the rifle. Lights not intended for use on weapons mounted on weapons. "Navigational" lights on weapons. Unsecured cables, or cables secured with something that touches or comes very close to the gas tube and/or barrel. Extended bolt releases that extend rearwards rather than forwards. Massive charging handle latches. Cheap optics and accessories. Skulls, helmets, slogans on any part of the rifle. Zombie anything. Coatings worth more than the rifle. "Battleworn" anything. Any of the myriad of gimmicky, counterproductive tacticool garbage like stylized castle nuts, lightweight pins, skeletonized receivers, etc. Brakes and comps mounted with ports fully or partially recessed under rails or any muzzle / muzzle device that is flush or sub-flush with the end of the rail. Counterfeit copies of anything or non-counterfeit products that are low-quality knockoffs of a known quality product.

Probably more but that's just what rolls off the fingertips at first thought.

[Andrewsky]

Not trying to be edgy, but at the risk of stating the obvious, the basic M4 has some issues:

-M4 waffle stock: The sling swivel is a bit of an obnoxious protrustion, it is loose, doesn't offer storage, has no rubber buttpad to keep it from sliding, and it doesn't give a good cheekweld. I like the SOPMOD better.
-A2 grip: Okay but take a dremel and get rid of that bump.
-Charging handle: Totally inferior to BCM Gunfighter Mod 3. The BCM one is so much easier to grasp there is just no comparison.
-Forward assist: Pointless protrusion, can only make things more stuck.
-M4 carry handle: Why are those knobs so gigantic? Why not just use hex or allen heads and torque it properly. No one ever uses the carry handle so why is it there? I like the DD fixed rear sight as a replacement for this.
-Standard trigger guard: Why is there a gap, why are the edges sharp? I like Seekins trigger guards better.
-Regular handguards: Why are they so loose? Totally inferior to a rail system.

I guess this is why virtually everyone changes most of these.