Precision upper build

[oalocke]

Last year, I attended a general carbine class from Jim Smith of Spartan Tactical. For those who don't know, Jim served in Delta as a sniper and was aboard Super 61 when it was shot down during the Battle of the Black Sea in 1993 over Mogadishu.

Jim's emphasis on precision at range changed my expectations of what a carbine can do. The experience inspired me to focus more energy at longer ranges, and eventually I decided to build an SPR'ish upper to compliment my lighter-weight carbine. I'm still waiting on a few bits, but I thought I'd show it off now that it's more or less complete.

The specs I finally arrived at are:
Upper
- White Oak 18" 1:7, SPR-profile barrel with rifle gas system and M4 feed ramps, with matched bolt
- Daniel Defense upper
- BCM bolt carrier
- Daniel Defense gas block
- 13" Viking Tactics/Troy Extreme rail

Optics:
- Nightforce NXS Compact 2.5-10x24 with NP-R2 reticle and MOA dials (easier math for me)
- American Rifle Company rings
- Close-range optic will be an Aimpoint T-1 in a Larue offset mount at 2-o'clock (still waiting on the mount)

Other stuff
- Harris HBR-S bipod, with Pod-Loc
- Cadex folding VFG
- AAC SPR/M4 can and flash hider (only about 2 weeks in on "the wait" :-( )
- Streamlight TLR-2 with tape switch (also in the mail)
- VTAC sling

This upper is paired with my LMT carbine lower (pictured), so it inherits the LMT 2-stage trigger, SOPMOD stock and Magpul grip.



The business end...



A little closer. The QD sling mount is a 4" rail that I cut down.



The "set"




I drew the specs partially from what's worked on the issue Mk12 and SPR, but made changes and compromises for both weight and price. EG- I chose a less expensive WOA barrel over the issue tube from Centurion arms, and chose the 24mm Nightforce instead of the more expensive 32mm because I got a great deal. I used a VTAC tube because they're light, slim and hand-happy. The Cadex grip I had already, but it works really well on this gun- gives me a place to hold it once all the accessories are mounted, and folds out of the way when I don't need it.

I started out with an American Defense QD scope mount, but it was a little too low and I decided I really didn't need QD capabilities. The American Rifleman rings were brand new to me but I'm really impressed with them and the amount of thought that went into the design.

I'll update once I get all the remaining do-dads and finally take it out to the range.

[oalocke]

Added the T-1 in a Larue offset mount and a cat-tail for the NF from 3gunstuff.com


Cat tail


Just a little tilt and the T-1 dot appears


I was a little bummed out that I couldn't run the T-1 at the back of the receiver, but there just wasn't enough clearance for that and the cat-tail.

For those of you who are running a back-up optic like this (3-gunners?), have you found any major issue with running it that far forward?

[jafount]

further forward is truer pointing.