Howdy,
I've been mostly lurking here on and off for the last few years and gathering information for my ar build. I've been a pistol guy for a few years now, taken a few classes and such, so I decided it was time to start in on rifles and challenge myself a little more. You guys, calguns, and zombie squad have all been very helpful and informative. Of course, there's less chaff to weed out here at m4. Realistically this rifle will be used mostly for punching paper, although I would like to take some classes with it and feel comfortable pressing it into a Home-Defense situation.
You're all going to laugh at me because I live in California and this is what I have to do to my rifle in order to be able to drop magazines with a finger instead of a tool. The ability to quickly reload seems rather important to me in a rile intended for Home Defense. With that said, this is what I wound up with after about a year of research and then months of actually acquiring parts.
A stripped Stag lower acquired locally - It's a lower, seemed like decent quality from the reviews. I know Stag doesn't have the best rep here, but this is just a lower.
A G+R LPK - recommended by so many people it seemed stupid not to. As a beginner to rifles I figured I'd stick with a standard trigger setup and get used to that before deciding on anything fancier
A BCM BFH 16" mid-length upper - seems like this is the recommended budget beginner's best all-round choice with room to grow in to, just had to wait until they were actually in stock
An ACE ARUL stock (rifle length with standard rifle spring and buffer) - I have to have a fixed stock and didn't want to drill through a reciever extension and a stock in order to pin it. The chances of me having to buttstroke someone seem pretty low. I'm a little worried that it makes the rifle nose-heavy, but I'm constrained in my options here. I think I would have preferred an a2 stock but then I run the risk of it being labelled a thumbhole stock.
An Exile Machine Hammerhead grip (not a pistol grip) - again, California insanity. This grip seemed to give the best weapon retention and still let me drop magazines
A Tactical Machining BCG - These guys appear to be pretty supportive of California gun owners and appear to meet the standards I've seen laid out here (full-auto bolt carrier, each bolt MPI and HPT tested, Carpenter 158 steel, well staked carrier key)
A pair of MOE handguards - I was tempted by the look of the CASV-M, but too pricey for now. I'm not up to the point where I need to free-float anything yet anyway so I kind of cheaped out on handguards.
A Daniel Defense A1.5 rear sight - wanted the LMT rear, but too pricey and probably overkill for me at this point in time. Again I kind of cheaped out.
An Aimpoint PRO - again seems to be the recommended budget beginner's optic. Comes with a mount and a great reputation. (I might want to try a lower 1/3 cowitness, but I'll wait till I shoot it some more to see how I feel)
An Ares Armor Huskey Amentum sling - I don't have much training with slings yet, this was a gamble.
An MI front sight block rail mount for a Streamlight TLR-1 - I've only got one weapon light at the moment and it spends most of it's time on my pistol.
A Magpul BAD - I know there is some debate over whether these are a good idea or not, if it starts to cause me problems it's gone. In the mean time it does seem to really help failure drills with my non-pistol grip
No muzzle device yet - Had to remove the A2 flashhider for California compliance and am currently researching muzzle brakes/compensators. But it might be safer to leave it bare in case I run into under-trained LEOs or wanna-bes at the range. California gun laws are incredibly byzantine and even the most well-meaning person can have trouble understanding them.
Have I missed anything obvious? or made any huge mistakes you guys can see?
-James
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Originally Posted by TangoSauce
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