Derek_Connor
01-29-08, 22:53
My primary started out as my 2nd venture into making my own SBR. I was intrigued by the current reports when the first noveske 12.5 barrels hit the market. The velocity numbers being thrown around, the overall handiness of a 12.5, and being the quality of noveske made me purchase the barrel from MSTN. That on top of it coming with a pinned gas block was nice.
Some initial research posted by a user on 10-8 on 12.5 velocity compared to others:
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9793/62gi2.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9506/55zl7.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4007/75sw0.jpg
After the barrel was purchased, it had to modified the awaiting OPS 15th model. It was sent to Steve @ ADCO for installation of collar which required a step put into the barrel.
Picture of the OPS 15th, collar, and brake:
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5519/opscanvt4.jpg
Steve worked his magic, and here is the hardware installed ready for the can:
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6941/barrelwithopslargefj0.jpg
The reason why I went with the OPS 15th. The OAL added to the package was minimal. It only added 5.25 inches to the OAL. The track record of OPS cans, the company itself and what they stood for (killing small bearded men silently), was a company that I wanted to support.
Another thing to consider is the design of the OPS cans, with the installation of the collar, the ensure that the suppressor is as concentric to the bore of the rifle as possible, which we all know is important.
The intent of the build was to have a “precision sbr” Which as stupid as it sounds…was the end goal either way. Right when I was finishing this build, larue was offering their stealth billet uppers. Well, that was a no brainer of course. A billet upper, completely straight and true, beefed up, and with complimenting M4 feed ramps was a nice package. So, the barrel was installed into a stealth upper.
The handguard first purchased was a Larue 9.0.
The iron sights chosen were troy flip up front/rear. For their robustness, and availability, this wasn’t a crucial decision, nor difficult.
The optics, was a hard choice. I was concerned about weight, and maneuverability. I wanted something with magnification, but I didn’t want to go the aimpoint/eotech magnifier route. Nor was I ready to drop the coin on something like the short dot.
Meopta had been advertising their K-DOT. Which was a day time visible, 1-4x SFP scope with a 30mm tube. I gave it a shot based on their lifetime warranty, day time brightness reported, and the price point. With a larue mount it came to be approx $700ish.
Specs on the K-Dot:
http://www.swfa.com/p-9143-meopta-1-4x22-meostar-r1-30mm-rifle-scope.aspx
So I bit, and decided to give it a try.
Illumination, I wanted light. A **** load of light. So I went with the M910 that I got a smoking deal on with a larue mount .
With the lower, I had a noveske left over and a VLTOR Stock. Simply being that I was still real paranoid about having class 3 and I kept my paperwork in the battery compartment inside the VLTOR.
The guts were a matched bolt from NRW, and a young chromed bolt carrier. Grip is a MIAD for my big ****ing stupid monkey hands and fingers….A2/TD just don’t cut it for me…
So, in the end, this is how the rifle finished, version 1.0:
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/8058/receiptforconnorderek8ngx4.jpg
I ran V1.0 in a 2 day Super Dave Harrington carbine class and it did very well. I ran it suppressed the entire weekend. The Meopta was pretty damn cool. It was fast, not aimpoint fast, but it was aimpoint bright. We shot from contact to out to 300 and it really did shine. The 1-4x is a quality idea and it works well.
The rifle was ****ing heavy, but doable. Recoil was hilarious, with the weight and the suppressor, follow up shots were extremely fast. The gun got real ****ing dirty over the 2 day period but it never jammed. IT was cycling a little slower, but nothing that was hindering it.
Accuracy was ****ing magic as well. Submoa @ 100, submoa @ 300yards. More than enough for an SBR.
V1.5 was some small changes in optics. With the completion of a 16inch precision build, I moved the meopta to the 16inch barrel, and acquired a 4MOA aimpoint in a larue mount. It was nice to drop some weight, but I did miss the mag of the 1-4x. The big 4MOA dot was fine out to 200 yards and great for close up.
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7007/dsc07129largemb3.jpg
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9253/dsc07122largeun4.jpg
V2.0 came with some more “drastic changes” Some cool guy gear just happened to fall in my lap. What can you do? I wanted some more spare parts for another build, so away I went.
Parts acquired were a URXIII with integral front sight and sling swivels, and their updated locking retainer at the bottom of the rail. The urx offers some advantages of a lower rail to be removed, drop some weight, integral sling mount attachments, integral fold down site, continuous top rail, and of course, cool guy factor
Cons are the installation, have to have the tools. Also, if you need to remove it for whatever reason, have to break the loctite on the barrel nut with heat and torque..
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/1847/urxmiduaj1.jpg
I decided to drop the VLTOR stock due to facial hair, and went with the magpul CTR.
I also decided that with this particular rifle, I wanted to be able to shoot it with and without the suppressor. But I wanted a FH and not a muzzle brake anymore. So, I acquired some KAC M4QD and NT4 cans and moved my OPS 15th to another shorty.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/627/img0327largerr0.jpg
So with that finished, here was V2.0 before paint:
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/5369/dsc03639largecz0.jpg
V2.0 After Paint:
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4343/img0316largeuj6.jpg
The following tweaks could be considered V2.5, but we’ll see if they stay on. So far so good…
Redi-Mag System, slim down version:
So far so good, I like it. I like it a lot. With a sling, it doesn’t really shift the weight too bad on the rifle. Like Kevin said above, the first reload should be the most important in real life, comp, whatever. The only thing I do not like about it is that it prevents the good ‘ol slap on the bolt release. But with a little time and patience it isn’t hard to get your thumb where it needs to go.
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7489/img0419largehb5.jpg
VCAS/Larue Sling – Pretty sure this one is going to stay. Very well padded, easy to transition from left to right, keeps the weight of the rifle off your neck…
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/4064/img0431largexw9.jpg
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/9/img0430large2vw0.jpg
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/6638/img0432largeyn2.jpg
Optics setup, recently got a short dot a great price, and wanted to see how putting this rifle back to a 1-4x mag will do. Aimpoint will be in the kit bag always to switch if necessary, but Im going to give this a try again and see how much I like it.
I like the benefits of the new short dots, wider FOV, smaller/lighter. But Im weird and prefer a FFP as opposed to a SFP options. The reticles in the new short dots are something I would not want…
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/909/img0956largeqj9.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/3962/img0965largefw7.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7444/img0960largetw8.jpg
Conclusion…all in all, primary/main/go to/hd/whatever carbine, this is it. Been through quite the change and have a high round count after 2 classes and numerous weekend shoots.
Ive only had 2 malfunctions, both were 2 blown primers into the lower locking the gun up for the rest of the day
Some initial research posted by a user on 10-8 on 12.5 velocity compared to others:
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9793/62gi2.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9506/55zl7.jpg
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4007/75sw0.jpg
After the barrel was purchased, it had to modified the awaiting OPS 15th model. It was sent to Steve @ ADCO for installation of collar which required a step put into the barrel.
Picture of the OPS 15th, collar, and brake:
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5519/opscanvt4.jpg
Steve worked his magic, and here is the hardware installed ready for the can:
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6941/barrelwithopslargefj0.jpg
The reason why I went with the OPS 15th. The OAL added to the package was minimal. It only added 5.25 inches to the OAL. The track record of OPS cans, the company itself and what they stood for (killing small bearded men silently), was a company that I wanted to support.
Another thing to consider is the design of the OPS cans, with the installation of the collar, the ensure that the suppressor is as concentric to the bore of the rifle as possible, which we all know is important.
The intent of the build was to have a “precision sbr” Which as stupid as it sounds…was the end goal either way. Right when I was finishing this build, larue was offering their stealth billet uppers. Well, that was a no brainer of course. A billet upper, completely straight and true, beefed up, and with complimenting M4 feed ramps was a nice package. So, the barrel was installed into a stealth upper.
The handguard first purchased was a Larue 9.0.
The iron sights chosen were troy flip up front/rear. For their robustness, and availability, this wasn’t a crucial decision, nor difficult.
The optics, was a hard choice. I was concerned about weight, and maneuverability. I wanted something with magnification, but I didn’t want to go the aimpoint/eotech magnifier route. Nor was I ready to drop the coin on something like the short dot.
Meopta had been advertising their K-DOT. Which was a day time visible, 1-4x SFP scope with a 30mm tube. I gave it a shot based on their lifetime warranty, day time brightness reported, and the price point. With a larue mount it came to be approx $700ish.
Specs on the K-Dot:
http://www.swfa.com/p-9143-meopta-1-4x22-meostar-r1-30mm-rifle-scope.aspx
So I bit, and decided to give it a try.
Illumination, I wanted light. A **** load of light. So I went with the M910 that I got a smoking deal on with a larue mount .
With the lower, I had a noveske left over and a VLTOR Stock. Simply being that I was still real paranoid about having class 3 and I kept my paperwork in the battery compartment inside the VLTOR.
The guts were a matched bolt from NRW, and a young chromed bolt carrier. Grip is a MIAD for my big ****ing stupid monkey hands and fingers….A2/TD just don’t cut it for me…
So, in the end, this is how the rifle finished, version 1.0:
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/8058/receiptforconnorderek8ngx4.jpg
I ran V1.0 in a 2 day Super Dave Harrington carbine class and it did very well. I ran it suppressed the entire weekend. The Meopta was pretty damn cool. It was fast, not aimpoint fast, but it was aimpoint bright. We shot from contact to out to 300 and it really did shine. The 1-4x is a quality idea and it works well.
The rifle was ****ing heavy, but doable. Recoil was hilarious, with the weight and the suppressor, follow up shots were extremely fast. The gun got real ****ing dirty over the 2 day period but it never jammed. IT was cycling a little slower, but nothing that was hindering it.
Accuracy was ****ing magic as well. Submoa @ 100, submoa @ 300yards. More than enough for an SBR.
V1.5 was some small changes in optics. With the completion of a 16inch precision build, I moved the meopta to the 16inch barrel, and acquired a 4MOA aimpoint in a larue mount. It was nice to drop some weight, but I did miss the mag of the 1-4x. The big 4MOA dot was fine out to 200 yards and great for close up.
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7007/dsc07129largemb3.jpg
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9253/dsc07122largeun4.jpg
V2.0 came with some more “drastic changes” Some cool guy gear just happened to fall in my lap. What can you do? I wanted some more spare parts for another build, so away I went.
Parts acquired were a URXIII with integral front sight and sling swivels, and their updated locking retainer at the bottom of the rail. The urx offers some advantages of a lower rail to be removed, drop some weight, integral sling mount attachments, integral fold down site, continuous top rail, and of course, cool guy factor
Cons are the installation, have to have the tools. Also, if you need to remove it for whatever reason, have to break the loctite on the barrel nut with heat and torque..
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/1847/urxmiduaj1.jpg
I decided to drop the VLTOR stock due to facial hair, and went with the magpul CTR.
I also decided that with this particular rifle, I wanted to be able to shoot it with and without the suppressor. But I wanted a FH and not a muzzle brake anymore. So, I acquired some KAC M4QD and NT4 cans and moved my OPS 15th to another shorty.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/627/img0327largerr0.jpg
So with that finished, here was V2.0 before paint:
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/5369/dsc03639largecz0.jpg
V2.0 After Paint:
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4343/img0316largeuj6.jpg
The following tweaks could be considered V2.5, but we’ll see if they stay on. So far so good…
Redi-Mag System, slim down version:
So far so good, I like it. I like it a lot. With a sling, it doesn’t really shift the weight too bad on the rifle. Like Kevin said above, the first reload should be the most important in real life, comp, whatever. The only thing I do not like about it is that it prevents the good ‘ol slap on the bolt release. But with a little time and patience it isn’t hard to get your thumb where it needs to go.
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7489/img0419largehb5.jpg
VCAS/Larue Sling – Pretty sure this one is going to stay. Very well padded, easy to transition from left to right, keeps the weight of the rifle off your neck…
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/4064/img0431largexw9.jpg
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/9/img0430large2vw0.jpg
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/6638/img0432largeyn2.jpg
Optics setup, recently got a short dot a great price, and wanted to see how putting this rifle back to a 1-4x mag will do. Aimpoint will be in the kit bag always to switch if necessary, but Im going to give this a try again and see how much I like it.
I like the benefits of the new short dots, wider FOV, smaller/lighter. But Im weird and prefer a FFP as opposed to a SFP options. The reticles in the new short dots are something I would not want…
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/909/img0956largeqj9.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/3962/img0965largefw7.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7444/img0960largetw8.jpg
Conclusion…all in all, primary/main/go to/hd/whatever carbine, this is it. Been through quite the change and have a high round count after 2 classes and numerous weekend shoots.
Ive only had 2 malfunctions, both were 2 blown primers into the lower locking the gun up for the rest of the day