View Full Version : Help with frankengun please
Hello. First post here. Looking for some help from the experts identifing this home made monster i just acquired. Long story short i had a shotgun listed on armslist for $300. This guy offered to trade the "frankengun" for the shotgun. He said he had bought it and it had issues and would not eject rounds. My thought was i couldn't go wrong. Even if the upper is fubar i still have a working lower and a bcg and whatever other parts i can get off it. He had sent me a pic of the gun but it didnt do justice to the home made "target rifle" someone has tried to build here. Im not an ar15 expert by any means. I own 2 ar's that i put the lowers together on but never messed with the uppers. Some of the stuff on this gun i acquired i have no idea about. If they are home made or custom or what. There is a a weight at the end of the barrle. A weight that attaches to the free floated hand guard. The handguard is a blue fiberglass round tube with holes in it to move the weight around. The upper has some kind of rail that seems to be held in place by epoxy of some sort. It has a 24" heavy barrel. The stock was filled with lead shot to make it balances (kinda) the whole thing is probably 15-16 pounds of ugly. And it short strokes on every shot. The bolt only comes back about 25% of the way when fired. Does not lock back on an empty mag. I switched out bcg, charging handle and lower with one of my other guns to eliminate possible issues other than the gas system. Still did the same thing. I assume it is an issue somewhere between the gas block and the bcg. Problem is i have no idea how i go about getting this fiberglass hand guard tube off to get to the gas block and gas tube. Ill pist pic. If someone might be able to help me get an idea how to get the tube off that would be wonderful. Also any id of these "custom mods" would be of great interest. Idk if they were made in someone's spare time at a machine shop or if they are bought from a company. Anyone wanting to make fun of the frankengun Thats fine too. It is an odd ball for sure lol. Im not upset at all that i made the trade. Im not out anything beside an old beat up shotgun and now i have a project to see if i can get this big hunk of ugly working and see if it can shoot. Thanks for any help.
Send it to Bloomberg during next buy back.
Hot damn. I don't think there is much on that upper that wasn't made by some guy in his garage.
That's the strangest thing I have ever seen. You don't think it was made to be some sort of single shot deal do you? Thus no gas block to get to? Oh, wait you said the bolt moves some...
That is a true custom job, no doubt about it. I think that would win some sort of award in the 'gunsmith hall of shame' thread.
diving dave
11-25-17, 18:32
Interesting. If I were in your shoes I'd dump for what you could get. Buy a BCM and be an happy AR guy.
I'd salvage what I could and part it out. At most you're gonna need a handguard and gas block. He could have the port blocked. I'd check what buffer and spring he has in there too.
Ya it's interesting at best. The lowers seems to be all good and even has a clean trigger for milspec. The bcg looks good. Idk what i can do with the upper beside point and laugh and see if i can remove that tube handguard so i can get a look at the gas block and gas tube. Any ideas how that thing might come off? Here is a pic of where the handguard meets the receiver . Maybe it as simple as the gas block is just not aligned right. If i can get it running i might put a scope on it and see if it shoots...... After i rattle can it all black.
It looks like it is may be glued onto the barrel nut/silver thingy. Maybe use a Dremel cutting disc and cut a horizontal groove in the blue fiberglass at the silver thingy and then try and split it breaking loose whatever is holding it on.
Mr. Goodtimes
11-25-17, 22:38
I would go down to the local police station and turn in all of you’re guns.
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I would go down to the local police station and turn in all of you’re guns.
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That might be your best bet. :suicide2:
stevenravenscroft
11-25-17, 23:51
The upper doesnt even have m4 feed ramps.
$300 is too much for that lower.
$300 is too much for that lower.
Lower with fixed stock plus bcg and charging handle.
I figured i about broke about even if i would have taken $250 for the old shotgun. i almost picked up a cheap psa upper with no bcg/ch for $169 on black friday. Slap them together and put "custom ar15" back on armslist for $500
Or best trade........ but where is the fun in that? :jester:
Ya. I looked in there with a flashlight and it looks to be held on with whatever they used to get that fancy rail to stay in place. It must be tuff stuff so the dremel might be the only option
titsonritz
11-26-17, 17:34
Here is the thread in which this thing belongs:
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?162898-Gunsmithing-Hall-of-Shame-Thread
What you have is someone's home built highpower competition rifle. Who know's? It may shoot well. I've seen some really ugly rifles do o.k. http://www272.pair.com/stevewag/matches/highpower/highpower.html
Highpower Target build. Probably shoots great once you get the gas issues resolved. Could cut the fiberglass handguard off to get to hmthe barrel nut and change things out. It's obviously purpose built and seems to have quite a few very specialized tweaks.
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It might be a highpower rig, at least the front end sort looks like some of the setups I saw when I was shooting that sport. But......the top receiver rail silver thingy doesn't look like anything I remember even on guys space guns.
Looks like the upper doesn't have an integral rail?
I second what someone else said on trying a new recoil spring and buffer and/or make sure something isn't impeding travel in the receiver extension.
I would not normally touch something like this, but if I was the OP, I would check the supplied buffer mass and action spring. May not be too hard to get this to cycle with some changes, maybe ammo as well.
Thats what i was thinking. It seems very specialized....... On the cheap. My thought (knowing nothing about high power competition before i read your link) was that someone with access to to machining equipment and tried to set up a competition bench rifle. Poasible to be shot open sight. I could see no other reason for the "muzzle device" or the "mounting rail" epoxied to the receiver. It looks like they took a receiver with a fixed carry handle and chopped the carry handle off (ill get more pics to show) . i was able to get the gas block off. Someone please correct me if im wrong but it looks to be home made as well ( see pic)??? I have not been able to get the muzzle device off. So im not able to get the gas block off the barrel yet. The muzzle device had set screws but Think its also epoxied on so it may take some heat. Not sure what i should do with this thing. Don't want to dump much cash into this thing. I'll try to get some more pics and info on the buffer/spring gas block ect.. Keep the info comming guys. I have no idea what i have on my hands here or if it's worth messing with or if anything is worth stripping off and selling for dope and beer. :alcoholic:
Any markings on the barrel and what profile?
At one point there really wasn't any flat top uppers around so wondering if that might be fairly old.
Any markings on the barrel and what profile?
At one point there really wasn't any flat top uppers around so wondering if that might be fairly old.
I cant find any marking on the barrel. I assume they are hidden under the hand guard. I put my caliper on it just in front of the hand guard and it has a .850 diamiter there. The muzzle is turned down to .750 to fit the "muzzle device" or muzzle weight or whatever it is.
As others have alluded to that rifle has been set up for XTC or prone highpower events. Its meant for shooting with open sights and a sling. This is very different than a bench rifle. The "weight" you speak of is called a handstop. Its adjusts to fit for your gloved hand as you're in a sling. The rear base setup is for an aperture sight, similar to a Lipski base, and could possibly be a bubba'd Lipski. The front sight mount appears dovetailed to accept a corresponding front aperture sight. Take a look at any of the aperture sights like Gehmann or Phoenix and you'll get the idea.
As others have alluded to that rifle has been set up for XTC or prone highpower events. Its meant for shooting with open sights and a sling. This is very different than a bench rifle. The "weight" you speak of is called a handstop. Its adjusts to fit for your gloved hand as you're in a sling. The rear base setup is for an aperture sight, similar to a Lipski base, and could possibly be a bubba'd Lipski. The front sight mount appears dovetailed to accept a corresponding front aperture sight. Take a look at any of the aperture sights like Gehmann or Phoenix and you'll get the idea.
Thanks for the info. Good to know this mad scientist had a plan well building this rifle. I cut the glued on hand guard off to get a look at the gas system and the barrel. No makers mark on the barrel. Gass block looks to be home made but i could be wrong. After deer season i will mess around with it more and see if i can get it to cycle.
Glock9mm1990
12-07-17, 01:02
What in gods name is that? That’s got to be the ugliest piece of crap I’ve ever seen.
Thanks for the info. Good to know this mad scientist had a plan well building this rifle. I cut the glued on hand guard off to get a look at the gas system and the barrel. No makers mark on the barrel. Gass block looks to be home made but i could be wrong. After deer season i will mess around with it more and see if i can get it to cycle.
It's possible the block is simply not aligned over the port.... or... the port was drilled small to start with.
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