A new rifle I recently put together. Already have 2 reliable rifles setup for defensive use, one with an Aimpoint, the other with a Razor 1-6. With this one I wanted to do some different things and accomplish these goals:
- A lighter rifle (max 6.25 lbs unscoped/unloaded) than the others, that maintains quality and does not sacrifice reliability.
- Have fun, try some new-to-me parts. Don't get a chance to pick all the parts I want and put an AR together very often. So part of the goal was to experiment a little. Items new to me: Sionics 2-stage (Schmid) trigger, Fortis K1 LE castle nut/endplate, Aero Atlas S-One handguard, Primary Arms Cyclops 1x20 prism sight (ACSS reticle), Rainier Arms 'accurizing' installation of barrel.
- A 2-tone rifle with receivers and handguard in FDE, and black furniture. Yeah, usually I could care less about cosmetics, just got bored with the fact that all my 'black rifles' are black. :-)
- After testing and swapping out anything I'm not satisfied with to confirm reliability--with extra attention paid to the PA optic, the trigger, and the Fortis castle nut--the end goal is to be able to run this as defensive use rifle too.
Specs
-Weight: 6.0 lbs (unscoped/unloaded). A bit more when I get the BUIS mounted.
-Lower assembly: me
-Upper assembly: Rainier Arms. Decided to try something new, instead of doing my own had them do their 'accurizing' barrel install. Includes machining receiver face and bedding barrel into receiver.
- Receivers: Aero M4E1 FDE upper/lower
- LPK: Sionics ambi (includes non-reversible ambi selector levers)
- Trigger: Sionics 2-stage (Schmid). Interesting that they told me on the phone, they had direct input into the design specs of this trigger with Schmid, and this is 'their' version not exactly like the '1005' version being sold elsewhere. They were not able to share proprietary details, obviously, and I have none of the 1005 triggers to compare this to. What I can say is an extremely nice trigger for < $80. Crisp 2-stage, avg 4.75 lbs across 5 pulls, Lyman gauge. Hard-pressed to tell a large diff between this and my Geissele SSA-E's.
- Ambi mag catch: Troy
- CH: Radian LT ambi
- Handguard: Aero Atlas S-one FDE Mlok 15" (total weight w/ hardware: ~13oz)
- Barrel: BCM BFH 16" mid ELW and low-pro gas block.
- BCG: BCM
- FH: Forward Controls Design 6315 Stoner 63 LMG Style
- BUIS: Magpul Pro (just ordered, not mounted)
- Stock/grip: BCM Gunfighter
- RE: BCM A5, Vltor A5H2, Sprinco green rifle spring
- Castle/EP: Fortis K1 LE castle/nut end plate. This is a friction fit, non-staking solution of 7075 aluminum, costs about $10 more than a typical quality castle nut/endplate combo that I get. Easy to install or remove with a CAR-type wrench, just finger tight, then I tightened about an extra half turn to torque it down. Fortis says they've sold over 5K with zero instances of them coming loose, they tested on full-auto with thousands of rounds and also on heavy tumbler machines, again with zero failures. Curious to see if this holds up under my testing.
- Optic: Primary Arms Cyclops 1x20 prism sight ACSS reticle (adds 9oz to the rifle). These are interesting for a lot of reasons, they are super tough, obviously not as proven as an Aimpoint, but pretty impressive. Plan to test one and if I don't like, will use it on a 10/22 and switch back to the old Aimpoint T1.
Also a tip if anyone installs the Fortis K1 castle nut/endplate: a CAR-type wrench like the bottom one, makes it a lot easier than a spanner like the one on top. Easier to torque it into final position without slipping.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks