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Thread: 16 Inch General Purpose Carbine and Bonus Rimfire Upper

  1. #1
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    16 Inch General Purpose Carbine and Bonus Rimfire Upper

    This is my "General Purpose" 16 inch 5.56 AR and a 16 inch dedicated .22 LR upper. I will concentrate on the 5.56 gun and then briefly cover the rim fire upper.



    This turned into the great American novel somehow, sorry.

    I decided I wanted a more up to date 16" AR with the ability to reach out a bit compared to my BCM-based 16" gun with FSB and MRO, specifically a lighter trigger, free float rail, and a LPVO. I wanted quality components, but wasn't trying to spend "botique" money either.

    Components - used parts are marked with an asterisk:

    BCM "blem" upper
    * Black River Tactical Light Optimum 16" barrel. A machinist at work pinned the BRT gas block. Comments below
    13" ALG EMR V3 MLOK rail - affordable, has a good barrel nut design, and are light. I wanted a full length picatinny and feel they stiffen the EMR
    BCM rail covers
    A2 flash hider - best bang for the buck.
    Sionics phosphate BCG - quality and I bought it on sale
    * BCM Mod 4 charging handle
    Sionics "gutless" lower with ambi safety, bolt catch, Magpul SL stock - great quality and no paying for parts you will replace anyway. Basically includes LPK minus FCG
    BCM Mod 3 pistol grip - love them
    LaRue MBT-2S two stage trigger with "heavy" trigger spring
    H2 buffer and standard BCM carbine action spring
    * Trijicon Accupower 1-4 - comments below
    Warne X-Skel fixed mount - affordable, US made, fairly light

    The Black River Tactical barrel has some great features like optimum gas length, a great profile, hybrid target crown, and 5R Rifling. 1/8 twist works with most bullet weights. 16" barrels make a lot of sense, shortest length that does not require p/w or a tax stamp, decent velocity, reasonably handy. Barrel is 24 ounces. BRT is all about "gas drive" and it shows, this is a smooth shooter with zero tuning. It has been reliable and as accurate as I am with a 4x scope.

    The gun weighs 7 lbs 15 ounces on my scale. Optics are heavy, no way around that.

    I am very happy with the gun, and the only change I would/will make is to replace the Trijicon Accupower. I plan to replace it with an Accupoint, also 1-4. Much brighter and bigger/bolder reticle choices.

    I built a dedicated .22 LR upper because ammunition was about 1/10 the cost at the time and cheaper practice sounds great. It's not perfect of course, recoil and blast are non existent and the bolt release doesn't work like a 5.56 gun (unless you use S&W mags).

    Components:
    Sabre Defence stripped upper. Purchased from Numrich, does not have M4 feedramps
    Right to Bear (RTB) 16" 22 LR melonite pencil barrel, 1-16" twist
    RTB stainless bolt assembly
    Matrix Arms 13.5 MLOK full float rail - Light, cheap, small diameter, full length pic rail. Not a hard use rail but fine for a .22
    Nikon Black Force 1000 1-4 LPVO - Bargain at $200, very good glass, useful reticle, not daylight bright to me, weird tall capped turrets
    Aero 30mm SPR mount - I have had this for a while and I may have picked it up on the EE (?).

    The upper has been very reliable (for a 22 lr) with CMMG and Black Dog mags and Bore Buddy extra power extractor springs. I don't shoot target ammo and measure the groups with it, but it's more accurate than my 10-22. I am guessing I have 5000 rounds through it. I have broken a couple firing pin springs, it's a known issue with the platform, so buy spares. I also have a Bore Buddy bolt weight, but have not shot enough using it to really comment.

    Andy
    Last edited by AndyLate; 10-10-20 at 20:40.

  2. #2
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    That's the next barrel I buy. It checks all my boxes.

  3. #3
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    Very sensible builds. I wish I had thought of doing a 22lr build before everything went crazy.

  4. #4
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    Cant find any fault in anything you chose brother. No doubt, thats a shooter. I too want a BRT barrel for my next build.
    That Mod3 pistol grip- Ive wondered about those. Would that be good for prone shooting, or it it more for offhand, or what?
    One of THE biggest things Im kicking myself over today, is not buying 1-2 of those lowers you used from Sionics earlier this year.
    Kept puttin it off & puttin it off then BAM-gone.
    The 22lr upper is extry nice.
    The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than the cowards they really are.

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    Should be a dandy AP Carbine Andy.

    You might be surprised with long(er) range precision of your set up with more glass.
    I have a similar set up with 2-10X that is a decent compromise to 600 yds with 77 gr. OTM. It is not a great CQB gun however.
    A true "Gun Guy" (or gal) should have familiarity and a modicum of proficiency with most all firearms platforms.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Straight Shooter View Post
    Cant find any fault in anything you chose brother. No doubt, thats a shooter. I too want a BRT barrel for my next build.
    That Mod3 pistol grip- Ive wondered about those. Would that be good for prone shooting, or it it more for offhand, or what?
    One of THE biggest things Im kicking myself over today, is not buying 1-2 of those lowers you used from Sionics earlier this year.
    Kept puttin it off & puttin it off then BAM-gone.
    The 22lr upper is extry nice.
    Thank you

    The BCM Mod 3 grip just has it all for me, I have come to really like the steeper grip angle for offhand shooting and don't notice a difference prone or from the bench. The BCM grip fits me because I have big hands but short thumbs. I can flick the selector to safe easily with the BCM or A1/A2, not so easily with other grips. I also like the texture.

    Grips are very subjective though.

    I really like the "gutless" concept, and of course Sionics builds quality stuff.

    The 22 upper has honestly proven itself a useful trainer. My splits and accuracy at speed improved with a 5.56 due to training with the rimfire. It keeps you honest because if the gun is moving during a string of fire, it's the shooter.

    Andy

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by gaijin View Post
    Should be a dandy AP Carbine Andy.

    You might be surprised with long(er) range precision of your set up with more glass.
    I have a similar set up with 2-10X that is a decent compromise to 600 yds with 77 gr. OTM. It is not a great CQB gun however.
    Thanks
    I know the 1-4 and my vision are not going to get all the range out of the gun that a higher mag optic could. Unfortunately, the higher mag (1-6,8,10) optics come with a higher price and weight. I think the Accupoint 1-4 should work well out to 400 yards and be a solid red dot replacement at 1x. I just need to quit buying frivolous things and get one. And a light.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by AndyLate View Post
    Thanks
    I know the 1-4 and my vision are not going to get all the range out of the gun that a higher mag optic could. Unfortunately, the higher mag (1-6,8,10) optics come with a higher price and weight. I think the Accupoint 1-4 should work well out to 400 yards and be a solid red dot replacement at 1x. I just need to quit buying frivolous things and get one. And a light.
    My eyes are awful. But thankfully my Steiner 1x4 helps SO much. Great glass does help.Ive not used an Accupoint..but if it dont float your boat- at least look at the Steiner, I was hooked first time I peeped thru one.
    The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than the cowards they really are.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Straight Shooter View Post
    My eyes are awful. But thankfully my Steiner 1x4 helps SO much. Great glass does help.Ive not used an Accupoint..but if it dont float your boat- at least look at the Steiner, I was hooked first time I peeped thru one.
    Yeah, my eyesight isn't much to brag about either. How bold is the reticle on the Steiner? My understanding is that they are bright as well as being made in the US. I just found a pretty solid deal on a demo with the P3TR reticle and I have only heard good things about the Steiners.

    They have definitely increased A LOT in price, maybe because they are so well liked.

    The Accupower is a quality scope and will move it to my 45-70 when I replace it.
    Last edited by AndyLate; 10-11-20 at 10:17.

  10. #10
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    Nicely done and well thought out, impression I get is that you were going for high value but moderately priced parts (meaning you done good: you avoided some of the well known expensive brand components but still got great stuff that's not as well known but probably equal or close in quality).

    Also really like your rimfire build, good selection of components and I'm impressed you got one that will outshoot a 10/22. I guess it depends on the 10/22, mine is 'accurized' with a nice trigger and barrel, it can consistently shoot sub-Moa at 100 yards and last week I got a couple 0.5' 5-shot groups at 100 yards with mine. Now usually a factory stock 10/22, even the Target model, will not do that, but still they are surprisingly accurate, even a run of the mill 10/22 with a sporter barrel, decent glass and ammo used, should be able to hold 1" 5-shot groups @ 50y. Curious, can your upper match that? I'm really interested in that, been looking again at the M&P 15-22's and other .22 options for my AR. I used to have the 15-22, then just got tired of the shotgun-like accuracy beyond about 30y or so, you'd get 2 to 3" groups at 50, 4" or more at 100y. From what I've seen the 15-22 is a nice training rifle for AR training, a trainer for kids, and a close-range plinker, and it is fun and reliable, but it is seriously a 3 to 4 MOA rifle. For me, that's just not acceptable in ANY 22 I own. With .22lr uppers, the only ones I know that are really 'precision' are the spendy Compass Lake Engineering uppers, but wow, $1000+ for an upper, and those have some limitations of their own.

    So yeah, if you've figured out how to build a reliable and 'accurate enough' upper that beats a 10-22 in accuracy, I'm interested. Who makes the bolt assy for RTB, is that based on the CMMG pattern actions?

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