jid2 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 (edited) After years of seeing no real reason to own an assault type rifle, my tune has changed. Shooting USPSA pistol for the past year has been so much fun that it only makes sense to let some other firearms have some fun as well. So I spent the last 2 weeks or so trying to learn about AR's, which I knew nothing about in terms of real technical expertise. Over the weekend I started to assemble my list of parts in an Excel spreadsheet and then began the quest to source all of them. That quickly manifested the demand for some of these parts as they were hard to find or simply not available. So there were some exceptions to the original plan, but the gun needed to be ready to go for a match at the start of August. I bought the stripped upper and lower, along with the trigger and lower parts kit from the guys at Rainier Arms who are a few miles from my house - which is a great resource. Then yesterday all the other parts arrived from Midway and Shooters Connection. Here's the run down: Mega Billet HD Upper sans forward assist and dust cover etc Mega Billet Lower JP 18" light profile barrel with Tac Comp JP low profile adjustable gas block JP Enhanced bolt Young MFG National Match LITE carrier (JP LMOS was soldout everywhere) JP Low Mass buffer Geissele Super 3 Gun Trigger DPMS rifle length carbon fiber handgaurd DPMS buffer tube ACE Stock JP lower parts kit Ergo Grip Mega Billet charging handle AR Stoner scope mount Millet DMS scope (Burris Tac 30 soldout everyhwere) Lancer Systems L5 30 round mags Everything went together nice and smooth and it was fun to learn my way around a new thing. I ended up buying a few unneeded parts in the stock area since I wasn't sure what the ACE needed from an OG A2 style stock and I didn't want to be short on a stupid $2 part or something. One thing that I noticed that I wasn't too keen on was the use of bead/sand blasted texture on mating dynamic surfaces. The internals of the Mega Billet upper have a light blasted finish and the charging handle has a pretty heavy blasted finish. It makes for a very grainy sounding interface and it just doesn't make sense to me. The bolt carrier is smooth running, but the charging handle is kinda crap I think - I might get a different one with better surface finish. And although the fit of the upper and lower is pretty good, it's not completely perfect. I guess after coming from file/machine to fit every mating relationship of a pistol you expect that. But pistols take days to "build", and this took only hours to "assemble". Looking forward to putting some rounds through it. And figuring out a 2nd optic mount as well. Lots of parts ready to come together. Close up on the receiver set etc. The DPMS carbon handguard is intended to be bonded in place with epoxy after the barrel nut is tightened. That allows for no access to the barrel nut after the fact in terms of using a barrel wrench. I was not interested in that scenario, so I drilled three holes in the handguard and tapped three mating holes in the barrel nut for easy on-off action. I bought a receiver action block - but it doesn't work with this HD block shaped upper. So I just stuck the thing in my mill vise to tighten the barrel. I had to hand file one of the webs out from in between holes in the barrel nut to get it aligned with the gas tube and set at proper torque value. Edited July 14, 2011 by jid2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jid2 Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 (edited) At 1:30AM it was done. Edited July 14, 2011 by jid2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Tischauser Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninemmbill Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Looks great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lead-Head Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Looks great! Like the handguard mod. You sure got some nice components for your first AR build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajun0007 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Your rifle is super sweet. Does it feel very light weight? It sure looks it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fueddy Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Awesome!!! She looks great. For sure have to see a range report on this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg in VA Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Very nice.... Greg in Va Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamma Slamma Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 It is ONLY an "assault" rifle if it is fully automatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamma Slamma Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 (edited) I'm not a fan of smooth side uppers, personally. Nice job though. As for the vise block, I have a fairly unique one, well I have never seen it on any major website. It locks into the pins on the bottup side of the upper, and has aother attachment that slides on the rail. You actually put it in sideways instead of verticle. it should fit any milspec upper though. There is a discussion about charging handls in this forum. Might look into a nordic or BCM or DPMS steel. excellent idea with the drilling and tapping of the barrel nut. i wouldn't epoxy it in place either. Edited July 15, 2011 by Hamma Slamma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jid2 Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 (edited) Puts some initial rounds through this thing a few days ago, so far so good. Got the gas block adjusted and went through the fire 5 and clean over and over again for barrel break-in. That ended up taking most of my time and I was racing the sun. Had just enough time to get it close to sighted in at 50 yards just resting it on an Ecoblock in the gravel pit and then put a few into some targets at 100 and 200 yards in nearly total darkness. I'll have to take it to the range for some proper group shooting. Went and picked up a few remaining items at a local gun store, a harris bipod and a VTAC sling. Got the bipod mounted to the carbon hand guard with a milled down Harris swivel mount intended for A2 handguards - worked pretty slick. While I was at the gun store I also checked out some other 1-4 optics. The Burris XTR was way sharper and with much improved eye relief when compared to the Millet DMS. With the reviews of the Tac 30 I'm fo_sho going to swap it out for the DMS when I can get my hands on one. Edited July 22, 2011 by jid2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken hebert Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 XTR > Tac30. from someone who has both. nice stick, btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccoker Posted July 23, 2011 Share Posted July 23, 2011 very nice, I have the same barrel and comp outstanding setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jid2 Posted July 24, 2011 Author Share Posted July 24, 2011 How much crisper is the XTR than the TAC 30? I figured with the price difference the XTR still had to be sharper, but the general consenses seems to point to the TAC 30 being a better part than the Millet DMS and nearly a trade by selling the DMS and buying a TAC 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwain C. Baer Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Great rifle...and cool looking pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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