Years ago I bought a Rock River 16" Varminter. I had little experience with ARs and I thought it would be a good "do everything rifle". I had it topped with a 1-4 power Leupold and called it a day. I now know that a lighter, longer barrel would fit that role better but I didn't know then what I know now.
What I did find out is that a 16" Varminter is a great rifle for carrying into the woods and hunting / eliminating small game (groundhogs, coyote, etc.). To this end it's Leupold was replaced with a 6-20 Vortex Viper scope on a Burris PEPR mount. To get this to work I also added a Badger charging handle. I also tried my hand at Duracoating mainly to cover the shine of the barrel, but also to break up the silhouette. That's how my rifle existed for a while longer (see pic).
As I used it more I found I liked the 16" barrel but did not like the carbine length forend. Since this rifle always had a bipod on it there wasn't enough room to have both the bipod and a support hand for off-hand shooting. So I decided to try my hand at some AR gunsmithing and do something about it.
I went ahead and replaced the carbine length forend with a Rock River rifle length one. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I stuck with the same basic type as I liked how it felt in my hand and I had no need for rails (but I did need a sling swivel). To get this to work I had to swap the gas block with a low profile one. While I was at it I swapped the trigger guard for a Magpul Enhanced one (since I do hunt with gloves) and got some K-N anti-rotation pins (just in case).
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. She's still a great shooter but, for me, the ergonomics have been greatly improved on.
What I did find out is that a 16" Varminter is a great rifle for carrying into the woods and hunting / eliminating small game (groundhogs, coyote, etc.). To this end it's Leupold was replaced with a 6-20 Vortex Viper scope on a Burris PEPR mount. To get this to work I also added a Badger charging handle. I also tried my hand at Duracoating mainly to cover the shine of the barrel, but also to break up the silhouette. That's how my rifle existed for a while longer (see pic).
As I used it more I found I liked the 16" barrel but did not like the carbine length forend. Since this rifle always had a bipod on it there wasn't enough room to have both the bipod and a support hand for off-hand shooting. So I decided to try my hand at some AR gunsmithing and do something about it.
I went ahead and replaced the carbine length forend with a Rock River rifle length one. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I stuck with the same basic type as I liked how it felt in my hand and I had no need for rails (but I did need a sling swivel). To get this to work I had to swap the gas block with a low profile one. While I was at it I swapped the trigger guard for a Magpul Enhanced one (since I do hunt with gloves) and got some K-N anti-rotation pins (just in case).
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. She's still a great shooter but, for me, the ergonomics have been greatly improved on.
