Bartholomew Roberts
Member
The first AR15 I owned was an Olympic AR15 Carbine with a 11.5" stainless steel barrel and a 5" flashhider. I bought it in 1989 mostly because I thought it looked cool. Unfortunately, I was forced to part with it to pay the bills as a poor college student.
When I did eventually have the money, I purchased a Bushmaster 16" HBAR carbine. I was a little older and wiser by then and more interested in having a fully functional barrel than the looks.
I liked this rifle a lot and it was accurate and reliable. I changed the A2 sights to the improved battle zero, replaced the older carbine stock with a new M4 Enhanced telestock (shown in picture) and in an effort to spare my hands from the heat generated by semi-autos in the Texas summer, I added genuine Colt M4 handguards. I took my first course of formal instruction where I paid someone to teach me about a rifle at Texas Pistol Academy.
We shot in a variety of scenarios and I encountered some limitations of irons in practical use. I soon purchased a TA11 and mounted it to the carry handle. I also changed the grip to a more palm-filling Sierra Precision grip. It actually worked suprisingly well; but part of me still wanted a flattop to see if it was better... so I went to this:
It was better in some ways, so I kept it. I added an ARMS #40 rear sight to make sure I could use irons when I wanted to and and ARMS #19S mount so I could remove and replace the ACOG easily without changing the zero (a big pain for the carry handle mount). After taking a course from Chris Grollnek, I realized that a more substantial charging handle would be a big help, so I added the PRI Gasbuster.
The course with Grollnek (where we shot 800rds in a day) convinced me there had to be a better way to deal with the heat the barrel generated. The M4 handguards insulated the hand; but they trapped the heat next to the barrel and kept it warmer. Reading up on the subject, I became convinced a Knight's free-float rail system would give me cooling, better accuracy and a place to attach a light. I also was looking at a new experimental stock from a company called Magpul. The cost was enough to make me want to gag; but the prototype was getting good reviews so I bit the bullet and bought one, fully expecting to return it soon.
As it turns out, both purchases were good ones. The Magpul M93 turned out to be one of my favorite AR15 accessories (the TA11 is THE favorite). Also, I immediately noticed an improvement in group size (about 0.5" at 100yds) and cooling after the Knight's free-float rail was installed.
This was about everything I wanted in a rifle. I started shooting in informal 3-gun competitions and soon was working the rifle out at ranges from contact to 600yds. I was amazed at how versatile it was. However, as work claimed more time, my skills fell off and it soon became time to polish them up, this time with Primary Carbine at Tac-Pro Shooting Center.
Even with my skills honed, I wasn't getting the results I used to at longer ranges. The fact that this coincided with a burning desire to get a new barrel was purely coincidence (seriously, the barrel was having some problems at range). I had recently shot a friend's Armalite midlength and was impressed at the handling. I really wanted a midlength barrel; but that would mean changing the rail system too and that was just too much money. I decided to go with a carbine gas system on the new barrel. However, when the barrel maker shipped a midlength barrel by mistake, I took it as a sign and went ahead and replaced the Knight's free-float with the even lighter Daniel Defense rail. While I was at it, I also went with a PRI folding front sight. I didn't really need the folding front sight; but I really liked the MP5 style front sight with circle hood.
Sadly, that barrel didn't work out as well as I had hoped; but the manufacturer stood behind his product and fully refunded my money. I used some of that to upgrade the rear sight to a Troy and change the ACOG mount to a Larue. Both were still doing their jobs well; but at this point I had seen enough ARMS products fail that I just didn't feel comfortable with them anymore. I decided to go with a more traditional barrel and turned to MSTN which had never failed me in the past for this rig:
This rifle has been as close to perfect as I could want. There have only been a few things I can think of that would make it better. This is one of them:
You can find more on the suppressor here. That is how the rifle looks as of April 22, 2007 - almost 10 years after I started modifying it. There are still a few additional things I would like to add - a Magpul UBR stock is high on the list; but it really is to a point where there isn't much more I would do to it.
When I did eventually have the money, I purchased a Bushmaster 16" HBAR carbine. I was a little older and wiser by then and more interested in having a fully functional barrel than the looks.
I liked this rifle a lot and it was accurate and reliable. I changed the A2 sights to the improved battle zero, replaced the older carbine stock with a new M4 Enhanced telestock (shown in picture) and in an effort to spare my hands from the heat generated by semi-autos in the Texas summer, I added genuine Colt M4 handguards. I took my first course of formal instruction where I paid someone to teach me about a rifle at Texas Pistol Academy.
We shot in a variety of scenarios and I encountered some limitations of irons in practical use. I soon purchased a TA11 and mounted it to the carry handle. I also changed the grip to a more palm-filling Sierra Precision grip. It actually worked suprisingly well; but part of me still wanted a flattop to see if it was better... so I went to this:
It was better in some ways, so I kept it. I added an ARMS #40 rear sight to make sure I could use irons when I wanted to and and ARMS #19S mount so I could remove and replace the ACOG easily without changing the zero (a big pain for the carry handle mount). After taking a course from Chris Grollnek, I realized that a more substantial charging handle would be a big help, so I added the PRI Gasbuster.
The course with Grollnek (where we shot 800rds in a day) convinced me there had to be a better way to deal with the heat the barrel generated. The M4 handguards insulated the hand; but they trapped the heat next to the barrel and kept it warmer. Reading up on the subject, I became convinced a Knight's free-float rail system would give me cooling, better accuracy and a place to attach a light. I also was looking at a new experimental stock from a company called Magpul. The cost was enough to make me want to gag; but the prototype was getting good reviews so I bit the bullet and bought one, fully expecting to return it soon.
As it turns out, both purchases were good ones. The Magpul M93 turned out to be one of my favorite AR15 accessories (the TA11 is THE favorite). Also, I immediately noticed an improvement in group size (about 0.5" at 100yds) and cooling after the Knight's free-float rail was installed.
This was about everything I wanted in a rifle. I started shooting in informal 3-gun competitions and soon was working the rifle out at ranges from contact to 600yds. I was amazed at how versatile it was. However, as work claimed more time, my skills fell off and it soon became time to polish them up, this time with Primary Carbine at Tac-Pro Shooting Center.
Even with my skills honed, I wasn't getting the results I used to at longer ranges. The fact that this coincided with a burning desire to get a new barrel was purely coincidence (seriously, the barrel was having some problems at range). I had recently shot a friend's Armalite midlength and was impressed at the handling. I really wanted a midlength barrel; but that would mean changing the rail system too and that was just too much money. I decided to go with a carbine gas system on the new barrel. However, when the barrel maker shipped a midlength barrel by mistake, I took it as a sign and went ahead and replaced the Knight's free-float with the even lighter Daniel Defense rail. While I was at it, I also went with a PRI folding front sight. I didn't really need the folding front sight; but I really liked the MP5 style front sight with circle hood.
Sadly, that barrel didn't work out as well as I had hoped; but the manufacturer stood behind his product and fully refunded my money. I used some of that to upgrade the rear sight to a Troy and change the ACOG mount to a Larue. Both were still doing their jobs well; but at this point I had seen enough ARMS products fail that I just didn't feel comfortable with them anymore. I decided to go with a more traditional barrel and turned to MSTN which had never failed me in the past for this rig:
This rifle has been as close to perfect as I could want. There have only been a few things I can think of that would make it better. This is one of them:
You can find more on the suppressor here. That is how the rifle looks as of April 22, 2007 - almost 10 years after I started modifying it. There are still a few additional things I would like to add - a Magpul UBR stock is high on the list; but it really is to a point where there isn't much more I would do to it.
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