AR Pistol Build / Range Report

Finished a few days ago and was waiting for a break from the rain to test / zero. Way too muggy but did it this morning.

Build (5.56)

Stag Arms lefty upper rcvr and bcg
Colt 6920 lower rcvr (factory H buffer)
Faxon SOCOM 10.5" barrel (.081" gas port)
Retro Rifles 3.5" XM177 Moderator / Flash Suppressor (6 slots like A1 flash hider)
Raptor LT ambi-charging handle
CMC Lantac E-CT1 single stage flat trigger w/ anti-rotation pins
Brownells black nitride carbine-length gas tube
Midwest Industries low profile gas block
Matrix 9" (9.56") MLOK handguard
SBA3 pistol brace
MBUS front/rear (remove peep from rear)
Blitzkrieg Chevron front sight post (Green)
Holosun HS510C Reflex / Red Dot

Zeroed hard sights and optic at 50 meters

Took 7 rounds to zero the hard sights and 5 rounds for the optic.

Ammunition was PMC X-TAC FMJ-BT (decent stuff and I have a bunch from sales)

Too hot and muggy. Looked like I'd been swimming.

Shot individual rounds vs groups. 40 rounds total which meant 40 round trips of 100 meters per round trip. lol The walk was partial shade and targets full shade. I'll post an older pic of the "range".

Once each was dialed in (using a front sandbag), accuracy was as hoped and expected. Quarter-size easily and much of it was actually nickel with a couple or so almost same holes.

Pistol did very well. Perfect function and not much "kick" or boom at all. Really could tell no difference between this 10.5" and any of my 16" carbines.

All brass tossed about 6-8 ft to a 7:30-8:15 position (that sounds weird). Probably within a 2 ft circle.

This is my second Holosun and really like it. 2 moa dot w. 65 moa circle. It'll display both or each singularly.

Wasn't quite sure what to expect from the chevron post. It's adjustment is in increments of 180* vs 90* for a standard front sight post. I lucked out and as it turned out, I didn't need to compensate my POA due to that lack of finess. Hope I got this right. One side only has the chevron thus more turns are required to observe the chevron. Nice bright yellow in day light and it lumineces a bright green in low / no light after charging. It did very well against cheap, lily-white paper plates.

The SBA3 brace did very well. Hard to be its quality Though the brace is compatible with any mil-spec carbine extension, I found it had only 3 positions where it locked in on the Colt tube. The Colt on Colt is 4 position. The SBA3 with its included tube is 5 position. With the brace fully forward on the Colt tube, its not locked in. I don't see that as an issue.

All in all, I could not have asked for better. A few pics.



Ghost ring / glass / chevron


Believe this was after about 10 minutes following a 1 minute charge with low power flash light




Distance from the table is 50 meters to those targets back there at the fence line. That's where I was shooting. That might be my lefty side-charger on the table from a previous session. On that line (camera look angle) is another 500 meters or so of clear flat pasture if needed. Behind the table (where i was standing taking the pic) is another 50 meters. The 100 meters has embedded bricks every 10 meters for reference points. Out of view and to the right is the pistol range.


If a compelling need during foul weather occurs, I can shoot out of this out building (old poultry house. Out in the bright sun, you can see the table at about 1 o' clock.


There you have it.

Just examined my brass and running the length of the case (entire middle), they all have the same cylindrical marks as GBExpat experienced as shown in his second pic, the group of 3 cases on the right side. Exactly the same. Can't feel them at all yet don't buff out with rag and gritty toothpaste. Runs good though. Random selection of today's brass:



The Raptor LT is super. Charging with my right index / thumb, right side only of CH, I noticed zero lateral movement.

This build is strictly for close in stuff. For me, the chevron has the potential to be very fast in target acqusition as compared to a standard post. But even for extended ranges, it's probably at least as accurate as "the stick". But I got it for speed. It's absoluted with the optic. Holosun claimed the red dot was at absolute and they're right. No time soon (cooler days), I want to see if the tip of the lower opening of the chevron hits consistently at another distance. Kind of like, based on my 50 meter zero, having a 25/50 mater zero type of thing. You know it hits somewhere; where?

More data on my brass marks. After examining them under a powerful magnifying glass, they appear to be several series of very small lines / marks running the length of the brass, to include the neck.

Ks5shooter said:

Nice build but its a no-no in Nazi NJ

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We have vacancies for legal immigrants who support and defend .......

Thanks. That's a mighty nice build you have there.

bfoosh006 said:

Hone that chamber...I would consider those cases to show a rough chamber.... there is a current thread concerning Faxon chamber issues right now.

I wrap a chamber brush with 0000 Steel wool and smooth out the roughness, 0000 steel wool can't even scratch glass, spin it on a spare cleaning rod section and lube with your favorite oil... thoroughly clean the oil / residue from the locking lugs area in the barrel extension, and the chamber and bore.

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I went with Flitz, a couple of .38 / 9mm mops, cordless drill. and it did well. 6 sessions of approx 60 seconds each.

Got a couple of dings (1 each) that didn't happen before. I assume it happened at the weapon. I stood on my patio and fired. They might have hit some cinder blocks (short stack) but I don't think so. Kind of odd to dent the brass now. Perhaps the roughness of the chamber before was not allowing the extraction / ejection to be as strong as now. I have an H2 and H3 buffer I can try. The angle of tossed brass was consistent with that from the other day. One dent was significant and the other much less so. The "minor" ding was higher up near the line of the shoulder. Believe those longitudinal dark lines are a reflection of my camera phone.

Test fired 6 more rounds.
2 with H buffer
2 with H+ buffer (3.9 oz) Thought I had grabbed an H2.
2 with H3 buffer

All did well regarding function, ejection, accuracy.

For whatever reason, the "dents" were still there but very small. The Flitz job probably removed 99% of the "marring". Had I gone 10 sessions vs 6, it'd likely be 100%. Good enough.

Interesting read: https://sites.google.com/site/freeballisticcalculator/black-nitride-melonite-and-qpq

If you don't want to read it all, scroll down about 3/4 or so and begin at "Tan" Nitide.. same corrosion resistance and same lubricity as black... but not as hard.
Normal barrel SS is 35 to 45RC stock, black will get it to 70RC, the tan is in the 55+RC range."

Not bashing; for entertainment purposes only (Faxon quotes):

"We inspect each barrel over 15 times before it ever reaches you. " Um, maybe 16 times is the magic number.

"....... From there, each barrel goes through a battery of tests at each operation until finished in Nitride and final inspected."

I must say, the exterior finishes on their barrels are outstanding (for real). Let's get focused on the interior. Said with love, encouragement, and hope they nip this issue in the bud and sell a million barrels.

harrygunner said:

Nice build.

I too have an AR pistol, a CZ 805 Bren. I like how I can have greater ammo capacity while traveling or even camping. They have their place.

Shouldn't this be posted under "Handguns: Autoloaders"? Don't want the "antis" to think we believe these are rifles.

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Thanks. Should be good where it is. If questioned, I'll just say it shrunk in the dryer.