Here's my one and only brand new AR build

[davek]

I decided to introduce myself to the AR world by building my first AR. It is now complete enough to take to the range.





With its new big brother



Plain Vanilla.

Stag lower reciever
RRA lower parts kit
RRA M4 6 position stock
CMMG Midlength Govt Profile complete upper
DPMS A2 removeable handle


TADAAAAA!

 

[redloki]

Nice rifle, let us know how it shoots.

 

[davek]

I hope to take it to the range tomorrow. A range report will be coming.

 

[dleong]

If you haven't already caught it, you're probably going to catch Black Rifle Disease soon...

Congrats on your first build! Is that an RRA 16" midlength upper I see on your rifle?

 

[davek]

I'm not sure I afford more than a bit of a sniffle of the SBR disease.

You're right on all counts except for the make. It's a CMMG upper.

 

[..]

Excellent choice on the CMMG middy, very impressed with mine.

 

[MagnumCaliber357]

refresh my memory, does the midlenght use a faux front sight post and then a shaved gasblock like the dissipator, or does it just have the normal good old set up? If it does have a normal set up , how much further is the gas block from an M4 set up?

 

[Lebben-B]

Excellent build! Now all you need is a bunch of magazines. And a tac-light...And an ACOG...and a VFG...Oh wait, this isn't BARF.com. Nevermind then. Just get a bunch of mags and shoot that bad rascal.

Mike

 

[dleong]

refresh my memory, does the midlenght use a faux front sight post and then a shaved gasblock like the dissipator, or does it just have the normal good old set up? If it does have a normal set up , how much further is the gas block from an M4 set up?

If davek's CMMG midlength upper is similar to my one from RRA, the gas tube extends normally all the way to the FSB.

The midlength's gas block/FSB is 2" farther forward than that on an M4; you can see the difference in this image.

 

[davek]

Yes. The gas tube goes all the way to the sight post/gas block, and it's 2 inches longer as dleong said.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Good looking rifle. A midlength 16" AR with a telescoping stock is probably the most versatile AR out there. If I had to choose one AR for everything, that would probably be it.

 

[davek]

I took it to the range yesterday between thunderstorms and got it dialed in. I only spent an hour and a half at it, and only went through 80 or so rounds, but I'm overall pleased.

First of all, it ran flawlessly. I went through various makes and the only FTF was when I forgot to take the chamber flag out when I hit the bolt release. So other than a loose nut behind the trigger (read as me) it was 100 percent.

The trigger was crisp with little to no creep. I opted for the regular 1 stage trigger

It was a joy to shoot. It's amazing to me that something so light, and with such minimal felt recoil could be so LOUD! I was wearing ear protection and all, but sheesh! That thing's near as loud as my PTR-91. Not that this is a bad thing.

There was no sproooiiing! What's up with that? I was assured there would be sproooiiing!

Finally, I wasn't terribly impressed with my groups. I was averaging 3 to 3.5 inch groups at 100 yards resting on a 4x4 and a rolled up towel. I can usually manage a little better than that. I figure the reason could be one, or a combination of several factors...

1. I was just stinking up the place with lousy shooting.

2. I need to get adjusted to the sight picture. I'm not used to this short of a site radius. That front post site looked awfully fat. I'm sure this played a factor because my groups were getting smaller the more I shot.

3. The 55 grain bullets were a little light for tack driving from a 1:7 barrel.

4. I was just stinking up the place with lousy shooting.

Like I said, I'm very pleased with my first AR, and now that I've got it pretty much dialed in, I'm anxious to experiment with different bullet sizes and then take this puppy to the Action Pistol pits.

 

[davek]

I think I figured out what the problem was. I had my eye too close to the rear sight. I took it to the action pistol pits at my club and I coldn't miss if I tried...even running and gunning. Then last Sunday I took it to the 100 yard range again, and again, using a bench rest, 3 inch groups. Then I started testing some new 30 round magazines and had to fire just using my elbows, and allasdden started getting 1.5" groups consistantly! The only thing I can figure is that when I got my eye farther away from the rear sight, I got better groups.

 

[Lebben-B]

I'm glad to read you're getting better accuracy. Since you've found your "sweet spot" on the rifle, you might want to mark it with a bit of tape until you develop enough muscle memory to go there automatically.

Mike

 

[DMK]

Nice job! That's a sweet little carbine.

Thats unusual that you feel you shoot worse when you are closer to the rear sight. Most folks recommend getting right up against it for consistency. I find that getting real close to the rear sight helps me ignore the rear arperture and focus on the front post better (but then again, I like to use the small arperture). But hey, whatever works for you. That's the nice thing about that adjustable stock.