So the rest of the parts showed up today.
I was so excited to put the thing together i forgot to take pictures of most of it.
I did get the handguard and barrel nut as these were a little unusual, id never seen this type of mounting before, and honestly im not positive i ever took it out of the package when i originally got it.
the screws pull to tapered nuts into the barrel nut to lock it in place, actually seems to take less force to hold it properly than a clamp on hand guard, which i thought this was.
Complete rifle, with its sightmark optic, which has gotten the crap beat out of it over the last 5 years and STILL refuses to die weights in a 5lbs 11oz, which while not featherlight, is lighter than any AR ive built to date. I could probably get down around 5lbs by taking off the flash hider (another goody from Gunny), which is too bad ass to take of, and modifying or using other parts like a lighter stock. As is tho it balances well and is plenty light enough.
I also just realized that i dont have anymore AR mags, so ill have to stop and buy a couple on my way to function test this tomorrow or when ever its not pouring.
The only issue i had with the final assembly was that since the upper is plastic with aluminum inserts, they want you to use a Reaction rod, or something similar. My local store actually has one, but at 100 bucks for a tool i may only use once i passed.
What I ended up doing was notching a 1/2" 3/8th drive socket to match the lugs in the barrel extension. The socket is cheap chinese steel, so is still fairly soft. With the torque required to secure the barrel, since i didnt need to time anything, i was comfortable that even with a slight misalignment of notches i wouldnt damage the barrel extension.
Seemed to work properly, torqued to 50, then released, then re-torqued to 40.
Pictures of everything will be up in a bit, i have to resize all of them.