Jgun

Not sure if my Eotech is faulty, but I've got an XPS, and although I think it's a great sight and would buy another in a minute, I find the actual size of it to be a little large compared to some of the other alternatives, and I've got mine set up with a piggyback magnifier (5X I think). If in fact the dot is a 1 MOA unmagnified, then I guess it's 5MOA when I view it through the magnifier, and not only that, it doesn't appear to be perfectly round either. I've had some friends refer to the reticle as a fuzzy dot in a dounut. I have not had the pleasure of trying one with a BDC reticle, but, although I'm a big fan of them, for long range shots I can do better with a lower powered illuminated conventional scope like the TR-24, with a mini red dot mounted at 45 for the close stuff. Of course when I look back at what SS originally posted about mounting a Vortex on the 1100, I'm not sure if any of this is of much value to him. For a reddot mounted on a shotgun, since your not likely to be going past 100 yds, I'm thinking that the Eotech might not be the best option, if for no other reason than the size.

I don't know if rapid fire with the red dot is a priority here, but, as mentioned by 98, there is no eye relief with a red dot, because there is no magnification (unless you mount a magnifier) it's just an illuminated sight. What I do find (for me) is that when I am swinging the gun (to move from target to target) and shooting on the move, as 98 mentions, the dot will move around in the window, and as long as you can see it and put it on target you should hit the target, but if your eye's allignment is off by too much you will not see the dot in the window, and could lose time trying to find it. That is where I find that having the sight mounted further back helps me. I find that it's harder for me to lose the dot when the sight is closer to my eye, but as mentioned, if you run some drills with it mounted both forward and closer, you should quickly be able to decide which works better for you. The type of red dot also matters. The Eotecs have much bigger windows than the mini red dots, making it harder to lose the dot, and mine has that huge dougnut that is almost impossible to lose, but is not (for me) the best for long range accuracy.

I haven't seen this mentioned, but I'm thinking that if you're planning to use the gun for hunting, where carrying it for distance might be involved, and you'd like it to shoot sub moa out to much longer distance than 500-600yds, the two goals might not call for the same barrel type/contour. If you really want the gun to excel at long range (rested?) then the heavy contour/longer barrel becomes more important, along with a tight chamber (read custom barrel) and load developement. if, on the other hand, you are willing to accept that your gun won't outshoot your buddys bench rest bolt gun, a med contour 18" barrel with a slightly larger chamber should satisfy most of your needs, and be available off the shelf. the PRS is a pretty heavy stock and probably more long range than hunting focused, The three component choices that will have the greatest effect on the weight of your finished gun will be the butt stock choice, barrel length/contour/material, and the type/length of hand guard you select. it's no suprise that the parts that are best suited to extreme distance are less suited to an all around hunting build. I would not presume to tell you which would suit your needs best, but I'll bet that a heavy rifle with a long heavy barrel and fixed stock will not make you very happy if you cover a lot of ground on foot when hunting, and will be doing more of that then target shooting. Maybe you should think about building two guns. You're probably going to want to anyway. I think that all of the members will tell you that once you build one, you'll have so many ideas for a second one that it will only be a matter of time before you start collecting parts for it.

Not sure if my approach is by the book, but I use my red dots for speed more than accuracy, The beauty of a red dot is that you don't need to align a front and rear sight, just put the dot on the target and it should be good (with a quality sight) within an inch or two. For handguns I usually go with a bigger dot 7/8 MOA which speeds up dot aquisition when shooting multiple targets on the move, while for rifles I select a smaller dot 2-4 MOA which helps acuracy at 100 yds. I still find that the dot can seem pretty big and makes shooting for groups at 200 a waste of time. As far as eye relief goes, on a rifle I find that having the sight closer to my eye gives a better field of view through the scopes window, but that also tends to make the dot bigger in relation to the target. For me, the dot allows much faster sight aquisition and multi target engagement, with adequate accuracy for run and gun or hunting. If grouping at range is important, you might want to consider one of the setups with a red dot for close up, and a conventional scope for distance. The RAMP mount and the Matt Burkett mounts are both good choices. I hear that the S&B Short Dot scopes are supposed to be incredible, but the price of them is ridicules.

Although I'd opt for another AR platform gun over the AK, given your parameters, I'd also vote for a complete AK vs another AR upper. You might want to also consider the other costs associated with buying a second gun of a different platform, vs buying a second AR (or better yet building it) in a caliber that you already have. Think about it, same mags, all the spare parts will interchange aside frome barrel/handguard, only one caliber to stockpile, if you reload, you don't need to buy different dies/powder/bullets, the ergonomics don't change, so you're likely to be able to shoot better under stress, as opposed to having to practice your drills with two different rifles. Might be worth thinking about.

You said buy, not build, so I can't comment on the RRA 16" specifically, but I built a .308 carbine using a MATEN receiver set, and a Noveske 14.5" barrel(and fixed muzzle brake). As Wash stated, I don't think you will find much to complain about due to the shorter barrel, other than giving up a little muzzle velocity, but if it's for CQB that shouldn't be an issue. I do find that I'm a little slower on my follow up shots with the .308 compared to a 5.56, but thats to be expected with the greater recoil of the larger rd. I would say that an effective muzzle device is a good idea, and unless you expect to be carrying it for hours at a time, don't try to build the lightest .308 AR you can. I find that a little heavier gun helps me to be more accurate when engaging multiple targets quickly while on the move.

Looks like I made an error in the link in my previous post. www.snipercountry.com/Articles/Barrel_BreakIn_II.asp www.sentrysolutions.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=SENTRY

Someone gave me an armorer's kit from Sentry solutions. before trying it I thought I'd take a look at their site to see what they claim it does. I found a link to this article that I found interesting. I was wondering if anyone here has tried it or knows someone that has? /www.snipercountry.com/Articles/Barrel_BreakIn_II.asp

You didn't say what you were doing for sights/optics, but if you intend to use a GI type castle nut front sight mount, or the gas lock front sight mount that is sold by Smith Enterprises, You're going to need some type of tool to verify that you have the barrel timed properly so that the front and rear iron sights are both parallel. there are special tools for this but if you have two accurate bubble levels they can be used in a pinch. I'd offer the receiver wrench and barrel block that I made for mine, but they are specific to the LRB M25 receiver and heavy barrel so will not be suitable for your parts.

Beautiful gun. I've got a FA 454, same barrel length, which I think is the best for balance and performance. I shoot .45 out of mine as well. I find that the Casull is pretty punishing, even with magnaporting, not to mention too expensive. Mine is a very (to me) heavy revolver, do you know what yours weighs? BTW, I've got a fiber optic front blade on mine and highly recommend it. With the FO , even with my poor eyesight, I have no problem picking up the front sight.

Great build. I'm tmpressed that you were able to keep the weight that low on a 20" barreled gun, with optic. I guess those railed hand guards and collapsing stocks really add weight to a gun. BTW, what is the contour of the barrel?

Looks like you're well on your way to a beutiful AR build. I didn't know that they referred to that overlapping handguard design as a monolithic. Does that mean that Hogan now offers a non monolithic upper that doesn't have the handguard overlapping like that?

Anyone handle or shoot one of these? I see they have that non reciprocating forward charging handle that i like so much. They claim to be the only fully freefloated piston AR being made. www.adcorindustries.com/wordpress/index.php/products/bea

The upper that I have on my POF lower (MOLON LABE) was a short run done by one of the employee's of Hogan. My upper has the same pivot and take down pin hole ID's as the POF .308 lower (.250"), but unlike a POF upper, my upper is designed to accept a DPMS barrel nut and use any generic free float handguard, as opposed to the POF, that requires you to use their proprietary handguard that has a top rail that slides over the top of the upper (nice setup, just not what I wanted) Is your Hogan upper designed in the same manner as the POF was, with the handguard rail that extends over the top of the upper? I'd love to see some pics of your build if possible. By the way, do you know what the thread is for the barrel nut on your hogan upper?

I've got a MOLON LABE upper on a POF lower. As far as I know the small parts I used should work for the Hogan upper equally well. I ordered all of the small parts, (dust cover, spring,and rod, F assist assembly, the AR 10 bolt catch and all small springs and detents) just went on Armalites site and made a grocery list, called them up and they had every part I needed, including the Armalite rifle length gas tube (that would not work for you). You might want to take a look.

I just posted some advice on your original into thread, about how to remove your front sight post, but I did not realize your muzzle device was pinned/welded. I think that you're going to be stuck with your present setup, unless you are willing to have the muzzle device removed temporarily while you switch the hand guard, and then have it repinned/welded afterwards.

Welcome to the forum. Since I have not seen anyone else answer your question about removing the FF tube with the fixed front sight you have, I will attempt to give some assistance. Unfortunately the front sight has to be removed to take the FF tube off. I don't own your gun, but it looks as though your front sight is also the gas block for your gun, so after driving out the two pins on the bottom of your front sight, (I think they will be tapered and need to come out the right side) you have to use carfully applied pressure to slid the front sight forward off the gun. This will also remove the gas tube from the gun as well. You will need to either replace the FF tube with a rail no longer than the FF tube, so that you can reuse your front sight, or you will need to replace the front sight with a low pro gas block that fits under the railed handguards if you wish to use a rail that is longer than your ff tube. Maybe one of our members that has the same gun will reply with information regarding what he used to tap off the front sight, after removing the tapered pins.

Doesn't battlearms offer the BABC in stainless anymore? I've got one on one of my .308 AR's.

First off, I don't want anyone to get the idea I'm being argumentative here, just an interesting discussion as far as I'm concerned, hope all see it the same. You know we've had tabletop cnc mills for years and although they don't have the ability to hog out material quickly, and are not built for comercial use, some are extremely accurate. But If we are all talking about the same thing here, we are talking about machines that deposit liquid material in a chamber as opposed to a machine cutting a solid part placed in the chamber. It has been my understanding that the state of the art units are capable of duplicating parts to very close tolerance. I believe that I saw something on TV where Jay Leno had one they were using to duplicate a gear for one of his old cars. But since the part is not strong enough to be used as is, it's just an aid to the CNC machinning centers if you need something made from steel or any other hard material, and they cost several $100K. The versions that I have seen intended for the hobbyest (Makerbot) are much cruder and unable to duplicate anything to that accuracy, but the technology is evolving. They are presently using it to deposit molten metal in vacuum chambers to save machining time, and that is in the commercial sector.

I hadn't considered .22LR. You say the ones that have been produced with the technology, have to be machined on mills, doesn't that mean that the 3D printer is not turning out a finished, usable .22 lower? Maybe I'm not up on the technology enough, and maybe this falls into the more than 80% finished catagory, but if the 3D printer only turns out a semi finished part that can't be used unless further work is done to it, they shouldn't be seizing the printers, they should be arresting the people running the company, that are taking the semi finished plastic parts and using the mills to finish them. I have not yet seen a 3D printer capable of turning out a finished part of close tolerance (like an AR lower), without secondary operations. Am I misinformed?

I'm somewhat confused here. I understand that logic has nothing to do with firearms regulations, but I thought that the present technology in the private level with the 3D printers, was that the material is not strong enough for most stressed parts. Isn't it more like hot glue gun material? And I also thought that they were not able to produce finished parts to close tolerances yet, so if your not actually making usable gun parts what's the problem? Couldn't I legally produce replica AR lowers out of wood and sell them as display items, without running into trouble with BATF?

I've been looking for one of the Millett LRS 8-32 scopes. I don't see them anywhere. The highest power I can find is the 6-24. Am I mistaken or did Millett have an 8-32? If so is it a discontinued model?

I wasn't aware that Krieger only offered their barrels with Armalite gas system. Yes you want to order an AR 10 rifle length gas tube from Armalite in order to get best function. BTW, just to inform other members building with these barrels, I ordered a barrel from lothar walther earlier this year (rifle length gas system) and that is also Armalite gas port location, which is around .250" longer than Knights/DPMS uses for their rifle length gas system. Just one more instance where the large platform AR's don't adhere to a mil spec like the AR 15s do.

Midwest industries makes a .936 Low pro gas block. You didn't say what the dia is behind the shoulder, but if you took the MI .936" block, you could mill .312" off the back of it while leaving the part that the gas tube goes into. then all that would be needed would be to drill the gastube hole deeper, drill a new gas port hole up from the bottom .312" further forward, and drill a new roll pin hole. if the outside of the gas block is large enough, you might even be able to get away with just boring a hole in the back of it big enough for it to slide over the OD of the barrel behind the shoulder, and .312" deep. It would not be very hard for a local machinist to do for you. I think that it ought to be easy for any small shop to handle something like this. www.midwestindustriesinc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=253

Just out of curiosity, maybe you can supply a few dimensions, Can you tell me what dia your barrel is at the gas block mounting location , what is the dia behind the locating shoulder, and what is the minimum distance it needs to be moved back in order to satisfy your problem? Also, does Krieger supply a gas block with their AR barrels?