A new AR build coming together

Absintheur

Absintheur

Banned
Joined
Jan 31, 2008
Messages
3,280
Lower receiver arrived from Cavalry Arms today. It will be mated with the Colt lightweight sporter upper shown. Forward handguards will match the color of the lower. High Standard bolt, bolt carrier, charging handle have all been ordered. Will also receive a McCormick trigger, ambi safety, and other various required parts. Upper will go first to JD Jones to have the carry handle shaved and scope mount installed then to Hoosier Gun Coat for the duracoat finish. The JD Jones method of handle removal preserves the original sights in place and the 1-4 DBC scope I bought will allow the use of the irons through the scope body if desired.

With the lightweight contour on the barrel and the Cav lower this should end up being the lightest full length AR I own, (my ten inch shorty is very light...lol) should make for a nice GF gun when finished.

arbuild3.jpg
 
I sold the cavarms coyote lower I had. I regret it as it's a nice looking lower.

Why not just put the barrel into a flattop upper, then you can mount whatever scope or sights you wish? I don't see many people doing the chopped carry handle thing anymore.
 
I am chopping the handle because I tend to use the iron sights as often as I do the scope. The scope I will be using on this is a QD type that has excellent and proven repeatability. The clamp on sights for flattops simple are not rugged enough for me, I have tried them and found they are too easy to damage or knock out of zero. The way JD Jones chops the carrying handle retains the original rear sight.

jdjonesmount.jpg


And with a dot scope you can look through the body of the dot and use the irons easily, can even do so with a low powered scope.

Sorry for the poor pic...I justed used one I already had and zoomed in on the mount, this is on my shorty and the scope is not the one I normally use, I was doing some accuracy testing and temporarily mounted a 10X scope on it.
 
Thanks for posting that picture, interesting set up. I've used an LMT rear sight for years and beat the you know what out of it. It is no more prone to failure than the sight shown in your picture.

Anyway interesting set up thanks for posting it. Good work on getting the Cavarms, those guys need the support. :)
 
AR parts are getting hard to get! I'm looking for a bolt carrier group (semi) with the shrouded firing pin.
 
Aimless said:
Thanks for posting that picture, interesting set up. I've used an LMT rear sight for years and beat the you know what out of it. It is no more prone to failure than the sight shown in your picture.

Anyway interesting set up thanks for posting it. Good work on getting the Cavarms, those guys need the support. :)
Click to expand...

Cavalry Arms has been targeted by one of the alphabet agencies of the Fed Government unfortunately. I hope they survive this purge but history shows us once the bulldogs have bitten they seldom let go. Even if they never convict they bankrupt the company they have chosen to destroy so it's doors are closed. With Soros coming into control of our government I think we will see more of this....get what you want while you can still get it.
 
Here's what I don't get about the chopped upper...

You want to mount an optic but you want the irons as stable as possible. I get that part. But there are a number of fixed BUIS on the market that are pretty bomb proof by most people's standards. Still, I can understand that you still might not trust a bolt-on iron sight.

But to then chop the upper, you have to bolt on the rail. So your back-up sights are rock solid, but now your primary optic is bolted onto a piece which is further bolted to the rifle. Seems backwards to me: making the primary sighting system (theoretically) less stable to (theoretically) gain stability for your back-up sights.

Why not just use something like a Rock River UTE2 upper?
http://www.rockriverarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=279

For a guy with your preferences it would seem the best of both worlds: it has a fixed rear sight but the rail is fixed as well. Everything (minus the actual optic, of course) is integral to the upper: no screws or bolts... fewer parts to come loose.
 
First, the scope is not my primary sight, the irons are, the scope is not normally mounted. Second, that mount isn't coming off without a blowtorch, trust me. (I suspect JD uses JB Weld instead of Loctite) Third, why buy an upper when I already own one. That upper was the one that was originally on my 300 Whisper.

Anything that is clamped to a rail mount is subject to being knocked off or out of alignment much easier than something that is integral, Rock River understands this, that is why they offer that copy of JD's design. They merely offer it made that way while JD modifies carrying handle uppers for those of us who see no need to buy a separate upper when the one already owned is perfectly fine. Also I don't think the Rock River protect the rear sight as well.
 
Can't interfere with the bolt, the gas key rides in the charging handle so it never comes into contact with the upper in that area. In any case everything is recessed and it will not cause a problem. JD Jones did not build his firearms empire by doing shoddy work...lol.
 
I'm not sure what the cut and mount job cost you, but did you consider swapping out the A2 upper for a RRA UTE2 upper?
 
mp510 - Actually I addressed that question in post 10 above. If you look at the Rock River the remove a good bit of metal from around the rear sight assembly, the Colt is a bit more protective of the sight. Also if I did that I would still have one more upper than lower and would end up having to do another build...lol.
 
Absintheur said:
mp510 - Actually I addressed that question in post 10 above. If you look at the Rock River the remove a good bit of metal from around the rear sight assembly, the Colt is a bit more protective of the sight. Also if I did that I would still have one more upper than lower and would end up having to do another build...lol.
Click to expand...

I should have read a little more closely. :p

You make that last part sound like a bad thing. At least a $4 stock wouldn't be causing your additional build;)
 
Nice build you have started there:thumbup:. My next project will be similar with the RRA UTE upper and Cav Arms lower.

I like the dependability of the RRA UTE for that reason, the rear sight is not bolted on and does not have the potential to fall off. Last I heard Cav Arms products are back in production with rented equipment but the legal BS isn't over yet.
 
mp510 said:
I should have read a little more closely. :p

You make that last part sound like a bad thing. At least a $4 stock wouldn't be causing your additional build;)
Click to expand...

You reach a point where you would rather buy something other than another AR...lol. I want another M1 Carbine yet, perhaps a Garand, have thought about an SKS build for a car gun, and the list goes on...not to mention ammo to feed everything...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top