Early Black Friday Fortis Keymod upgrade

Lovely set up:)

I really love my AR. I don't take it out for a spin as much as I should. My dad bought it for me on a whim as warmhearted present some years back. He saw it at our LGS and that it was a Stag 2L (I'm a righty, but I shoot southpaw mostly). He thought it would be a nice gun for me to have since it's set up "wrong handed", and I cherish. I'm not much of a "Lego" guy, so I haven't done a thing to it short of shooting it, cleaning it, and oiling it up. It was a thoughtful gift from my Old Man, and I'll always cherish it and it would be the first weapon I would grab in an emergency.

There is something to be said about the comforting feeling of a well constructed rifle in your collection. I love the accuracy and ease of maintenance. A more ubiquitous semi-auto rifle in the CONUS I can't think of. I have plenty of 30 round mags, but I've been thinking about getting a few low-cap 5 or 10 rounders for bench shooting and keeping under the truck seat for at the cabin. I usually take a long gun like my ol' Ithaca pump 12g or the beat up Chinese Type 53 M44 clone. The Stag would probably make a better coyote popper, but i don't want to scare the neighbors with the "scary" 30 round mags.

The irrational prepper part of me says I should get a normal right handed upper to compliment mine. Left handed bolts/carriers aren't hard to come by, but they aren't parts easily scavenged. That said, I'm probably good for 15-20k rounds before I probably need to worry about that;)
 
Probably good for a lot more than that Jake.

I love the Lego analogy, I call em Mr. Potato Head rifles. I spend a lot of time here at work hanging "crap" on officers rifles. Then after a bit I spend a lot of time taking a lot of "crap" back off when they realize they took a light handy too and turned it into a Garand which isn't a bad thing, I love and prefer my Garand but defeats the purpose of the AR hanging bells, whistles and cup holders on a light rifle. I seen a gadget the other day to hang our Iphone on the rail for ballistic charts or music or somthing, I know not what. Haven't been asked to install one yet but I know it's a comin.
 
The trend in the past few years is less not more. You will find rifles with more utilitarian uses now. Rails are sooo three years ago! So is all the crap hanging off. A good light is a must for any weapon system... other than that all I care about is decent sights and a good trigger.
 
I'm glad the trend is finally catching up with my 50 year plan.

The guys always whine about the latest new toy, I tell em they are lucky I'm not in charge they would all be carrying a Winchester 94, maybe a Trapper model.

They then do feel pretty lucky indeed.
 
Shavru said:
Hehe, So MANY options. While I would never have a reason to use one of these rails, I love the fact everyone can modify ARs to their own personal preferences.

I personally have stuck to the old M-16A1 that looks and functions exactly like my old Army issued pal LOL. Even still has the traditional triangular handguards only difference between it and what I was originally issued is I upgraded to an A2 barrel with 1:7 twist instead of 1:14 it originally came with.
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gurkha berserka said:
The trend in the past few years is less not more. You will find rifles with more utilitarian uses now. Rails are sooo three years ago! So is all the crap hanging off. A good light is a must for any weapon system... other than that all I care about is decent sights and a good trigger.
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I'm with you and others that subscribe to the same format as well. The only additions to my HK-91 are a PSG-1 trigger group, quick detachable Hensoldt 4x and cheek piece. Been that way for near 30 years, no need to change now
 
gurkha berserka said:
I have a Meprolight RDS I originally put on my Tavor because they are both Israeli designs. I found the ACOG worked better on the Tavor so I put the RDS on the AR. I highly recommend the RDS for its simplicity and toughness. It only has 4 settings High, Med, Low, and Night Vision. It doesn't have 15 settings that just confuse things. Its battle tested and in service. It also has a cool auto on off feature with a motion sensor built in. Throw a magnifier behind it for long range or clip NV behind it for night time use.
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I've had a look through one of these and liked it. http://www.meprolight.com/default.asp?catid={FB082B33-316B-4335-BFDE-CB5789562D8C}&details_type=1&itemid={FD44627E-1FD3-4811-969B-D59CE751DD4A}
 
Amazing how many of us seem to like the MEPROs I have a NOA Duel Field on my M82 that I got last year for Christmas, it swaps out for low light situations with my BORS. I really like that I have the computer programmed for the loads I have made for me. We took it out shooting in Az last spring, amazing how the entire FoV is perfectly lit yet when you look away from it you aren't night blind. Something I have always had issues with on some other thermal sights since they render fairly bright white compared to night vision greens.
 
Shavru said:
Amazing how many of us seem to like the MEPROs I have a NOA Duel Field on my M82 that I got last year for Christmas, it swaps out for low light situations with my BORS. I really like that I have the computer programmed for the loads I have made for me. We took it out shooting in Az last spring, amazing how the entire FoV is perfectly lit yet when you look away from it you aren't night blind. Something I have always had issues with on some other thermal sights since they render fairly bright white compared to night vision greens.
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I haven't done any shooting with a Meprolight yet, I've just had a chance to look through one. But I liked how it was like using a red dot sight yet didn't require batteries. The way red dots and the Meprolight 21 project the dot out onto the target without actually projecting anything out is really cool, too.

As for the thermal sight, I'd always wondered what advantages Black-Hot and White-Hot would have over each other. Your comment about your NOA not making you night blind made me realize that White-Hot would be a lot less likely to screw with your night vision than Black-Hot. As for NVGs, the only ones I've used were an older model monocular, and I had one that someone had dropped at some point because it was a lot dimmer than the others. Eventually I came to the conclusion that since it was a monocular I'd have better luck taking it off the skull-crusher mount and holding it in my hand. I'd scan an area with the naked eye, and then scan with the NVG. Worked a lot better than trying to use it on the mount. I also learned a few important things to do when hiding from NVGs. Turns out the Air Force's ABU is pretty decent camo against NVGs for one, and it also turns out that glasses tend to catch light from any ambient sources and glint brightly, giving away the wearer's position. Not sure what to do about the glasses, because taking them off prevents the glint, but if you're like me you can't see a thing without them.
 
Scara said:
I've had a look through one of these and liked it. http://www.meprolight.com/default.asp?catid={FB082B33-316B-4335-BFDE-CB5789562D8C}&details_type=1&itemid={FD44627E-1FD3-4811-969B-D59CE751DD4A}
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That is literally a 20 year old design like Trijicons RX sights. The glass is heavily tinted blue even from the viewers side. The reticle is extremely sim. They sell light kits to supplement the deficiencies. It's not NV capable either. Many people that buy them end up swapping them out.

They come stock in the IDF Tavor. I got the standard Tavor due to all the complaints on the Tavor forum regarding the M21 sight
 
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gurkha berserka said:
That is literally a 20 year old design like Trijicons RX sights. The glass is heavily tinted blue even from the viewers side. The reticle is extremely sim. They sell light kits to supplement the deficiencies. It's not NV capable either. Many people that buy them end up swapping them out.

They come stock in the IDF Tavor. I got the standard Tavor due to all the complaints on the Tavor forum regarding the M21 sight
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I had a look through a reflex sight and didn't find the reticle to be dim, and I believe it was a Meprolight. To be sure I even looked at it in bright sunlight and a dim garage. But I admit there may be a better design. I'd prefer to go with one that either doesn't require batteries, either a passive design or one with battery illumination as a backup.
 
They make aftermarket archery type led lights that retro fit the M21 to help with washout when shooting in bright light. It is a well known design flaw in the M21. Bullpup forum is loaded with complaints about the M21. They even make an aftermarket IDF Tavor rail just so you can toss the M21 in the trash where it belongs.

I hear ya on not wanting batteries. I went with an ACOG just for that reason. Leupold makes a prismatic sight that will work when the batteries die due to its etched reticle.
 
Scara said:
I also learned a few important things to do when hiding from NVGs. Turns out the Air Force's ABU is pretty decent camo against NVGs for one
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the 1980's Army BDUs were impregnated with chemicals to provide cover from thermal imaging, I imagine most of the newer field uniforms for most US Services probably maintained that. That is one of the reasons it was against the rules to iron your field uniform in the Army. (though everyone did when not deployed and bought new ones for the field) Not positive but I would guess that is still the case now.
 
Aimpoint Micro H1 and T1 are among the best red dots available. Some Aimpoints have 5 year battery life with the sight kept on medium and never shut off. Micro processors, low consumption circuit boards, and battery technology have all advanced so much. They are extremely reliable now and the trend is going away from tritium only sights the Meprolight M21 and Trijicon RX series.

EOtech makes nice units too, although I prefer my RDS by Mepro.
 
I had an AIMPOINT PRO, a cheaper-simplified version of their Comp M3 I think.
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Good optic, I just thought it was too heavy and bulky for what it did so I sold it and bought the Vortex PST 1-4X.

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At 1X, the Vortex is kinda sorta like a RDS but with parallax and not forgiving if your shooting posture is off.
 
gurkha berserka said:
Aimpoint Micro H1 and T1 are among the best red dots available. Some Aimpoints have 5 year battery life with the sight kept on medium and never shut off. Micro processors, low consumption circuit boards, and battery technology have all advanced so much. They are extremely reliable now and the trend is going away from tritium only sights the Meprolight M21 and Trijicon RX series.

EOtech makes nice units too, although I prefer my RDS by Mepro.
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After the SOCOM advisory on EoTech plus them having to pay out a huge fine for providing sights that didn't hold zero when the temperature or humidity changed I don't plan on getting an EoTech anytime soon.

Shavru, nowadays they are using special inks and dyes in the printing process instead of a coating. In theory they're more durable and more effective. I didn't know that the BDU had any kind of coating, because I've seen BDU tested through NVGs and it tends to do poorly. The whole pattern turns bright white under NVGs in the tests I've seen. And older NVGs worked in the Near-Infrared Band (NIR), but now Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) is becoming more common, and it's harder to camouflage in SWIR. I've used satellite imagery that went from visible band all the way past SWIR in geography projects, and it's very useful stuff for distinguishing between things that look identical in the visual band. Back in the 70s we figured out an equation for distinguishing between different crops and between healthy and unhealthy crops that allowed us to predict grain yields accurately in the Soviet Union years in advance. We'd then use grain imports as a bargaining chip because we knew what they would need before they did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalized_Difference_Vegetation_Index
 
Vortex makes great scopes. They have various models for in all price ranges. They have the best warranty in the business. It's transferable without the need for paper work and you don't even have to be the original owner. They back their scopes better than anyone out there. Their HD models have optical quality on par with high end European glass. The first focal plane is nice too. You don't have to worry about power settings I order to range unlike 2nd focal plane units.

Thanks for the info one EOtech. I had one for like ten minutes then returned it. My eyes didn't agree with the reticle. It was very "sparkly" to my eyes. Battery life sucks too. The Aimpoint pro is another solid value. The price point is good for what you get. Aimpoint has the best battery life and circuit boards in the business.
 
gurkha berserka said:
Thanks for the info one EOtech. I had one for like ten minutes then returned it. My eyes didn't agree with the reticle. It was very "sparkly" to my eyes. Battery life sucks too. The Aimpoint pro is another solid value. The price point is good for what you get. Aimpoint has the best battery life and circuit boards in the business.
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Here's a link to a story with pertinent details: http://soldiersystems.net/2015/11/25/the-details-united-states-of-america-v-l-3-communications-eotech-inc-l-3-communications-corporation-and-paul-mangano/.

I'm thinking of buying one of these: http://www.averageguysolutions.com/products.html. They say they are really fast sights but still accurate, and they say the coating prevents glare problems. Worst case scenario: I don't like it and I put the original post back on my AR, and I'm out a little money.
 
Yeah, I didn't like the 65 moa circle, too busy for me.

I used to wish they would make a 1MOA dot, when I used to want to own an Eotech.

Saw the US Gov vs L3 (Eotech) article about temperatures above a certain degree affecting zero. Yikes! I think read something about a fire destroying someone's house and the only that survived and still worked was an AIMPOINT.

Here it is. http://www.recoilweb.com/aimpoint-pro-survives-a-damned-house-fire-65175.html
 
Scara said:
Here's a link to a story with pertinent details: http://soldiersystems.net/2015/11/25/the-details-united-states-of-america-v-l-3-communications-eotech-inc-l-3-communications-corporation-and-paul-mangano/.

I'm thinking of buying one of these: http://www.averageguysolutions.com/products.html. They say they are really fast sights but still accurate, and they say the coating prevents glare problems. Worst case scenario: I don't like it and I put the original post back on my AR, and I'm out a little money.
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That is an interesting front sight post. Looks to be pin point accurate. I prefer the square type post, mainly because I am a handgun shooter. Square notches allow me to really focus on the front sight while putting the blurry target in the center. I use my square post rifle sights to range. The AK's front sight width is a soldier's shoulder width @100 yards... If he is half the width of the sight then I know he is 200 yards out... so on and so on. The pin point front sight will give you pin point accuracy if you stay focused on it.
 
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