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is this the forum to ask AR15 questions?

3K views 30 replies 7 participants last post by  soundguy 
#1 ·
If so, I'm a realitive new owner. 223/556, etc.. would like any tips / pointers. I know some of the basics.. IE.. I have already started adding a few goddies to it.. puleld the delta ring back got the frotn hand guard off ( plain one ), added a lower rail, and a lower foreward grip that is also a spare mag holder.. tactical swivel for a lanyard ont he front of the rail.. etc.

any pointers?
 
#2 ·
Keep it a little wet inside. Not sopping wet but well lubed. After each range session drop 2 or 3 drops of oil down the gas key hole on the bolt. this will keep the rings lubed and ready for next session. They dont need to be detail stripped and cleaned that often maybe once every 1000 or so rounds. just a wipe down with a cleaning wipe and patch the bore clean between sessions and youre golden. I am not a big fan of accessories The spare mag holder/handgrip is a good idea. 2 birds with 1 stone, but the problem i have with accessories is they get heavy real quick. and that wonderful little quick handling light AR15 carbine quickly becomes a clunky cumbersome mall ninja weapon in short order. ;)

I prefer low profile and set up dissipator style (carbine with rifle sight radius)

Heres a shot of RRA LAR-6 6.8spc. I put a 15.5" Odin competion handguard on it. Its a 16" carbne and the gas system is completely hidden beneath the monorail. Rifle weight as pictured is 8.6 pounds.
 

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#3 ·
I agree with JLA on keeping the accessories down to save weight. I've gone from a basic AR to a "mall ninja weapon" and back to the basic AR simply because of the weight.

The only thing I've done to mine now is pull the handguard and install a single rail on the lower handguard for the light I keep on it.

My Grendel, on the other hand, has the bipod and a scope but I don't plan on packing that round too much.
 
#4 ·
the readi mag makes it very heavy, I don't use one anymore. By the time I get optic, light and IR laser on there, I don't want much else either. I do use a G money grip up front and of course sling, usually have a flip-up backup sight also.

Stuff like NM triggers, extended/oversided charging handle latch are nice no-weight additions. Magpul makes the latest and greatest 'tacticool' furniture also, I like their trigger gaurds an grips.

For certain keep some lube in there, a nice film of regular oil of your choice will keep her running slick. Even in the desert I use earl, just keep the dust cover closed.
 
#5 ·
yep.. i'm a minimalist. it has a basic handguard.. that lower rail i installed.. and that forward grip that holds a mag. other than that it has a flip up apature sight and the front blade. it's top strap has a pic rail.. but I have no plans for it. I'm not into lasers or holo sights.. and I tend to prefer iron sights it's a point and shoot weapon for tactical defense. not 500m range shooting. If I'm not in line of sight of my 'danger' there's no reason to be shooting...
 
#6 ·
i looked at those extended charge handles.. almost considered one.. but since I have no optics to get int he way of charging it.. I left itwith the small one. I figure at most.. it's got the sling. will have 4 mags.. 1wich dual clamp in the magwell, and one with dual clamp in the front grip.. i may put a tactical light on it.. but havn't endorsed that idea fully... an ar 15 is not my first choice for doint a perimeter or hallway chack at my house in case of home invasion. a bullpup style shotgun is more to my liking..l for that situation..
 
#8 ·
i looked at those extended charge handles.. almost considered one.. but since I have no optics to get int he way of charging it.. I left itwith the small one. I figure at most.. it's got the sling. will have 4 mags.. 1wich dual clamp in the magwell, and one with dual clamp in the front grip.. i may put a tactical light on it.. but havn't endorsed that idea fully... an ar 15 is not my first choice for doint a perimeter or hallway chack at my house in case of home invasion. a bullpup style shotgun is more to my liking..l for that situation..
My only comment on this is that if it MAY be used as a defensive weapon, you should seriously consider putting a light on it for nothing more than target verification in low light. If it is locked up in the safe and is not an option for a defensive weapon, then no light is okay.
 
#9 ·
+1 for a light; A surefire G2 is pretty cheap and rugged, use a Viking tactical offset light mount. With a Gmoney grip, there's no need for a pressure switch, your thumb hits the light just perfect.

So for $50, you have a very handy and quality/bright light source mounted. I think they come with 60 or 80 lumens bulbs, you can also upgrade to 120 if you need/want.
 
#10 ·
i'm just not sure if this is the gun I'd rach for for a night invasion.. I'm really thinking that my shotgun is the go to... though as chep as lights are.. it's not a bad decision anyway..

interesting mid sized latch..
 
#11 ·
Keep in mind with a shotgun its hard to shoot your way thru a hostage situation. If im armed with a lighted rifle and some burglar grabs my wife or one of my children and attempts to hide his coward ass behind them, im going to show him what a sub MOA capable shooter can do.
 
#12 ·
Keep in mind with a shotgun its hard to shoot your way thru a hostage situation. If im armed with a lighted rifle and some burglar grabs my wife or one of my children and attempts to hide his coward ass behind them, im going to show him what a sub MOA capable shooter can do.
very true.

I -usualy- have either my 38wheelgun or one of my 380 on me anyway.. the 380 i carry used to be a p3at.. but has been upgraded to a sig p238.. wg is a 38 snub... still a long gun for a sightline will be an easier shot
 
#17 ·
went out to the range for a couple hours this am with my new carbine length ar ( m4? )

about 1 out of every 3-4 shots was a missfire.. light primer hits :(

have some failures to strip rounds from mags.. most of those were on brand new mags.

seemed to do better with a few older ar mags I had for an keltec su16c.. pus put a lil spray oil in the action.. a friends sone in law was down on leave from the army, he is some sort of ordinace disposal guy ( bomb squad ).. and he stripped my gun aboyt 3 times while at the range. I'm amazed.. he did it without looking at it, while talking to me.. in abotu oh.. 30 seonds.. :)

anyway.. nothing 'looked' wrong to him.

so far we put about maybee 40 rounds fru it.. in small lots.. due to the frequent missfires.

used the following ammo types:

federal

pmc

remington

plus some steel cases wold ( tan box )

and tula, black box, also steel.

no difference on any on the way it acted.

I had my remington 700 in 223 there.. everything that would not fire in the ar fired in the bolt gun without fail.

seller dealer is MNAY cities away and it is going to be a ROYAL PITA to get this gun straightened out I fear.

their office hours are m-f 9-5

strangely enough.. I work m-s 7-5, and some days 7-11:30pm doubles.

so this proves to be an issue :(

I called them... and while they sound nice on the phone and say.. sure.. just bring it in.. it
's a bit of an issue with a multi city drive when they are open less hours than i work.. .....

not feeling the love here on a pretty spendy rifle.... not like this is new technology... these things have been around decades..


I collect old guns.. stuff made from mid 1850's thru about 1950 or so.. some later.

I find it ironic that I can go buy a '91 mosin nagant and it fires with ww2 milsup every time I pull the trigger.

Or a POS mas 49/56 and it functions flawlessly... and yet.. spending many multiples as much on a new ar platform.. and it can't even shoot.

feeling a lil disenfranchised here..... and lemony flavored.

after this experience.. i could not reccomend an AR to anybody.

the 349$ romanian ak i picked up a couple years ago, wiped the cosmo off, and started feeding it junky surplus ammo and clips made anywhere and it works perfectly is stark contrast... :(
 
#18 ·
Hmm, that sucks!

I hate having to send a gun back, sorry to hear yours is not working properly. Usually problems are a result of magazines but sounds like it feeds fine, just light strikes?

on the ones that go bang, do they have lighter than normal strikes or do they look 'normal'? Knowingt if it's all the time or intermittent, that can help diagnose what parts are off/need replaced.

Don't give up on the black rifle yet, it's no AK or M14 as far as design; they need a little extra TLC historically. But once you get them going, they don't stop!
 
#20 ·
That is an odd report for an AR, thats for sure. I dont hear many complaints like this. Hmmm. Tell us the name brand. Did you take it apart and clean and oil it prior to shooting? Something is wrong. I have never heard of a new AR not operating like that before....
 
#21 ·
I'm an ar newbie, so I'm going to say what I read on the reciept and the army guy told me. I have no way to verify it.

reciept says they use all milspec 'lowers'

the army guy says it is a M4.. same as he has back at base, with different optics and foregrip / bipod.

he knew exactly how to strip it. he had it broke apart, bolt carrier out and fire pin out in seconds.. very ipressive. I flipped thru the manual ( looks like a comic book ) and he pretty much hit every single step in the take down they listed.

fire pin does not look like tip broke.. and in fact.. manual has you using the firing pin as a tool to press other things.. etc..

on the ammo.. the ones that did not go pop, had light dimples. the ones that went pop had a good round indentation like any other centerfire I am used to. We tried ammo that was new from walmart a week ago, to some stuff I may have had 6m. again.. wolf, tan box steel case, tula, Black box, steel case.. remington, pmc, and federal, all brass.

different ages.

used a 30rnd plastic new magpul that came with ar.. plus a 5rdn stoeger? i use in a forgrip as a hideaway mag.. had a 20rnder unknown origin.. both new, steel. had some gi aluminum? 30's with the green follower. ( these cycle flawlessly in my keltec su16c/223 ). Armyguy put some 'clp' int he action, and the gun started stripping rounds fromthe mags .. oh.. 95% of the time. only had a very, very occasional failure to chamber a round. and when it failed to chamber, it wasn't a stop.. bolt went full to battery, fire pin dropped with a click on trigger pul.. when we opened the bolt.. we'd find the empty chamber.. pull charge handle.. see one go in, etc.. it was real hit or miss on if it would fire or not. didn't see any 'preference' for any mag or ammo make or age. it would misfire on all of them.. then hit on some.. :) he looked at the 'star' and the star chamber ? said fire pin protrusion looked ok.. etc..

so we were not seeing anything obvious.. and it does lok like it is going fully into battery.e tc.

i called co back... I have 2 options.

bring gun in and they can test fire it at their manufacturing facility ( a fewhour drive for me ).. or this weekend they will be at a gunshow that is an hour from me.. and I can bring it in.. but they can't test fire it there.. and they said they would 'look' at it. 'looking' don't make me feel confident I will be leaving with a gun that goes bang when I need it to. I have -0- confidence in that gun.. I'd grab a stick for self defense first....

i've been mulling over taking tomorrow off till lunch, and leave at dark thirty, and be at their store when they open in the am, and that would give me an hour for them to play with the gun, before I had to make a return trip and drive straight in to work. worst case.. if they needed to keep it over nioght and could bring it to the show on saturday, I COULD still make that show as I work at 11am on saturday, and could literally drive to the show at 9am when it opened.. walk in, get gun,a nd leave and get to work.

I just mapquested directions.. am thinking that is the best way for me to get a gun that shoots ??? looking at my work schedule.. I'll be working 6-7 days a week till the end of february... some half days.. some doubles. kicker is.. that even a half day of work almost makes it impossible for me to hit their city.. kinda sticks me.. :) that's why I'm thinking of just 'biting the bullet' so to speak and getting it over tomorrow..??
 
#23 ·
again.. on make / model.. uh? it's a gun shop that makes these. lower has a safe,fire,auto mark ont he body, of course the selectro only goes fire to safe, will not rotate to auto..etc.

yep.. gut was handed to me, NIB, said it had 3 rounds fired thru at build, and was cleaned and prelubed. ( looked 'wet' inside ) armyguy put some 'clp' on it as well when he stripped it. by the way.. when he stripped it.. all parts looked lubed. and while I don't know what I'm looking at.. all parts were 'black' nothing looked 'rubbed' shiney or anything. onlything shiney i saw was mouth of chamber past that star chamber
 
#25 ·
Chromed bore and chamber. Make and model is irrelevant. AR15 is an AR15, all the parts are interchangeable. Though some are made betetr than others.

The reason it wont go into full auto mode with selector is because it has a semi auto only trigger group in it. That lower is apparently a real milspec M4 lower.
 
#26 ·
look inside the bolt and bolt carrier for any dirt/extra grease or any other burrs or debris. Intermittent sounds like it could be dirt or some partial obstruction/restriction somewhere around the firing pin.

As for the feeding problems, that sounds like something is out of spec, can't believe it's giving you that much grief!

So there's no known brand of this thing? Any idea who built it or where it came from? It could be something that was thrown together with a bunch of random parts and does not meet correct tolerances.

Check the length just to be sure but I'm almost certain it is not the problem; good reference though:

http://www.biggerhammer.net/ar15/pins.html
 
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