This has been in the works since December and I’m finally finished (for now at least). The upper just came in today from Daniel Defense. I ordered it through Smartgunner and it’s been a good while in the making. I haven’t been able to shoot it yet, and probably won’t be able to for a couple of weeks unfortunately. Anyway comments and constructive criticisms are welcome.
ETA: This rifle is intended for general use/SHTF/HD/fun at the range. I thought I had pointed this out when I originally made this thread, but apparently I neglected to do so.
Upper
DD flat top upper receiver
DD 16" CHF, chrome lined, light-weight barrel with midlength gas system and 1:7 rifling
DD pinned low profile gas block
Troy TRX Extreme 13" Battlerail
BattleComp 2.0
DD FA BCG
Magpul 2nd Gen BUS
BCM Mod 3 (Large) charging handle
Noveske TRX QD sling mount
Lower
Spikes Tactical stripped lower
Geissele SD-C trigger (thanks Trident)
BAD ASS-ST safety (thanks Duffy)
Vltor A5 kit with Emod stock body (thanks Robb Jensen)
Magpul Miad grip
Magpul MOE trigger guard
Noveske QD end plate
Tactical Link Battery Assist Lever (BAL)
Remaining lower parts from G&R Tactical with a couple of random parts from a local shop
Finishing Touches
Aimpoint M4s with LaRue mount
Surefire M600C Scout light
Ares Armor Huskey Amentum slider sling
Thanks man. I’ll be at work all day tomorrow, but Friday I might try to get some better pics outside in the sunlight. I’ll also use a higher resolution setting on my camera and just let the website shrink them down to size. I think they’ll turn out clearer that way.
Outstanding work pal, let me first say that you did as much if not more research for a build than Ive ever seen. You were extremely methodical about your approach…you combine that with the most top shelf pieces of kit currently made today for the AR platform, and you should and did wind up with a world beating rifle:cool:
I cannot wait to hear how it shoots in the future and get your individual opinion on some of the individual parts that make up that beautiful blaster.
Congrats, you deserve to own and shoot that awesome rifle!
eta…we need the weight w. a full pmag preferably. It looks LW.
Thanks Alex. I can’t wait to shoot it. Unfortunately I don’t know how long it’ll be before I get the chance. It definitely won’t be tomorrow so it’ll be too long.
I’ll get that weight as soon as I can. With an empty Pmag it weighs in at 6.8 lbs according to my bathroom scale.
Thanks RPD03. Now I want to get some rounds through it to ensure reliability and maybe I can weasel my way into a carbine class some time later this year.
By the way Alex, now that it’s all together and I’ve finally got to play with that SD-C trigger some I must say I’m very impressed with it so far. The wall at the 2nd stage is unmistakeable, and it’s a very crisp clean break from that point. Granted, I don’t have much experience to compare it with other triggers (I really don’t remember what the trigger felt like in the BM I used to have), but it feels really good to my untrained finger. I think pairing that trigger with the 45° BAD ASS ST safety lever is a winning combination. It’s also very smooth and easy to manipulate with nice positive clicks in the safe and fire positions.
Thanks everyone for looking and for leaving comments.
LowSpeed_HighDrag, the 45° safety is awesome. IMO everyone needs one.
PrairieDog I had a look at your pics and that is a very nice looking rifle. There are quite a few similarities there. I was waffling between DD and BCM and I ultimately went with DD because of the deal SmartGunner was doing. Granted, it took quite a while to get it, but I don’t regret the decision at all.
With regard to the rifle’s weight, I went with a lightweight profile barrel and the TRX extreme battlerail to shave a few ounces, but I pretty much made up for it on the back end with the Vltor Emod stock. I know there are lighter stocks out there, but I decided to give the Emod a shot. I had a Vltor modstock on the BM I used to have and liked it (not that I shot the rifle alot). It will also gain some weight when my Scout light arrives and when I put an Aimpoint on it. My astigmatism plays havoc with the larger 4 MOA dots, so a Micro is out of the question. Whichever Aimpoint I go with will be a full-sized model with a 2 MOA dot. If anyone from Aimpoint ever reads this, I know I’m not the only one who would appreciate a Micro model with a 2 MOA dot.
Alex, by BAC if you mean the BattleComp then the answer to your question is yes. However, I have to tell on myself now. The installation of the brake by me is the only part of the rifle I’m not fully confident in. It was pretty tricky getting it timed properly using the shim kit with what I feel is an adequate amount of torque on it (even with the Rocksett). Now I know why it’s recommended for professional installation. In the interest of safety I’ll take it by my local shop in the next few days (before I shoot it) and have them remove and re-install the brake to make sure it’s installed properly. IMO the $20 or so they’ll charge me is a small price to pay for the peace of mind to know it’s done right.
You hit the nail on the head too about going to certain members for greater insight and more detailed info/opinions/experiences with certain components. Once again I’d like to give a big public thanks to you and Duffy for your help with information regarding the SD-C trigger and BAD ASS-ST. I also kept up with all the threads on the Vltor A5 and exchanged a few posts in one of them with Robb Jensen and that’s what steered me in that direction. When I made the determination that this rifle would be a build project rather than buying a complete rifle I decided that I would do some more research, take a little longer, spend a little more money and buy the better components to begin with and be done with it. Funny thing is, with regard to the saying ‘buy once, cry once’, now that I have the rifle in my hands I don’t see anything to cry about.
Yeah I’m starting to figure out the same thing about lighting. Not being a photographer I don’t have the diffuse lighting setups they would use and it seems most indoor lighting just produces crappy pics. The colors don’t turn out very well due to the unnatural color temp of most indoor lighting. That leaves me with hauling the subject of my pics out into the sunlight and the results are much better that way.
It also helped taking my pics at a higher resolution this time. I was using the lowest resolution my camera had the first time because they’re faster to upload, but when I saw them full-sized they looked a little fuzzy.
With regard to my rifle, I’ve been examining my installation of the BC a little more and I’m becoming more and more confident in it. I think I’ll go put some rounds through it as-is, but I’ll keep a close eye on it just in case. It seems like the Rocksett set up pretty well and is now rock solid (no pun intended). I really don’t think it’s going anywhere. I’m not worried about a bullet striking it as it exits the muzzle because it doesn’t have any play in it as it threads onto the barrel. I’ll just watch very closely to make sure it doesn’t start to back off or anything.
Great, great build, excellent choices in your components! I also used the DD 16" CHF, LW midlength upper in my recent build and it’s perfect for a light weight carbine.
