Its done, it took about 5 hours and three different mill tools to get what i wanted. I made passes in moderation, for fear of going to far, as there was no real good way to measure the height of the spigot coming out of the front site base. I started with a 5/8" ball just to releive the corners on the bottom of the handguard. Then i chucked up a 7/16" ball… and just wasted time.
Anyways, I finally chucked a 1/2" end cutter and plowed the sides and bottom (top). I ran the cuts back about 4 1/2" from the front of the rail, which gives the mechanism about 1 1/4 to operate. The height of the spigot off of the barrel is somewhere between .560 & .600 . The width of the spigot is .479 .I took about .60 out of the top, and about .45 out of each side, its a troy ind. rail by the way. All dimensions are in thousandths of an inch.
I also made a bushing that slides on the op-rod, I believe it to be a better spring backer than the teeth on the barrel nut. So I ground off a couple teeth and made a bushing that goes between the spring and receiver to back the spring. say what you will, but its more positive than the original alternative.
I can still torque and remove the barrel with two teeth missing. the only thing hurt is the cosmetics of something never seen, im fine with that.
Ill be honest i was more worried about the job than taking pics, they could be a little more in depth but I wanted to get it done. Heres a few shitty photos.
Yes its the ares defense system, the only drop-in system that i know of.
I talked to denny @ dennys’ guns, he said ares more than likely will not come out with a proprietary gas block because of all the others that are out there.
ares will offer a monolithic, four rail handguard, eventually. I was told possibly 6 to 8 months. I can only imagine how much it will be, probably as much as the system itself.
“When the time comes, will you defend your second amendment rights?”
Just got back from the range. I need to take another .010 out of the top of the rail. The piston just barely, i mean barely scratched the rail. I also need an “H” buffer. I used the stock buffer, I think its trying to cycle too fast and not storing enough energy or force in the spring. I tried 1 round at a time to see if the bolt would stay back. the bottum of the bolt carrier would hook on the bolt catch, not the bolt face itself. I am going to try different ammo also. After I found out that the piston was dragging in the handguard ever so slightly, I left it off to finish shooting, that didnt fix the cycling issue. It did cycle good a couple times, just not all the time. Denny @ global told me to try the other buffer, so thats my next plan of attack. Ill report back soon.
p.s. there is a couple demensions in my original post that need altered, the line that says, “.60 out of the top and about .45 out of each side”. that should say, .060 out of the top and .045 out of each side :o OOOPs!
Today I went to the range (for the fourth time this week) and it runs awsome. Yesterday I took another .015 out of the top of the rail. I also took some weight out of my buffer to see if that would better or worsen the cycling issue. It did nothing, so I tried cutting a loop at a time off of the recoil spring until it cycled correctly, it worked, thanx to denny at global tact. for that idea. I did a bunch of one round tests and it locked back on the bolt face (like its supposed to). So right away I loaded a 30 round mag full to see if it would strip the first round, and it did, no problem.
I went ahead and shot out the rest of my 100 round bag without any issues whatsoever. Im very happy with it. the gasses vent under the handguard, with no heat transfer to your hand. right after shooting I opened the gun up and was very happy not to see any s**t in my reciever, and the bolt was cold. Im very pleased.
I wish I had a job doing this stuff, I would be able to die happy.
Ok, I recently talked to grant about cutting the buffer spring down so the gun would cycle correctly. He told me I shouldnt have to do that and advised me to check for gas leaks. HAHAHA, sure enough I found one. MAN! do I feel like a jackass. Basically I bought an after-market barrel a couple years ago that was junk and didnt know it until I inspected the gas port in the front sight base. :eek:
So all that shshshtuff I did with the spring and the buffer weights… Anyway, I put my old barrel back on, the gas holes lined up (the spigot and the barrel) and the gas port didnt leak around the spigot tube of the ares kit
(because the gas port hole in the f.s.b. is actully the right size). Some companies shouldnt be allowed to make gun parts. Especially ones who have made them so long they think its ok to cut corners and be sloppy after all this time.
Please, no criticism I already feel like a dumbass.
I bought a new spring and some role pins and went to the range. without gas leaks, I have a full buffer spring and the gun works great.
I guess I learned that you can cut an 1 1/2" off your buffer spring and the gun will work just fine for a couple hundred rounds. So the experience didnt come without some education.
BTW- None of these issues had anything to do with the ares kit, it was the junk ass f.s.b.
Recall,
I finally get it running good and theres going to be a recall on some of the parts. Thats cool I guess, at least ares is addressing the issues.
I know everyone is just dieing to hear me post and reply to myself another 20 times , so I will definetly be reporting back again.
Haven’t had problems with mine but it would be cool if they hard chromed the piston and inside of the spigot. This is the ONLY gas system I’ve ever used that says to apply oil to it (albeit just a drop or two). If it was chromed properly there would be less friction and more lubricity without the need to add oil.
+1 on the chrome. I dont think L&W have chrome parts, do they?
Though I did read something about them putting a different teflon finish in or on something, I dont remember what it was. For like $30.00 your can send your old rifle in for this application.
That really has no bareing on this conversation. I just thought I’d share.
If by L&W you mean Leitner-Wise then yes, they use a black Teflon-type finish on their gas system parts (I have one). I’m going to try and find the guy on ARFCOM who sent his Ares piston and spigot off to be hard chromed. This was several weeks ago so I’d imagine he either has them back or will shortly. Obviously, tolerances were the first thing that popped into my mind, but we’ll see. If he was successful I may wait until the “recall” and upgrade and THEN perhaps get my own done.
So right away I loaded a 30 round mag full to see if it would strip the first round, and it did, no problem.