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Posted: 6/10/2008 6:17:26 AM EDT
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I discovered ARFCOM back in the fall of last year, after talking to a friend about adding an AR to my collection. After being an active reader for a month or two, I decided to take the plunge and buy a stripped DPMS lower. Six months of ARFCOM surfing, reseller website memorizing, excel number crunching, numerous config changes, and and many restless nights later... she's finally done! *LOWER* DPMS Lower DPMS LPK DPMS A2 Stock w/ Metal Trapdoor *UPPER* WOA Flaptop Receiver w/ M4 WOA 18" 1:7 SPR Barrel (rifle length gas) WOA BCG (semi / shrouded pin) YHM Rifle Length Customizable Free Float Tube w/ YHM Sling Swivel YHM Specter Gas Block YHM Phantom 5C2 Flash Hider Rock Mount Bench Rest Bipod Guide Gear High (1") Base Extension Rings Pine Ridge 2.5-7x32mm Scope (temporarily borrowed from turkey gun... budget crunch) *AMMO* Winchester Brass CCI BR4 Small Rifle Primers Alliant RL-15 Powder Hornady 68gr BTHP *CRAPPY PIX* http://appst2.dyndns.org/albums/AR15/1.jpg http://appst2.dyndns.org/albums/AR15/2.jpg http://appst2.dyndns.org/albums/AR15/3.jpg http://appst2.dyndns.org/albums/AR15/4.jpg *AAR* First trip to the range with 40 handloads resulted in 0 malfunctions of any kind. Cleaned after every 10 rounds, with light patch of CLP, followed by 3 or 4 dry patches. Gun fed, fired, and ejected smoothly. Brass piled neatly, with only a light mark in the wall from deflector... shouldn't be any problem for reloads. Once the scope was dialed in, I was shooting 1 to 1.5MOA at 100 yards. The rifle I'm sure will do much better once I get my handloads dialed in, and upgrade the scope and/or trigger. *BRD Symptoms* Already decided the scope has to be very temporary. I'm spoiled by my better scopes on my deer files, and am struggling with the 7x and sub par lenses. While tempted to steal the Leupold 3-9x40mm of my .308 bolt gun, I can't bring myself to do it. I will have to save, beg wife, for better scope. The trigger (stock DPMS LPK) was way to harsh for me. I was getting more used to it by the end, but I decided I had to do something to improve / replace it. Upon returning from the range I stripped / cleaned the rifle, and performed the "15 min" trigger job on it. Dry firing after has made me optimistic as to the end result. Figured I'm out $4 for new springs if I don't like it. May consider J&P light springs, or a Bill Springfield trigger job for near future as well. As much as I'd love a one peice / adjustable drop in solution, I'll prob upgrade the optics first. Additionally I'm already thinking of which upper to build next :-) While this is my first ARFCOM post, I would like to thank all active members whose past posts have helped tremendously during this entire process. thank you Andy |
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appst, I'd be really curious to know how the trigger job works out. I want a lighter trigger myself, but I'm a little hesitant to go mucking around bending springs and such. It seems really simple to do and it sure beats a high dollar trigger to me. That's a nice looking rifle. Good job. |
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RatShooter... I'll be sure to post after my next trip and let you know how the trigger works out. Lil confession, upon returning from the first trip, and doing the 15 min trigger job... I discovered the hammer spring was installed backwards! While I kicked myself a lil for doing something so careless, it didnt cause any problems. Further googling on the subject (cause now i was curious) revealed a few things. 1) it is a common noob mistake, ans 2) the spring excerpts less tension as it actually forced to "unwind" instead of "wind". I even found a few posts that stated some people intentionally reverse the spring for a lighter pull. My case however, was not intentional. Therefore... I would assume, that my trigger wouldve been tougher yet had I actually not screwed up, and installed the hammer spring properly. I did try an experiment, where I kept the spring backwards, clipped a leg (as per the 15 min fix instructions) and then tried the trigger. It was extremely light. So light that I loaded a primer into an empty case and fired it to see if it would have enough hammer force to ignite. It did. But I'm guessing any military surplus would not have due to harder primers. So... I flipped the spring around correctly, with the one leg (due to the "15 min" fix), and it all seems good. Lighter trigger, sufficient hammer force. Again, the next trip to the range will tell. I also put some moly grease on the sear engagement surfaces. Common problems posted with the "15 min" fix seem to be 1) walking pins 2) weak primer strikes or 3) possible over use of the buffing compound, weakening parts. I doubt I'll ever fire more then 50 to 100 rounds at a range session, 20 being more common. I do not rapid fire, I handload all my ammo, and I clean the all my weapons after each use. So I will pay extra close attention to the trigger and hammer, and function test between each and every session. Therefore it seemed like a fairly cheap/safe thing to try. Your mileage may vary. I am certainly not recommending anyone go messing with any fire control components. Just confessing a noob mistake during assembly, and things I've discovered because of it. |
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