Essential Upgrades For An AR-15/M-4

[JustinR]

I recently acquired a Bushmaster M4 XM-15 Homeland Defender model. It was new in box and completely stock. I was going to leave it this way until I decided to jump into the hype of a custom AR and started upgrading.

The first addition was a Knights Armament quad rail handguard. The second addition was a chrome match grade bolt and carrier, and a titanium firing pin. Hopefully next will be a back up iron site in preparation for an Aimpoint.

I was wondering if you guys had a list or requirements for upgrading an AR/M4. Any ideas would be appreciated, and I'd love to hear about any upgrades or add ons you've done, and try to include pictures!

 

[LouisianaCarry]

Stag-15 Model 2T Pre-Ban

MSRP $1125.00

Stock specifications:
Caliber...5.56 Nato Chamber
Upper.....Forged and Mil Spec.
Sights.....A.R.M.S. #40L/Front Post
Barrel.....16" Chrome Lined 1/9 Twist
Selector...Standard
Magazine...30 Round
Stock......6 Position Collapsible
Handguard...Samson MRFS-C Rail

Modifications / Accessories:
[$332.50] Brownell's Chrome Silicon Mags (7) 20 rd; (12) 30 rd
[$28.00] Fab Defense Tactical Ergonomic Rear Grip
[$36.00] (2) Fab Defense Universal Dual Mag Clips
[$64.00] TacForce soft case w/ storage compartment
[$32.00] Field Repair Kit
[$44.95] GG&G Quick Detach Sling Thing For Dovetails
[$76.95] GG&G Accucam Quick Detach Locking Lever System for the EOTech
[$38.00] 6) CR123 & 4) AA lithium batteries (stored in handles & stock saddle)
[$12.00] Badger Ordnance Gen II Tactical Latch (for charging handle)
[$70.00] Warne Maxima QD High Steel Scope Rings
[$123.00] BSA Sweet .223 8-16x40 Rifle Scope (just for fun)
[$39.95] RITTERCLASSIC™ RCG700 Series 20mm padded Guitar Bag
[$190.00] Samson Folding Front Sight - Barrel Mount
[$75.00] GG&G Offset Tactical Flashlight Mount
[$34.00] Wilderness Tactical Sling
[$29.95] CMMG Tactical Safety
[$34.00] CMMG AR Pin Kit
[$18.00] CAA Vertical Foregrip
[$34.95] DPMS Multi Tool
[$34.95] AR Survival Kit
[$24.95] Bolt Rehab Kit


Current items that will be replaced with the higher-grade items:
[$79.00] Surefire G2Z CombatLight
[$435.00] EOTech HWS Weapon Sight Model 512.A65
[$18.00] CAA Stock Saddle
[$25.00] 120 Lumen Lamp/Reflector
[$45.00] Vortex Flash Suppressor
[$39.95] UTG Picatinny Swivel Mount Bipod





[$29.00] FM37 Beamcover

This link has more things I am getting ASAP.


Images of current mods (clickable):







































​

 

[WhiteRabbit22]

I like the guitar-style rifle case. that's a really good idea. I built one a few months ago, still waiting on an Aimpoint or EOTech though.

Stag lower
Delton 16' crhomelined upper
delton LPK
VLTOR CAV-EL handguards
MI flip up rear sight (not pictured)
CAA vertical grip
Magpul CTR 6-pos stock
Hogue grip
No name flashlight, bright as hell though
3-point sling turned into a 2 point using MI sling mounts.
plenty of Magpul 30 rounders
and a MadDog rifle case
and I recently added a Harris bipod clone

And the Remmy 870 is my close range zombie killer.

ETA: It cost a pretty penny, but much cheaper than buying outright. try to decide what YOU need in a rifle, and go with that.

 

[Nomad.2nd]

An AK:

Red dot, Back up iron sites, Light, Sling.

Maby a Reddi mag.


A Training class.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

AR Mods

Before Moding anything sight down with your hones hat on and think about what you will be using your rifle for. If you need a hobby and want to spend a great deal of money on widgets then do so. If you need a rifle for duty carry, serious shooting, or Property defense then you don't need to hang a bunch of useless widgets on your gat. Here is a quick list of Vanilla Gorilla approved rifle widgets and why I like them. I have pretty much used this stuff on all my rifles. Even when I had access to the full SOPMOD Box of Giggles:

Sully Stock From Defensive edge-$80(approx.) I like fixed stocks for all sorts of Neanderthal reasons. This one is a good length for use with or without Armor.

EO Tech/Aimpoint-$325-$400 I like EO Techs. I would get the one that uses AA Batteries and I would sweat NVG compatibility unless I had a .gov/.mil addy.

Vertical Fore-Grip-$35 I like'em I run mine pretty far out on the hand guard I would get a cheap one without magic compartments

V-Tac Sling-$35 I like the veratility and ease of use of this sling. A single point sling is also a good option. 3 point slings are ass.

V-Tac Light Mount-$25 I holds any 1" light and its cheap. Exspensive light mounts I still dont understand.

Surefire G2-$35 I have a G2 that has weathered 3 deployments to war zones and 10s of thousands of training rounds. I have never said to myself "damn this light ain't bright enuff!" Don't waste money on a shock isolated bezel.

Flip-up Front Sight-$100(approx.) I use the ones from Troy. To be honest I don't even remember why, maybe I liked the horsey on their logo, and I probably got a free t-shirt.


Here are somethings I would be wary about spending money on:


Expensive Free Float Rail Systems: Why? Do you need all the rail space? When I was .mil I hung a PEQ/2 and some other extra stuff of my rails. Now I only hang a light and a VFG. I need about 4.5" of total rail space. Lights and grips don't need to hold zero so I attach them with pieces of rail that I screw thru my handgaurds. Not sexy but it works.

Big Ass Lights: How far away are you planning to engage targets? The blinding effect of the tactical light has been pretty much discredited as a myth

Gas Blocks and Filp-up Front Sights: Why? Do you plan on adding a can to your gun? If not these widgets are purely cosmetic.

Tac Latches, Big Ass Safety Levers, and extended anything: All this garbage is something else to snag, break, or fail. Every day thousands of men go into harms way and kill the enemies of this county without XXXX's latest big ass safety lever.

Muzzle Brakes: It's 5.56mm! Sally if you can't handle the recoil and muzzle rise find a man to protect you.

2-Stage Triggers: Unlees you are building a SPR or Varmint Gun you don't need one.

Chrome Barrels: Unsless you are building a full auto gun you doin't need it.

Chrome Bolts: See above

Magic Metal Firing Pins: My primers never ask my firing pin what its Rockwell Hardness Score is.

Match Grade Anything: I my time spent around guns and in gunfights I habve come to believe anything with Match Grade in the name should be kept in guns intended for matches and as far away from fighting guns as possible.

Government Profile M4 Barrels: Do you have a grenade launcher top attach to your rifle? You do know thats what those lumps on your barrel are for? Right?

There is my 2 cents worth. Guns are tools. Match the tool to the job you intend for it.

 

[topgunz1]

Red dot, Back up iron sites, Light, Sling.

Maby a Reddi mag.


A Training class.

sounds good to me, except I'm not a redi-mag fan, it adds a pound to the rifle and the effect can be had just as easily with that new invention called pockets.

Edit: great post by Vanilla Gorilla! I'm pretty much in agreement, except I went with cheap quad rails, my gun came with a 2 stage trigger (RRA), I'm a light whore so I just got a bigger flashlight for giggles, its barely bigger than a G2 and wasnt much more expensive though, and my front grip was cheap but it has magic compartments, but its been rock solid through a good bit of use. Oh, and I got a gov't profile barrel because heavy barrels are retarded and I think lightweigts look too skinny.

My rifle is a duty carry as an LEO in a mixed urban/rural environment.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

And I forgot to add make sure your gas key is staked.

 

[JustinR]

The first addition was a Knights Armament quad rail handguard. The second addition was a chrome match grade bolt and carrier, and a titanium firing pin. Hopefully next will be a back up iron site in preparation for an Aimpoint.

One thing that I didn't address here is that I have a friend in the service who provided me the Knights rail and a vertical grip for $75 and the match grade bolt and carrier were actually FOUND in a range bag that I bought from Pawn Smart in Lafayette for $10. They never even checked inside the bag when it came in on trade, and I benefited. I priced it at Brownells, and I got approximately $380 for free after you consider I only paid $10 for the bag, not knowing it had contents.

That being said, I'm way way WAY behind the curve on what most folks spend on their AR's. After reading your posts and the posts on another forum in the same style thread, I've come to the decision that I know what I need and I've made a list. Looks something like this....

-Knights Armament Quad Rail (got it)
-Knights Armament Vertical Grip (got it)
-ERGO Grip (got it)
-ProMag one point sling adapter (got it)
-Back up Iron Sight (still pricing these out...probably going to come from the same source as the rail)
-V-Tac light mount
-SureFire G2
-Command Arms Single Point Sling (got it)
-Aimpoint M3 2MOA
-Trijicon tritium replacement front sight post

and thanks for the very informative post VG!

 

[rockmup]

VG, great post. I could not agree more.


Kill's me all the gay useless crap people insist on adding to their weapon. LOL

 

[WhiteRabbit22]

I agree with much of what Vanilla said, however, I have a few things I disagree with.

free float rails do help if you are seriously concerned with accuracy. i got mine just because I like the look of the VLTOR better. I can't stand the stock M4 handguards.

with the chrome lined barrel, it depends on how much you shoot. if it's going to be a safe queen, don't get it, but if it's going to be shot once a week, it will prolong the life of your barrel.

 

[topgunz1]

I've been considering getting the rail attachment for the X26 Taser... lol

 

[Vermiform]

Forgot the flamethrower attachment.

 

[LouisianaCarry]

 

[Vermiform]

And hard to believe that under all that gear, that is a Ruger 10/22.

 

[BR 870]

My poor AR is lonely... It doesn't have any widgets and do-dads to play with, unless you consider a detachable carry handle and two point sling widgets. It might get an EOTech oneday, if it acts nice and does all its homework. Maybe a UFIR and VFG if its really good... Maybe... All the rest is way overkill, and just silly...

 

[Richard in LA]

And hard to believe that under all that gear, that is a Ruger 10/22.

im hoping your not serious, as sarcasm is hard to dectect over the 'net

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I agree with much of what Vanilla said, however, I have a few things I disagree with.

free float rails do help if you are seriously concerned with accuracy. i got mine just because I like the look of the VLTOR better. I can't stand the stock M4 handguards.

with the chrome lined barrel, it depends on how much you shoot. if it's going to be a safe queen, don't get it, but if it's going to be shot once a week, it will prolong the life of your barrel.

The Army Marksmanship Unit uses M16 service rifles without free float handguards in Service Rifle Competition. To me that says it all about accuracy gained by free floating your handguard. You said it man you like the look, hell its your rifle you do what you like. The projectile your putting down range from your 16" Barreled Carbine is effective/accurate to about 350-400 Meters when your firing from non-supported positions i.e. standing, seated, kneeling, or prone you can knock 50-100 Meters off that for accuracy against man size targets. Any benefit gained from free-floated handguards inside this envelope will be negligible. When I was on Active Duty we had a platform called an SPR that was used for percision interdiction. It was very accurate out to about 600 Meters and it's accuracy was greatly enhanced by the harmonics of it's PRI Free-Float tube. The SPR is a whole diffrent animal though because it uses a 20" Barrel, Special Bullets, and other special equipment for a special purpose. The same is not true for a carbine.
As for your point about Chrome Lined Barrels, again its your rifle and your dime, but, real world factual data doesn't support your claim that they are better if you shoot more. First of the 5.56mm NATO Rifle Round has never been known as a barrel wrecker the way say .338 Lapua is. The actual Mil-Specs for both the M16 and M4 series of rifles call for Chrome Lined Bores but do not state a need for Chrome Lined Barrels. The estimated Barrel life (I called a reputable manufacturer of Rifle Barrels and asked) of a rifle chambered in 5.56mm shooting SAAMI spec ammo is over 200K rounds (this was an educated guess on the guys part because he hasn't heard of anybody replacing a shot out one). I asked him how many more bullets you could put through a Chrome Lined Barrel he said it would be about the same. I would recommend chrome lining for anybody building a Class III gun because it eases cleaning however it will not be anymore durable.

 

[Request Dust Off]

VG - make total sense to me.
I have seen several post in other forums stating the free float was an advantage when using a bipod. The bipod stress is on the tube not the barrel. Other than that no worthy advantage.

Thanks for the info.

 

[WhiteRabbit22]

I would say if you're building a Recce rifle (recon) that it would be advantageous. since you are makeing longer range shots, from a 16' barrel, especially if you have midlength handguards over a carbine low profile gasblock using a bipod. Recce's and SPR's are in their own category though, so I agree with you about the FF handguards.