What I’ve learned while on WEVO

[AR-10]

How about a thread for new guys outlining mistakes made and lessons learned. I’ll start:


- Pinned muzzle devices can be a major PITA.

Reason: If you ever need to remove your gas block, you’re screwed. Trust me, you might think you will never be taking that front sight base off, but once you realize you need a longer handguard, you’ll be kicking yourself in the ass for pinning that flash hider to your barrel.


- 16” barrels are the way to go

Reason: Other than the obvious minimum legal barrel length, you get higher velocities and no pinned muzzle device (unless you’re in a state that requires it regardless). 16" is nice and compact, yet can still reach out to medium ranges if needed.


- M4 profiles are pretty useless

Reason: Should be obvious, unless you own a grenade launcher, most shooters will benefit more from a lightweight barrel. I’ll never buy another one, unless I build another M4 clone.


- Fixed front sights get in your way

Reason: I prefer to have my red dot at absolute co-witness height. If you like absolute co-witness, and you have a fixed front sight, guess what you'll be seeing when you look through your optic? I've heard shooters say they run this setup and it's not a big deal to them. It was a big deal to me, big enough to make me take my upper apart and send it out to have the front sight chopped. In my opinion, fixed front sights suck unless you plan on running irons only.


- 7” of handguard isn’t enough

Reason: Once you start slapping accessories on, there just isn’t a lot of room left for your hand. I won’t be building anything with a handguard smaller than 9” from now on, maybe even 10".


Of course these are all MY opinions, some will disagree and that’s fine. The point of this thread is to make new guys THINK THEIR BUILDS THROUGH!!! Make sure you do your research before buying and you will avoid making costly mistakes.

Feel free to add anything that might be helpful to anyone new to AR's.

[Paulo_Santos]

Great post.

[Wondering Beard]

Excellent post

Of course, I'll disagree with you, just because

My lesson learned: don't fret so much about the small things (length of rails, exact weight, coatings and on and on), just get a reliablle quality carbine made to the proper specs, a good light, good sights and just go shoot.

[Optimus Prime]

My YHM flip-up front sight/gas block clamps on, so if I had a pinned device, I'd still be good. :p

Seriously though, you're pretty much right.

I still want a 10.5" for the cool factor however.

[sdoperator]

How about a thread for new guys outlining mistakes made and lessons learned. I’ll start:
- Pinned muzzle devices can be a major PITA.

CAN being the operative word here. Bolt on gas blocks were invented specifically for this purpose.
If the other things in your list are factored in, having a 14.5" barrel with a pinned flash hider isn't an issue.
For instance, having a 10" rail means no front sight post; fixed sights aren't in your way by default. In this configuration you'll need a low profile gas block - might as well be a bolt on one. Buy the flash hider you want to begin with and there's no problem.

The velocity argument for 16" vs 14.5" can be used for 7", 10", 10.5", 11.5", 14.5", 16", 18", 20" so I find it funny that there's so much talk of this. M4's have worked pretty well at 14.5" for a while now, so if velocity is really important to you, why stop at 16"? To the point: the only reasonable difference between a 14.5" and a 16" is their configuration in reference to their legality; one flash hider forever.

That said, I think a 16" barrel is the way to go for most people.

Nice post. I stopped lurking today because of it.

[oregonshooter]

How about a thread for new guys outlining mistakes made and lessons learned.

KISS - The more I run my carbine the less crap I put on it.

- 7" rail and VTAC flashlight holder and 6P (w/ Malkoff insert) light ... less LADs, light, tough
- Standard single stage trigger is just fine with a 15 minutes trigger job or JP sear spring & factory hammer... fires wolf all day long
- Aimpoint T1 is the perfect carbine optic ... fast, light, tough and will make hits out to 400 yards (it's a carbine, remember?)
- Leave all your crap off the gun and you won't need a pencil profile barrel. :)
- SOPMOD ... balances rifle, awesome cheek weld, tough as nails, get one!
- Carbon bolt cleaners are a scam, don't waste your money
- MAID grips with bolt & FP inserts rock! - You can stick a Brownell broken case extractor in their also.
- Buy once, cry once ... Laure for all optic mounts
- Grease once & 1 drop of oil every 1K rounds
- VTAC 2pt adjustable slings are the best bank for the buck.
- Magpul 30rnd mags, there is no substitute!
- Bravo Company USA, LMT, Spikes Tactical = GTG

[Aragorn]

So far, "lessons learned" appear much closer to "opinions formed".

[AR-10]

Agreed, these are all opinions that I formed after my last build.

I am not knocking other barrel lengths, this was more catered towards anyone who might be interested in buying or building their first AR and are trying to decide between a 14.5" and a 16" barrel.

To me, 14.5" just doesn't make sense anymore unless you're going to SBR it.

[oregonshooter]

The difference is that those opinions came about by learning the lesson by using other methods/gear before hand. Opinions derived from negative experiences would be "lessons learned" in my book.

Aragorn,
What did you learn?

[Aragorn]

The difference is that those opinions came about by learning the lesson by using other methods/gear before hand. Opinions derived from negative experiences would be "lessons learned" in my book.

Aragorn,
What did you learn?

I've learned that there is no absolute best in almost any area in terms of builds. What works for one person does not work for everyone else. Rail lengths, buffer weights, barrel profiles, and everything in between and beyond is subjective to the operator and what he/she is attempting to achieve. It can be preferential and mission specific at the same time. Say for instance you and a buddy are each rolling SBR's. You have a 12.5" BCM barrel with a 7" DD Omega Rail with a FSB, your buddy is running a 10.5" Noveske barrel with a TRX rail and folding front sight. Neither of you is wrong.

What I really like about this sight is you have access to both information that IS preferential (and you learn why certain individuals run their set ups how they do) AND more hard data such as what is more likely to make a weapon fail, run more reliably, velocity thresholds, etc. The no BS reviews give us solid information that we wouldn't be able to ascertain ourselves without actually buying the product and running it hard.

Perhaps the most important thing I've learned is that no amount of technical knowledge or theory is a substitution for actual training and practice, no matter your mission or set up.

[rob_s]

- Fixed front sights get in your way

Reason: I prefer to have my red dot at absolute co-witness height. If you like absolute co-witness, and you have a fixed front sight, guess what you'll be seeing when you look through your optic? I've heard shooters say they run this setup and it's not a big deal to them. It was a big deal to me, big enough to make me take my upper apart and send it out to have the front sight chopped. In my opinion, fixed front sights suck unless you plan on running irons only.

I'll agree with the rest of your items, but not this one. not this one in a very, very big way. This is a total non-issue if you're using your RDS correctly.

also, I'd ask how these lessons were learned. They all sound like "build" lessons to me, not range/use lessons.

[AR-10]

That is exactly what these are, lessons learned from a build that did not go exactly as planned.

I made a pretty expensive mistake because I didn't think things through, I'm just trying to prevent others from doing the same.

I bought something that I thought was "cool" instead of focusing on functionality.

I'm also not ashamed to admit that I have no idea what RDS is.

[rob_s]

Sorry, red dot sight = RDS.

What you describe with the FSB issue is common prior to actual use and proper training in the use of the RDS. When both eyes are kept open, and eye focus is downrange on the target, you will not "see" the FSB at all regardless of cowitness height.

Hold your first and second finger up vertically in front of you so that you can see both of them (booger-picker and social finger). The two of these together will be MUCH wider than the FSB. Now get a hard focus on them. That's how you use an iron sight, hard focus on the front sight. Now let your focus shift to something across the room. The two fingers will ghost out and you will be able to see everything on the opposite wall. Now drop one finger so that it's closer in width to the FSB. Even less distracting. This is how a RDS works, and why it's faster than iron sights on target identification, threat identification, and target-to-target transition.

[Paulo_Santos]

I shoot EVERYTHING with both eyes open and it is ANNOYING AS HELL for me to have a FSB in my field of fiew. Can I shoot with a fixed FSB, yes, but I don't have to so I choose not to. Iron sights are back-ups, why have them in your field of view? Sure, a fixed FSB is more durable, but I've dropped some of the plastic Back-up Sights on a hardwood floor and they did not break.

[Quib]

I shoot EVERYTHING with both eyes open and it is ANNOYING AS HELL for me to have a FSB in my field of fiew.

This is similar to my experience when I was using an EOTech with CCH BUIS and standard FSB. No matter how hard I concentrated, I could not get rid of the image of the iron sights while focusing on the target. I believe the combination of EOTech reticle, fixed BUIS and FSB and absolute co-witness, was simply too much in the FOV for me to try and sort through and process optically.

I eliminated the CCH BUIS and went with a MATECH BUIS, which helped some, but not enough. The EOTech with its absolute co-witness and reticle design in combination with the FSB still was a distracter.

The EOTech was sold and replaced with an Aimpoint mounted in a PRI mount. This combination of folding rear BUIS and single 4MOA dot mounted in a lower 1/3rd co-witness is much more agreeable with me. The FSB with this set-up is no longer an issue for me.

I believe not every optic set-up can work the same for each shooter, and some shooters, regardless of time accumulated behind those optic set-ups, will still have issues.