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.