Bushmaster ACR Color Matching (April 21, 2014)
Trying to color match my FDE (Coyote) ACR with Duracoat. Bushmaster is backlogged on the Enhanced Rail and I picked up a black one that I want to match to the upper.
As you can see, the color Duracoat sells as ACR Handguard Brown is NOT the color of the ACR. This is a major bummer because Duracoat colors don't line up at all to what the name implies.
Blog Organizational Change
I've added a new section called New Projects.
Links to older projects are here - http://hk416d22lr.blogspot.com/2011/04/ar-friends.html
22lr coversion kit summary - http://pistol22conversion.blogspot.com/
HK416D 22LR Umarex - http://hk416d22lr.blogspot.com/p/hk416-close-ups.html
Glock 21SF Stipple (April 2014)
This was done in about 3 hours going over the factory grip areas with a soldering iron. The job is pretty simple and on a scale of 1 - 10 in difficulty this is a 5. The Glock plastic is "softer" than the Magpul plastic - it has a tendency to "melt" at a lower temperature so if you are going to do your Glock, test and go carefully. Again the trick to a great stippling project is patience and more patience. Go slow, go right!
Overall the grip was reduced about 1/8 inch. I used a Dremmel tool to polish down the factory humps by masking off the areas that I didn't want to hit. The masking is needed in case your hand jitters and you don't want to grind outside the area you want ground.
Enjoy and happy stippling!
Bushmaster ACR Stippling (March 2014)
This is my Bushmaster ACR basic handguard stipple. I originally wanted the Enhanced ACR but the damned things were out of stock for months (in FDE). The basic guard is actually about 3 - 4 inches longer and fits me much better than the shorter enhanced aluminium one (I got the aluminum one later).
Stippling added a ton of hand traction on the factory hand guard. If you have a basic ACR, this is a must do IMHO. It looks great, feels great and aids in weapon manipulation. Again, patience and more patience is needed.
Mask off your lines! Do the outline first and then fill in. It goes much faster. Doing it without masking is asking for a messy job!
Shots of my plain old Gen 3 Glock 21. It is for sale if you are on calguns (sorry no shipping).
Multicam painted M4 Carbine (June 2013)
This project was a 80% build off a Quentin Defense billet lower. It has an Ergo carbine rail. It is painted in Duracoat. The barrel is painted in high-temp Duracoat. The process took 2 days on and off and baked between coats of paint. It used a 3 layer reverse masking technique. You spray, mask and then paint over, mask, etc.... In the end, the pattern and color came out awesome!
As for the debate between "hardness" of Cerakote and Duracoat - It is all BS. Both will chip and both fill fail with time - it is just epoxy paint. I have a Cerakoted AR that has seen about 1,000 rounds and the paint on the brass deflector is pretty much beat up and gone. I have another AR that I did using Duracoat and also has 1,000 rounds through it over the past few months and it is equally beat up. Both paint types will chip and scratch. Go for the one that you like better. Duracoat is easier to work with IMHO. No flashing is needed and to do this in Cerakote would have taken a full week!
Stippling XTM panels (June 2013)
Since Magpul released the Gen 2 XTM which are pre-stippled, the only ones left doing are the old ones. This is great practice material for bigger projects like my ACR handguard and Glock 21SF.
IMHO, the Gen 2 Panels aren't nearly as grippy as the ones that I did.
Class of AR 2012 - 2014
Here is a group stack picture of my AR builds. Including my HK416D. All of my rifles include the BAD ambi levers. IMHO this is a must have upgrade if you are using your rifle and doing any type of move drills. Move - switch to safe ALWAYS. All have KNS anti rotation pins.
Pistols
A group shot of my pistols. Since this was taken, I've added a Gen 3 21SF, Gen 4 G17. Looking to get a Sig P6/P225.
Fortis Rail + BCM light weight barrel and BCM Gas Block
So this was one of my older projects using a BCM barrel and gas block on a mid-length gas system. I didn't understand why the gas block has a gap. It has a gap because it expects the forward hand guard ring to be there but when you are using a monolithic rail, that part isn't used.
The Fortis rail is one of the best! Keymod is awesome and the rail is one of my favorites. My Daniel Defense rails well, feel old school and heavy as crap. DD RIS2 is pretty awesome though and if they came out with a Keymod version - that would rock.
Forward hand guard gap more clearly seen.
300BLK 80% Build
I built this rifle with a Fortis hand guard, 80% TM forged lower and engraved with all the Magpul China Doll goodies. I found a NRA friendly engraver in San Jose and he did an awesome job. Now, I have a 300BLK China Doll AR. And the best part, I didn't spend $3,000 on the lower!
This AR has seen about 2,000 rounds through it. CMMG Nitride barrel (a must have, forget chrome lined). Tac driver to 200 yards. AAC 18T on the end also Nitride treated.
Cerakote is holding up well except at the brass deflector. If you get your rifle painted by someone else, make sure they don't bead blast the anodization off.
300BLK Magpul Lower logo shot
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