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Before we discuss
the equipment we can add to our AR-15, we should first start with what type of
AR-15 we are going to equip. And by the way, this philosophy or principle of
equipping our AR-15 can work well with any of our guns, AK-47, Mini-14, bolt
gun, scatter gun or even handgun.
My primary
concern throughout the process of selecting a lethal tool such as the AR-15, is
how it will function, that is will it go bang when I need it to go bang. I can
fight with any gun, even a Berretta Storm, if it will fire reliably when it is
loaded and load reliably when I feed it. Before any other fighting
consideration, caliber, capacity, accuracy….the gun has to function
reliably.
Before I consider all the things
that may be placed on the little black rifle I will consider what configuration
of the AR-15 I should start with. Shortly after the M-16 was adopted my the
military, the civilian version we know as the AR-15 was available from Colt in
two configurations. Basically it was long and short. The "shorty" was
configured with a 16" barrel, standard upper receiver with a handle, and a
three position metal stock. The rifle version, or long configuration, had a 20"
barrel, standard upper receiver with a handle, and a fixed plastic stock with a
metal butt plate.
The hand guard on the shorty
was round, made from plastic and split down the sides. The long version was
also plastic, but triangular shape and split down the top and bottom. Both had
iron sights, which the front adjusted for elevation and the rear adjusted for
windage and also had two elevation positions. These original configurations
were referred to as the "A1", from the designation applied to the military
version of M16A1.
The upper receiver of the
original design included a handle which the rear sight was incorporated.
Originally the rear sight placement wasn't on a "handle" but the design quickly
got labeled as a handle simply because that is what it looked like. The gun was
like 5 pounds, easy to carry and certainly didn't need a handle, but that is
what it was labeled and even when first introduced, soldiers quickly adopted a
means of carrying the little peashooter by the "handle". It's something the gun
didn't need but we got stock with it!
Now we
have many configurations available including various lengths of barrels, 16",
20", 24", we can even get a 14.5" with a permanently attached muzzle device,
and if we get a class-III tax stamp, we can opt for a shorter than 16" such as
a 10.5 inch barrel.
Stock options include a
couple different length fixed stocks, collapsible stocks in several different
varieties some with 3 positions, some with 5 positions, some made from plastic,
others made of metal and I'm sure there are some made from other composite
materials.
Upper receivers are also available
in the standard A1 design with a built in handle and the most advantageous
design, the flattop upper receiver which incorporates a Picatinny
(MIL-STD-1913) rail.
Depending on the
manufactures source other items may be available as different types of grips,
hand guards including free floating, trigger guards, trigger types, gas blocks,
and even some are available in different colors! WOW…..shopping for an
AR-15 can be like shopping for a Cadillac, with all the options
available.
The configuration you select should
be based on your specific need, what type of mission do you foresee as needing
this gun for. Your need may be for defense, or competition, or for hunting, or
maybe just for general purpose. What ever it is, it needs some thought process.
Although the current trend is also somewhat controlled by availability!
My mission is defense, or actually offense.
The configuration I prefer is a 16" M4 or H-Bar chrome lined barrel threaded
for a muzzle device, a metal free floating round hand guard, clamp type gas
block, flat top upper receiver with a standard height Picatinny rail, standard
pistol grip and trigger guard lower receiver with a standard single stage
trigger, and collapsible 3 to 5 position metal stock. In addition I like having
a spare parts kit for each AR-15, which includes springs, pins, extractor and
charging handle.
With this basic starting
configuration and a little home workshop assembly I can equip the peashooter as
I feel best suits my needs, as in the type of mission I may face. Remember,
before I go on to hanging gizmo's, the configuration must feed, must go bang,
must function reliably.
These are the
attachments, the gizmo's or equipment I consider hanging off my
peashooter:
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That's it,
everything else is factory, or original design. I primarily shoot right handed,
the selector, magazine release, and bolt lock are all of original design. If
you shoot primarily left handed you will have some additional decisions about
options on the selector and magazine
release.
Magazines; The type I have found to be the most
reliable are MIL-SPEC (military design) aluminum with green followers and
coated springs. The steel magazines don't seem to be any better, but they are
heavier. There is also one plastic design magazine I have tested and found to
be at least as good and maybe superior to the aluminum, P-Mags. The P-Mags with
windows are neat, but either model works well and I endorse these magazines.
All other plastic magazines I have tested (and that's a bunch) just don't stand
up to the stress.
I prefer 30 round magazines
over 20 and 40's. I have never seen a 40 round magazine worth ten cents, they
don't work and are obnoxious to handle. I do have a couple 20 round magazines
and they have limited application, but within that application are invaluable.
The metal magazines I load down two. 18 rounds in a 20 round, and 28 rounds in
a 30 round magazine. The P-Mags I load to full capacity of 30 rounds (that's an
advantage of P-Mag).
Regardless of the type,
they must be tested and function in the gun they are assigned. I have found all
of my aluminum and P-Mags will work reliably in all the AR-15's I have and
those of others I train with. Working reliably also includes the ammunition I
feed my guns. From various ball loads, to soft point, to ballistic tip
ammunitions have been tested. What I have ended up with, is all my guns of this
type, reliably function with the magazines of my choice and the various
ammunition loads I find commonly available including Wolf (the new stuff that
is, not the older green coated). The magazines I acquire which don't feed or
seat reliably go in the trash.
Sighting Device; I favor optical sights for a couple
reasons, one is my eye sight is fading, yes like everyone else, eyes wear out
and mine are going fast. Some magnification helps in some situations and those
red lights help in others.
My best
recommendation for a sighting device, either iron sights or optical, or
both….don't go the cheap route. You don't have to be extravagant, but in
optics you pretty much get what you pay for. I have four optical sighting
devices for my AR-15.
I have three mission
setups for my AR-15:
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My primary setup
is dual purpose, 1st a high powered precision scope, 2nd a zero magnification
red dot. The scope is a Leopold M3 Long Range Mil-Dot 3.5x10 power with a 40mm
objective lens. it is mounted on the Picatinny top rail and sighted for 100
yards and preset for 200 yards. The 2nd optic is mounted on the free floating
round hand guard at about the 1:30 position. It is a red dot zero-X device
which is zeroed for 25 yards when the gun is rotated counterclockwise 45
degrees.
My peashooter when matched with
ballistic point ammunition provides sub-MOA accuracy. That is the primary
function of this configuration, it is capable of making head shots out to 300
yards with favorable conditions and if I do my job. The reason I mount a zero-X
red dot is it provides a quick acquisition sighting device if I need to go
through a door and don't have the time to reconfigure my gun for close
support.
Close support configuration includes
replacing the Leopold with a EOTech 552 holographic sight which becomes the
primary sighting device sitting on the top rail. The secondary red dot stays
put as a back-up device. The EOTech provides a zero magnification heads-up
sight display which I find extremely fast and versatile. It is also NV friendly
when matched up with a quality Gen4 Night Vision device. It is zeroed for 20
yards. It is used in this configuration for close support, inside buildings,
across parking lots, etc….as in zero to 125 yards or so, although the
sight is capable of much longer distances to achieve battle
effectiveness.
For Night Operations, the
EOTech is replaced with a Gen2 4 power night vision scope zeroed for 100 yards.
Although I have successfully addressed targets with this scope out to 300
yards, it's usefulness in my opinion is under 150
yards.
I do not have iron sights on my
peashooter. But that does mean they are not recommended. There is a solid
argument for having iron sights as well as optical sights, or iron sights only
for those who find them effective. If you want iron sights and an optical
device, there is a solid argument to have these mounted in a fashion that allow
them to co-witness, that is to work in unison.
They are mounted so you can look through the
rear sight and align the front sight, and the red dot also is aligned in the
center of the rear sight and on top of, or just covering the top tip of the
front sight post. In this configuration, the red dot stands out for quick and
easy acquisition and if the red dot fails (or more likely the operator fails to
turn it on adjust it), you are instantly aligned with your iron sights. This
setup will most likely involve one of the many available flip-up rear sights,
and possibly also mated with a flip-up front
sight.
I might question the flip-up sights, as
most of the time I see students with the sights in the down position. If they
are down and your red dot goes out, you need to come off target to flip the
sights up. They are still on the gun and very handy, but if I used the
co-witness configuration, I would most likely favor having the irons in
position all the time.
Any of these add-on
sights can be mounted to an AR-15 upper receiver with a handle. However, I have
found the extra height from the centerline of the sight to the centerline of
the bore, increases the POA/POI difference adding to an already aggravating
arrangement which is common with the beast of the AR straight line recoil
design. Also the handle sight mounts are at best rudimentary and in some
configurations almost impossible to reach repeatable accuracy
results.
Sling; my tactical sling does obey the rule of "Keep
it Simple". It is a single 1.25 inch strap. Although it is adjustable for
length, for the most part we would consider it pre-adjusted and fixed. The rear
attaches to the left side of the collapsible stock and the front attaches to
the left side of the round free float hand guard at about the 6:30 position,
just forward of the barrel nut. When mounted the slings runs over my left
shoulder, across my back, under my right arm pit to the rear stock. With hands
off the gun hangs across my body in a position which is quick to grab the gun
in a shooting grip and place on target.
This
arrangement also allows me to easily and quickly rotate the gun around my right
side until it rest across my back, into what I refer to as "Work Carry".
Although there are many sling carry positions, the only two I have found useful
is tactical (Asian, combat, front or whatever other name guys have come up
with!) and work carry.
Like other options,
there are probably hundreds of different slings available. Most all I have seen
are examples of the typical, solution for a problem that never existed. The
Giles Sling is a good example. It is a very high quality sling and Giles gave
it a lot of thought in his design. Thousands have been sold and being used by
military, police and citizens. If you like it fine, out of all the offerings
which are over engineered it is probably the best. From my combat experience it
is more than needed. Another example is the "one point sling". I understand
this is a favorite of the competition "run-n-gun" folks, but not very practical
for battle.
Light; I like a gun mounted light on my AR-15. I
often train to use a hand held light with a carbine and shotgun, however the
gun mounted light has some obvious advantages. It's always there on the gun
ready to go as soon as we press the on switch! The light I have mounted is an
old Gunsite labeled Sure-Fire two cell model. It is mounted just forward of the
receiver on the free floating round hand guard at the 10:30 position. It is
trapped in two 1" scope rings and attached to a weaver base bolted to the hand
guard. I fight with my support hand on the front of the magazine well. The
press-on light switch is in a position handy for me to activate with the thumb
of my support hand. There are no wires, cables or addition switch buttons. Just
a simple handheld Sure-Fire 6 volt light mounted in a convenient
spot.
The beam of light is pretty much aimed
in the direction of fire, and doesn't interfere with my vision of the target
and any shadows created by this mounting location are far off the target
area.
Here again there are hundreds of lights
and light mount gizmos available. Mine is about as simple as you can get and
works well for most situations. I have tested multiple mounted lights and there
is a mission, having two lights would be more advantageous than one, however I
don't find myself in those situations much. But there was a time when I was
testing them I could see the light (pun intended). One light was a powerful
Sure-Fire with limited battery life, but nice for confronting an adversary. The
other was an LED light for longer battery life better for searching and
clearing, not as good for a confrontation.
If
I were on a door entry team this arrangement could provide a solution, but it
came down to Hick's Law, one to many decisions, which button to push when,
became the question. I decided I was better suited for one
button.
Support; My gun support is a standard Harris Bi-Pod.
It is mounted on the free floating round hand guard at the front in the 6
o'clock position and the legs fold forward. When the Leopold scope goes on so
does the bi-pod. When the scope comes off, so does the bi-pod. It is only there
to provide forward gun support during precision shots. If and when I find a
lighter, less complex, but still adjustable, more robust bi-pod than the
Harris, I will consider it. Until then, the Harris is the best for this
application I have found.
Hand Guard; Although hand guard was not in my list
off add-on equipment, I want to discuss it because for me it is important and
some guns are not available from the maker with a round hand guard and we add
them later as optional add-on equipment.
For
the sake of argument, lets agree a heavier barrel is more accurate than a
thinner barrel, and that any thickness barrel is more accurate when it is free
floating as opposed to having some part of the gun applying pressure along the
barrel profile. I understand this is a general rule and there are exceptions,
but this is my post and we have to agree here to get along….so…just
go with it!
With only a few exceptions, the
hundreds of AR-15's we have converted from a standard hand guard to a free
floating hand guard, have improved the accuracy. And, we can hang just about
anything on the free floating hand guard without effecting the point of impact
and accuracy (yes, I know, anything attached will, at least to small degree,
change POI and accuracy, but for our practical application, not much and
generally insignificant).
There are hand
guards available which are free floating and are designed with build-in
Picatinny rails all over the place. To my knowledge all these Picatinny rails
are located in the 12, 3, 6, 9 o'clock positions. They offer a lot of
flexibility in mounted huge numbers of devices. But the clock positions they
are located do not fit our gun handling ergonomics as well as the 1:30, 4:30,
7:30 and 10;30 clock positions do.
I prefer
the round free floating hand guards and placing the attachments, red dot sight,
light, sling attachment and bi-pod where they fit my style the best. Having a
threaded muzzle, so the flash hider or brake is easily removed as well as a
clamp on gas block, which is also easily removed, all allow for easy removal of
the round hand guard for placing mountings for these add-on equipments and then
easily reassembling for use.
…..there
you have it. Part of my opinions on AR-15 and similar type battle carbine
equipment. Although you might at this point be thinking it's not that simple
keeping it simple! I would agree, I have tested and tried various equipment and
add-on's and reduced it to only those I feel are beneficial for fighting in the
real world on mission I am most likely to
encounter.
Although there is more to this
story, there is one more thought I would like to address….gun weight.
There is an advantage to packing a lighter peashooter. When I went to Viet Nam
I was a machine gunner. I carried a 24 pound M-60 machine day after day after
day. I humped the hills and valleys of the central highlands with 90 pounds of
pack gear and over 25 pounds of gun and belted ammo. If you were a machine
gunner or packed around a heavy gun, you to, know the value of a light weight
peashooter.
But we can't have both. We can't
add-on valuable equipment without increasing weight. We can minimize the weight
by securitizing over the available add-on options. Some things are best made
out of metal, others are better made out of plastic. Plastic junk is not always
lighter than metal, and sometimes metal is more reliable than plastic or
composites. It's takes more than a general approach, but to analyze each
individual item for it's value and reliability.
Your mission may be different than mine. Your
experience level may be different than mine. It's different strokes for
different folks. But if your mission has anything to do with fighting with your
carbine and you don't have direct experience with combat, please listen
carefully to those of us you may look to for advise and question our logic. I
don't have the ultimate best answer for you or anyone else. My answers are
based on my experiences and I feel they apply best for me. With that said I am
constantly evaluating my decisions and listen to others to learn. I always
maintain "two is one, and one is none" and there is always a chance someone
will come up with a better mousetrap.
…..I end this, as I
started….above the value of any gun configuration or add-on equipment, the
gun most be reliable, it must feed when fed, it must go bang when meant to go
bang and be silent when meant to be silent. Keeping it simple….it should
fire when we need it to fire, keeping firing as long as we feed it, and stop
shooting when we need it to be safe….
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