New is the American flag mag release, and a Sig LED/laser combo. I may not need it, but it's available with just a slight stretch of my hand.
Oh, and I figured how to get the stock flash hider off the barrel. At first I thought it was machined on, but when a drop of Hoppe's vanished into a seam, I realized it was a separate piece. It's just there were no flats to put a wrench on. I finally took my biggest screwdriver, stuck the tip into the fins, and cranked on all the torque I could with the upper clamped into the vise with my vise block from last week. Just when I thought it impossible, it finally let loose, and I removed it with no further effort. Now I have the exotic-looking PWS flash-hider/muzzle break on it. Anything to give me the edge against those nightly noises.
And for the main event, my first-fire report on my M4E(conomy). First, a quick peek at my attempt at adding some bling to a weapon.
The laser engraving of the flag on the mag button was tilted a bit (the only one of three buttons), but that isn't really noticed when that receiver cover pops open. These are fun weapons to shoot, but this one actually brings a smile to my face.
The other thing that brought a smile to my face was its first-round accuracy at 50 yards using the Eotech sight.
My biggest "problem" was that, at 50 yards, the red dot of the holograph was larger than the black bullseye, so I had to guess a bit if I was exactly on the X-ring. I'm sure a low-powered scope would let me tighten the group considerably. These are the finest first rounds from a "from parts" rifle I've ever done.
Of course a lot of that is due to the love and affection I lavished on the fire control assembly. Starting out with totally stock parts, after the first 75 or so rounds, the trigger pull is a very consistent 6 lbs, 3 ounces. If it "breaks itself in" any more that that, I'm going to start to worry, or open a new business.
I think I learned the final secret. Nanolube had already done its magic in smoothing out and lapping together the critical surfaces. It doesn't seem it when you're just testing the trigger using the hammer block, but real firing turns all those parts into parts that are operating in a high-stress environment. And the 10w oil that Nanolube uses just gets pushed aside. So I finished up the project with a light touch of a Teflon-bearing grease. When I took the rifle apart for cleaning, I noticed traces of the grease still in place on those critical bearing surfaces.
And did that rifle need cleaning! In my haste, I grabbed 100 rounds of the first thing I found, which turned out to be PMC 5.56mm ammo. That has got to be the filthiest ammo next to the cheap Russian stuff. I'll save the rest for barter in case TSHTF, where maybe 1000 rounds of it will get me a case of beer, if I find the right chump.
Finally, I have to admit I discovered one major annoyance from what otherwise would be a dream project. While firing, the stresses must somehow "bounce" the detent pin of the folding stock out of it's hold in the buffer tube. After a few rounds, I found I had my nose pressed against the charging handle, after starting with the stock almost fully extended. And it was getting worse, the more I fired, so I quit at about 75 rounds, having achieved more in this first fire than I had a right to expect.
Unfortunately, the rifle is now less E(conomical) than when I started because I bought a name-brand stock and tube from Brownell's, rather than struggle with debugging the odd problem, which has never happened before, despite the dozens of odd combinations I've put together in the past. I had the rifle in the vise, and shaked, rattled, and rolled the stock, and beat it with a plastic mallet. Absolutely no problems, but fire off a few rounds, and your nose is introduced to the charging handle. This leads me to believe that some sort of shock wave traveling through the rifle when it is fired, jars something just enough to let the stock move forward.
I don't know if it's one for the books, but it's one for my books. So this rifle has earned something better for its rookie performance, and I'm still dollars ahead of something I just "threw together" to take advantage of a couple of sales, and use up more of my extra M16 parts. Some day I'll explain the deeper reasoning behind this, my major project for National Preparedness Month.