Morning Win-Mag - well, that was a good trade between BFFs. Darn interesting piece you have there, didn’t know/recall there was a matching .22 cal conversion. Nice target btw..
As my buddy was pulling the .45 conversion kit out of its cardboard outer box, I remembered it. But I had no recollection of the .22 conversion unit. And those oddball magazines are really rare, compared to military surplus ones.
The new M4E2 uses the stock DPMS trigger parts. I hone the bearing surfaces, carefully, on a diamond hone. If the hardening is proper, everything cuts smoothly, like glass sliding on glass. On substandard parts, the surface hardness goes away quickly, leaving the softer metal to "grab" and bite into the diamond hone. I've had consistently good luck with the DPMS parts I've used on four separate weapons. With the M-faux such a generic weapon now, almost all parts are made by a few OEMs. Even Colt now buys smaller parts from specialized companies, but inspects and tweaks them to meet their higher standards. Apart from a couple of smaller builders who mill their uppers and lowers out of billet, there are only two companies that provide the aluminum forgings, and sometimes do some of the initial CNC milling.
So again, some common-sense tweaks, and a bit of patience, pay off in a rifle that works better than most people would ever expect, even using a "stock" trigger (I have about an hour of labor into it), and GI ball ammo from 1972. I have no doubt that I can fire a decent group with this,even with the iron sights. But when you are building for a serious purpose, you don't skimp on quality optics. Just keep an eye peeled for the bargains that appear from time to time.
I'll have to get out some handguns so I can go to the range and humble myself. I'm just a rifleman stuck in a handgunner's world.