New Build Hitting the Bench

[Wassman]

I have been thinking for awhile how I wanted to build a AR pistol and wanted to keep it on the cheap. Here is what I decided on.

First of all the barrel. I had a 18" 6.8 SPC *** barrel that has been sitting in my safe for some time now. It was a blem barrel that *** sold me because the gas port was drilled wrong. No biggie though. So here is my candidate for the chop. I decided on 12.5" length for the barrel, because that is as short as I can go with a mid gas barrel. I will cut and target crown the barrel to keep it short as possible and ***'s current offerings don't include a 12.5" TC. White paper in the pic is the 12.5" mark.

Next the pistol buffer. I picked this one up from another forum who knows how long ago. I think it is a PSA judging by the buffer inside. Anyways it was cheap and it will get the job done.

The handguard is going to be a 10" MI gen2 and a railed clamp on gas block. The lower is a Tactical Machine that I pick up for $80 some time ago. Trigger is going to be a Stag 2 stage, because I got it included with the LPK and I get them pretty cheap. Throw in a cheap tactical latch and the rest of the parts are the standard build items.

Now to make it even more stable I decided to throw on a Sig Tac SB15 (AR pistol stabilizing brace). Wink Wink

To give you a idea how it is going to look here is my 16" with a A1 length stock. I just put this rifle there for a comparison. The rifle is a total of 35.5" and with some measuring and math the pistol is going to be 27.5". As for optics I will mount the NV scope on there until I get my eotech/pvs-14, since this will be my main night gun. Now I just need to chop the barrel and assembly. When I get it put together I will get some more pics and some video too.

 

[FrankT]

Looks good so far, I am turning my pistol into my dedicated night gun too, looking forward to it!

 

[Wassman]

Once you start owning the night you will wonder why you didn't do it a long time ago. Have you decided which nv yet, digital or genII?

 

[FrankT]

Well I have always had a hand held Russian GenI but is unmountable so I use it for scanning. I am cheap and broke so the new Photon or the one for sale here on the forum unless I can find another deal.

 

[Wassman]

I am guessing that you have not looked through a gen2 or gen3. Because once you looked through a gen3 it is very hard to drop to gen2 and impossible to go to digital. Video doesn't really do any night vision justice. From personal experience a digital is a step up from gen 1 but lower than gen 2. With a good IR a gen 2 can be almost as good as a gen 3. I have looked through many digitals and though it will get the job done the clarity just isn't there. I wish you lived closer and I could bring out a digital and put it up against a gen 2 and you will see what I am talking about.

 

[FrankT]

I am betting there is NOT a Gen 3 in my budget! Certainly not a Thermal. But for my kind of hunting a 2 is more than enough to kill meat for the table. I will get over there on my roadtrip I am planning.

 

[Wassman]

If you only plan to sit and wait then a digital will do just fine, plus you can easily record your hunts. But if you plan to spot and stalk you will definatly need to step up. You are right the cheapest gen 3 is just under 3k and the cheapest thermal is around 5k, but they are sweet though.

I always tell people any night vision is better than no night vision.

 

[FrankT]

Without a suppressor for multiple shots all the night vision in the world is not going to get you much more than lights...remember we do not slay 20 a night here anyway.

 

[Ratdog68]

Yup, pistolas is fun stuff.