This is Mine

[DeanD]

Built this as my concept of a good self-defense / homeland security carbine. My interest was not half-inch groups at 100 yards but more of a mil-spec type firearm with more horsepower than the NATO .22 caliber. Love the AR rifle but being a Vietnam Infantry vet I am gun-shy of the 5.56. A 6 or 6.5mm x 39 just always seemed right in my gut for balance of enough caliber and not too much weight. This will shoot through a car door for sure. Best mag I have found is the ASC stainless 25 rounder.

E.R. Shaw barrel because it is chrome-lined and the profile I like: medium heavy under the handguards and 3/4" nominally out to the muzzle, Viking Tactical free-float handguard. FN upper, AA 6.5 lower, Young Mfg. bolt, Smith Enterprises BC, JP red hammer spring/Bushmaster teflon? coated trigger, Radian Raptor charging handle, Sprinco extra power buffer spring/H buffer/.063" gas port, all the rest is common stuff. The sling is my own creation made up of one of the extra long seatbelt slings with a clip added on both ends, leather loops, GGG end plate with slot, Colt M4 side sling adaptor. It has a lot of adjustment for length, standard 1 1/4" GI, easy on and off, soft and comfortable. Scope is a Millett 1.5-4 DMS illuminated recticle I picked up cheap locally. For my purposes it works.

[Glockpride]

Nice build. Scope looks too far back. They make offset mounts to push it forward while keeping it on the receiver picatinny. I shoot nose to charging handle, so that mount wouldn’t work for me.

But I like that. 6.5grendel makes a great 2 or 4 legged platform!

[DeanD]

I shoulder the rifle, bring it up, lean my head straight to the right which puts my cheek on the back half of the buttstock. Eye relief at that point is 3.5" which is exactly the spec for the scope.

[biodsl]

A nice touch that it was build on an AA lower. Congrats!

[tdbru]

DeanD,
what's the bbl length? full length gas system? kind of looks shorter from the pictures, but i can't tell for sure. inexperience on my part. and where did you get an FN upper?
did you ever need to make use of the F/A in 'nam?
thx,
-tdbru

[DeanD]

16" barrel, carbine length gas system. Barrel came with an .094" gas port and was over-gassed with corresponding problems, should be .063" so I reduced it with a plug in the front sight base. Pics of the mod in the "Troubleshooting" forum. Bought a couple of FN uppers from someone on AR15.com a couple of years ago. I kinda went hog wild making this thing, using good parts, just had to have a 6.5 Grendel marked AA lower. My 6.5 is my fav!

F/A =Full Auto in Vietnam? That was the norm, the tactic was called "fire superiority" by the Army.

[tdbru]

DeanD,
understand the full auto. what i was asking about, and should have been more explicit was F/A = forward assist.
by the way, thank you for your service to the USA. i appreciate it very much.
-tdbru

[DeanD]

I wondered if you ment forward assist. The short answer is: constantly

I always thought a reciprocating charging handle on the left side would have been a better design as that would have eliminated the need for a forward assist and also much faster and simplier to operate. The location of the T-handle in the center/rear is awkward and requires taking a hand off the firing position of the weapon, takes more time to grab and operate than a conventional bolt handle on the left. For police, target shooting and other sporting uses it's really not necessary in my experience. Folks have been arguing about this forever but pushing that button is darn reassuring and a requirement.