Here's my first entry in the gallery. I love the classic M4 Carbine kind of look, so I left most of the 'stuff' off this version of the rifle. [And I've got a *big* pile of stuff to mount for later postings.
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Here are the customizations:
*DoubleStar A2 front sight tower, .625 inside diameter, lightweight, pre-ban, from Midway USA. Additional sight hardware added. Secured with a 4-40 X 3/8 nylon tip stainless steel hex socket set screw.
*UTG rail covers on the top and sides of the handguard
*UTG version 6 carry handle
*Mako GLR16-S stock
*Mako AG-43 grip
Thanks to Brett248Vista for his post with the specs for making the A2 front sight work. He also helped me correct a problem with a missing part on my rifle's grip, so I can't be too PO'd that he beat me to the punch with the sniper-rifle look [see his posting on page 72 of this thread] after I'd already bought the same kind of parts he had and was about ready to post a photo myself.
This compelled me to go with the carbine-look first lest I be charged with scandalous plagarism.
[I'll still post the sniper-look pictures anyway, shortly. Perhaps I'll challenge Brett to a Stalingrad-like battle of sniper versus sniper. Of course, with 22's we'll have to agree to ranges of 100 yards or less, which will allow us to fling curses as well as bullets.
]
Taking Brett's suggestions, I ordered a .625 front sight tower (from MidwayUSA) and had a machinist friend bore it out to .667 (the diameter of the 15-22's barrel). He also installed a set screw into the bottom of the forward mounting bracket (the one with the bayonet lug) so that it screws from the bottom, clamping the sight to the barrel. The nylon tip on the set screw keeps the barrel from being damaged. The sight has held on pretty well, surviving a round of shooting at the range without any movement I've been able to notice. I'm now working on a way to mount a different kind of set screw into the bottom of the rear bracket to add even more strength to the sight; there's already a decent-sized hole there so you can't just install the same set screw as the front bracket.
Note that the front sight tower did not come with any of the additional hardware, so you'll need to get a front sight post, dentent piece and detent spring (plus a sling swivel and a pin to complete the look. I got one but haven't installed it yet). All of these items are available at any AR parts counter at a gun shop or gun show.