It's Alive: my M&P15T upgrade project

[jp223]

I bought my first AR, the M&P15T back in 2013. A few things bothered me though. The recoil spring felt loose and it was overgassed. I did some research on the forum and embarked on some upgrades.

First I upgraded the furniture to a Magpul grip and CTR stock. Then added the Sprinco Blue and a Spikes T2 buffer. Finally snagged a PSA M16 BCG on sale. The final piece was a Gieselle G2S trigger. If it wasn't for Black Friday, I would have left the trigger and BCG alone.


Thanks everyone for your help and advice!

 

[Engine Earl]

An H2 buffer and a little dab of grease on the buffer spring helped a lot for my 15T.

 

[JaPes]

New Guy Tip:

Most civilian market AR-15's are intentionally over-gassed. This is done to ensure that the rifle will cycle a wide variety of common off the shelf commercially available ammunition. Firearms manufacturers don't want their customer service lines flooded with calls about rifles not working with off the shelf ammo.

If you are trying to alter your rifle's ejection pattern to more closely match that infamous chart, what you are really doing is altering the cyclic rate of your firearm. You can either do this by altering the static mass (carbine BCG, full auto BCG, buffer weights) or the progressive resistance (buffer spring weights, hydraulic buffers) on which the combustion gasses must overcome to cycle the action.

*NOTE* When you alter your rifle's cyclic rate, you can induce malfunction. I've seen many people complain about their rifles not being reliable. The problem isn't the rifle. The problem is the nut behind the trigger's lack of common sense and basic physics.

​

Practical Advice:

I've been down this road. If your rifle kicks out spent cases and doesn't malfunction, you're good to go no matter what some stupid chart says. I see no point in narrowing the range of ammo I can fire out of my acclaimed S.H.T.F. world ending emergency survival rifle.​

Hypocritical Advice:

I tinker. I've tried every buffer weight/type, buffer spring, and a variety of BCG's. If you do have the urge to tinker, I'll give you a shortcut.

• Fail Zero semi-auto BCG
• Damage Industries Silicone Chrome buffer spring.
• AR-Restor Hydraulic Buffer.

The Fail Zero semi-auto BCG is NiBx treated. You don't need to oil it. Cleaning it is a quick wipe with a terry cloth towel. No scraping, no picking, nada.

The Damage Industries Silicone Chrome Buffer Spring cuts down the noise and offers longer life.

The AR-Restor Hydraulic Buffer offers progressive resistance against the load applied to it. No messing with trying out several different buffer weights. I maintain the ability to cycle a wide range of commonly available ammo. It also dampens the perceived recoil impulse.

In addition to a good 2-Stage trigger and an optic, these three items are the only other truly worthwhile upgrades I've ever made to an AR-15.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Nothing works better to deal with an overgassed carbine than to adjust the gas. Everything else is just trying to correct the issue by not correcting the issue.

I use a Syrac adjustable gas block.

 

[JaPes]

Thanks for the heads up Phil.

I never went the adjustable gas block route, so I never think of it. IL bans suppressors. No suppressor, no need for an adjustable gas block.

 

[Tbat]

Phill, does that gasblock have a set and forget adjustment or can you adjust it in the field? How do you access the adjustments on it?

 

[Mack]

Holy cr@p how in the world did we get through 50 years of AR usage without every AR on the planet having a different combo of spring/buffer/bcq/gas port/gas block. So you customize your spring/buffer/bcq/gas port/gas block and now you can be confident your AR will be 100% reliable with any cr@p ammo you feed it under any conditions from -40 to +120 deg weather conditions? But my question is, how do you know? See the military has fired billions of rounds testing and in service to prove out what works but that's not good enough for us civilians. Nope we got to start swapping parts with the latest must have internet sensation, fire 30 rounds without an issue on a 70 deg day and declare we now have the most reliable AR on the planet that will get us through the zombpocalypse and oh, we don't even have to oil the bcg.

 

[scooter123]

I'm with Phil, all 3 of my AR builds feature a Syrac Ordinance Adjustable Gas Block.

Adjustment is simple. First, they feature a spring detent action on a socket head set screw and are adjusted from the front of the rifle using a small allen wrench. What you do is adjust the gas block so that it's semi closed when you assemble it to the rifle. Then after you have the rifle ready for it's first range trip you take along a selection of ammunition's. Start with the lowest energy load and with one round in the magazine fire one shot at a time until the bolt carrier locks open on the empty magazine. Open the gas flow one more click on the detent and you are done unless you are going to mount a suppressor or shoot some subsonic loads. If you are going to do either, count the clicks required to get that empty magazine lock open. BTW, suppressors require reducing the gas flow and sub sonics require opening the gas flow. Note, counting the clicks is done in order to know how to get back to your baseline adjustment, so right down your final adjustments for various setups/ammo's.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Phill, does that gasblock have a set and forget adjustment or can you adjust it in the field? How do you access the adjustments on it?

Gas is adjusted with a small Allen wrench. The Sryac I have has the adjustment screw in front to access through the front of the handguard. Others have it on the side. Either way provides immediate access and just a second to adjust. Sryac uses a detent with the adjustment screw. As you turn the adjustment screw it clicks into place (8 clicks per one full turn). I like this design much better than other adjustable gas blocks that requires you to tighten a separate set screw to hold the gas adjustment screw in place. With the Syrac it just clicks into place and that's it.

Depending on the rifle and ammo you're using, being able to tune (limit) the gas to only the amount of gas required to reliably operate the action can make a significant difference. I have a 16in barrel and carbine gas system. I use M855 ammo. My rifle was way over gassed. Being able to restrict the gas made my rifle much softer and flatter shooting which translates into being able to better stay on target for quicker follow up shots, and to take even more advantage of the investment in my WC TTU trigger.

Prior to getting the Syrac I purchased a Spikes heavier buffer. I did a review here on it. It helped a little bit, but nothing like the Syrac. Comparatively speaking, Spikes buffer scores 2. Syrac adjustable gas block scores 10. I ended up removing the Spikes and going back to the original lighter buffer. Different gas systems and ammo combintaions yield different results and needs. YMMV.

Mack has a legit point about reliable cycling with a variety of unknown ammo that you mght need to use during a "zombapocalypse". Just turn out the gas adjustment screw and you'll be good to go through the entire series of The Walking Dead.

I've got a 9.7in handguard so a typical 2in long Allen wrench works fine. Nothing to it. Just insert and turn as shown in the pic. I suppose you could carry it in one of those compartment style hand grips. Syrac provides with their gas block a longer Allen wrench for longer handguards. Unless you've got stuff attached to your handguard that would block getting to the gas block with the Allen wrench. I think one with a side gas adjustment screw is probably easier with a longer handguard than going in the front like mine. Of course that would depend on the amount of cut out area on the handguard. The diamond cut on mine (see above pic earlier in the thread) would make side access pretty easy I suppose but a solid handguard would of course be impossible.

 

[crracer_712]

I pitty the fool who hasn't had their AR Zombie Certified when gets real