Wanna do some mods

[Ford302Glock21]

Ok so I've had my bushy XM15 A2 for a little while and have been wanting to do a few things. I only got the A2 because I got a good deal very slightly used. So what I'm wanting to do is order a new Vmatch flat top upper from Bushmaster and take it to a smith to have it changed over with my other parts. I think I'm lookin at 100 bucks worth in labor there. Would it be worth my while to buy the barrel tool or whatever it is I need and swap out the upper reciever myself?

The other thing I've been wondering about is going to one of those railed forends so that I could do a vertical handle and flashlight. Nothin too crazy ya know? I havent tried a vertical handle yet but perhaps it would be superior. Is there a reasonable way to do this with quality but without spending over 100 bucks just for a dang forend? I dont need those features THAT bad.

[RMTactical]

It would certainly be worth the effort to do it yourself. Afterwards, you can sell the tools and practically have done it for free, or you can keep them for future builds.

[Ford302Glock21]

I didnt think about sellin the tools...might be a good idea

[Skintop911]

Originally posted by Ford302Glock21
Ok so I've had my bushy XM15 A2 for a little while and have been wanting to do a few things. I only got the A2 because I got a good deal very slightly used.

Which model, specifically? That moniker applies to a portion of nearly all of their part numbers.

Knowing what you have helps us determine what hurdles you may have to work with. Let's start there.

Be advised: The work and mods you're looking for are not especially difficult to DIY. Nonetheless, you should find an armorer or smith who knows the system and what they're doing, or a mentor with same ability to walk you through it as you DIY. There are a number of things to watch for in the assembly, not all of them obvious.

(Many errantly regard the process as merely assembling legos, but not even all Legos(tm) are manufactured the same. Beware of those people.)

As for accessory rails, there are a number of quality bolt-on units that are functional and inexpensive, if you don't want to buy one of the gucci units.

Do post what you have now. Happy to help in your mod process.

[Ford302Glock21]

As far as I know its the most basic XM15 E2S setup. A2 stock and fixed carry handle, HBAR, no flash hider, 16" barrel. What I would call the basic A2 Carbine setup?

I do see alot of the lego theory that you speak of, and with regard to anything but lego brand legos, I've never seen anything work that easy. I dont believe ARs fall together like a skill 1 revell model car. Thats one reason I figure if I'm gonna swap that upper I'll drop a bushmaster piece since the rest is all bushy.

I came across a couple ideas on the forend. AR15.com has a thread detailing a barrel swap and some free floater forend installs. One costs like 90 bucks that they used with qual rails. Problem with free floater is more extra work messin with roll pins and removing the sights and what not. I'm not sure that I really need to worry about a free floater because I'm not really good as it is. I dont think I could put the rifle to its limits with a stock setup. One of the snap on ones would be alot less work.

I'd really like to take out my dremel and cut the carry handle off and then weld a flat top on lol

[MrMurphy]

SSK Industries will cut your rail off (leaving the rear sight) and mount a rail for dot scopes. They call it the TSOB mount.

Surefire or YHM's fore-ends are worth it.

If you do a lot of bench or prone shooting a vertical foregrip (VFG) will get in the way. If you carry your weapon a lot, shoot on the move, do shoot houses/patrol as a cop etc they are worth it.

TangoDown, KAC and others make good ones.

This pic is a KAC snap-in rail fore-end (no freefloat) and KAC VFG. And yes, that's me in the pic.

[MrMurphy]

Here.

[Ford302Glock21]

I dont use the AR often at all. When I do, its all standing fire, because when it comes down to it, I'm not going to be prone in my house or whatever ya know? In combat things are different.

Basically, I dont dig the standard ghost ring iron sights. They seem very hard to acquire and I want the flat top to run a red dot or low mag scope. Vertical grip seems like it would make things easier as well.

The YHM looks kinda nice but then the extra work involved. Another GTer is selling a first samco model snap on rail forend for 85 bucks that I'm also contemplating.

[MrMurphy]

The first samco model isn't worth $85. It's not very well fitting.


All you have to do with the irons is look through the rear aperature and focus on the tip of the front sight. Bang. No problem.

There's a reason we've had the exact same sight setup on military rifles since 1936. Nobody's figured out something better that's easy to use in a hurry.

Dots are good, but dots can die. I train with my irons as much as I do my Aimpoint because in my job there is no rewind button, if I screw up, a whole lot of people can die. If my Aimpoint goes down I better be able to put lead on target mucho quick with irons or dot at anywhere from 0-300m.

[Ford302Glock21]

Well I'd like to think it was like that but I cant pick up a target with those irons quickly. Seems to me that a more conventional rifle sight(non ghost ring) would be much easier to put on target. For example, what I have on my 870. One of my problems may be that I cant shoot with both eyes open.

I also would agree that practice would help, however, being privately funded doesnt lend itself to much practice. Ammo aint cheap. Plus I'm more inclined to spend ammo in pistols, which are 10 times more likely to be used for protection in my case.

I'll do some more practice with my irons. I'd like to have both.

[Ford302Glock21]

Ok, I played a little bit and I think with some practice I'll be able to do better with the irons if I can train both eyes to be open. It will still be odd because I dont think I can do both eyes with pistols.

[MrMurphy]

Umm........ you only shoot one eye open with aperature sights.

It's dot scopes that use both eyes.

And pistols.

[Ford302Glock21]

Well then I guess I'm lost on that. Seems easier with both eyes. At longer distances that would be fine. I'm thinking up close. With only one eye I lose my peripheral vision.

[MrMurphy]

Well at point blank (5 yard) distance, yes, you can use both eyes.

But if you're using them for 20-300m stuff, use one.

[Ford302Glock21]

Ok that works then. At the range I use one eye, but when I'm tooling around the house 2 seems to work better. I'm still not positive what I want to do but before I was contemplating using a gooseneck and doing cowitness with a larger size red dot like a 35-40 mm since it'd be above the handguards. Surely doing with a flattop and a buis would be better in the end. A good gooseneck ends up costing so much I might as well go flat.

[freepatriot]

Good pic, Murph. :patriot:

[Shooters Plus]

Whewww! Ok... feel better now after reading the threads. When I first saw the title of the post I was about to tell DJNiner and MrMurphy to run like hell. :shocked: :outtahere:

[DJ Niner]

Had a similar thought myself. ;) :cool:
"I'm flattered, really, but no thanks." :supergrin:

[Ford302Glock21]

Hmmm...thats such a stretch I had to reread twice to figure out what you were sayin