quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Also: Either the IWC site isn't mobile friendly or it's down. Items show in stock but I see no 'add to cart' option.

Oh. The founder/owner of IWC died early this year or late last year. For the longest time, there was a message on the site that they were halting business while they figure things out. I see now there's a message that they are selling only to dealers. That's good news and bad news. They're still up and running, which is good. Bad news is trying to track down who has what you want.

IWC is fantastic stuff as far as mounting solutions for all the things.

Thanks, anyone have a lead on who might be reselling/carrying them?

quote:

Originally posted by BillF:
Para is this the same rifle you used to have a fixed Troy the Daniel Defense rear sights on?

Regarding this-

The rifle you are thinking of is my 2012 production 6920LE. From the time that photo was taken in 2016, several changes have been made.

The Troy sight has been changed out for a Daniel Defense A1.5 which I mentioned on the first page of this thread. The problem with the Troy sight is that the protective wings are too far apart and the sight is held in one of two elevation positions by a ball detent. This ball detent allows the sight to move from one position to the other quite easily, and because the protective wings are far apart, any bump on the sight aperture tends to knock it out of place. Many times, I found that merely removing the rifle from its case would cause the sight aperture to be moved halfway between positions. I also found that under recoil, the windage screw would become loosened, and one time, the sight came apart, because the windage screw had backed out enough to let the ball detent pop out.

The Daniel Defense sight suffers from none of these problems. I can't recommend this sight enough.

Also changed out on this rifle- which I keep close at hand- is the trigger, which went from the ALG QMS in the photo, to an ALG ACT, and finally to a Geissele SSA, and I don't see making any further changes in this respect.

Additionally, I switched out the Magpul MOE grip for an MOE+, which is more comfortable and grippy than the hard plastic MOE. The Surefire M300B head has been replaced with an M300C. I own may Lancers but my primary magazines now are the Magpul M3. The Vickers VCAS remains on the rifle, but I've taken to tucking in the ends of the sling, which is not only neater, but also affords just a bit more adjustment room, as you can see in the photo of my 6721 on page 2.

Thank you for the information. I also like that Daniel Defense sight. I did not know that there were issues with the Troy sight.

The FN15 Patrol I ordered over a week ago arrived and here it is right out of the box, not even wiped down. I've never shot one or really even handled one before and my first impression is how light and easy to point it is. Needless to say filling the magazine and adding a light will add some but still.
I read the manual and fiddled with it some, tomorrow I'll take it apart and clean it up but not sure if I'll shoot it until after deer hunting season.
Thanks to everyone for the advice and suggestions!

Very nice. Get yourself a sturdier rear sight for the rifle. The Daniel Defense A1.5 I suggested would be ideal.

Since you've never before owned an AR, I'll offer a piece of advice- if the bolt is locked open, avoid pressing the bolt release and allowing the bolt to slam forward if you don't have a loaded magazine in the rifle. If the rifle is empty and you close the bolt, control it by holding the charging handle and letting it close without slamming. You can do this by removing the empty magazine, then pulling rearward on the charging handle, which will release the bolt release, and then you can control the closing by riding the charging handle. You can also do this with an empty magazine still in place, by pulling the charging handle to the rear, then pressing the bolt release, and controlling the bolt forward with the charging handle.

Avoid the temptation to slap the forward assist. When you do this, the pawl on the forward assist digs into the teeth on the right side of the bolt carrier. In rare instances, metal can shear off from the pawl- something you probably don't have to worry about with a quality rifle like your FN, but pounding on the forward assist is pointless in any case.

Also, protect all that exposed rail area on the top of the receiver from getting dinged up. I use these:

LaRue Index Clips

You can see them here:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Very nice. Get yourself a sturdier rear sight for the rifle. The Daniel Defense A1.5 I suggested would be ideal.

Since you've never before owned an AR, I'll offer a piece of advice- if the bolt is locked open, avoid pressing the bolt release and allowing the bolt to slam forward if you don't have a loaded magazine in the rifle. If the rifle is empty and you close the bolt, control it by holding the charging handle and letting it close without slamming......

Thanks any advice is appreciated as I learn! You just confirmed my "hunch" that was not mentioned in the manual. After I did in fact release the bolt letting it slam home I thought "that just felt and sounded excessive" so I rode it down with the charging handle after that. I plan to pick up a few 556 dummy rounds.

quote:

Avoid the temptation to slap the forward assist. When you do this, the pawl on the forward assist digs into the teeth on the right side of the bolt carrier. In rare instances, metal can shear off from the pawl- something you probably don't have to worry about with a quality rifle like your FN, but pounding on the forward assist is pointless in any case.

When is using the forward assist even necessary? I would think only if a round doesn't completely seat say from a lot of dirt, or a damaged round? Good to know the proper way is to push it rather than knock it.

quote:

Also, protect all that exposed rail area on the top of the receiver from getting dinged up. I use these:

LaRue Index Clips

Wasn't even aware of them but I'll pick some up. Just in playing with the folding rear site the first time I noticed it felt prone to slightly bend when I first started to press it closed. Looking more closely I saw the little release and it snapped right down when holding it, but I can see that a metal sight could be an improvement. I do like how it has a large and small aperture (I've never used an aperture sight before).

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
When is using the forward assist even necessary?

If you were to allow your rifle to become dangerously dirty, by shooting thousands upon thousands of rounds without cleaning or lubrication- something which you will not allow to happen. Or, when trying to fully chamber a deformed cartridge- something which you should not do.

In other words, never. It is possible to chamber a round so slowly- by riding the charging handle- that the bolt does not rotate into the locking lugs, but you really have to try to get this to happen, and if it did, you could chamber the round by pulling back slightly on the charging handle and then letting it go. Again, no need for the forward assist.

Eugene Stoner's design did not include a forward assist. IIRC, it was added to the rifle at the request of the Air Force.

The large and small apertures of original military M16 rifle rear sights were for two reasons.
A smaller aperture allows for finer focus on and precise positioning of the image of the front sight post in the aperture circle. That allows for more accurate shooting. The larger aperture, however, is better for close engagements because achieving a good sight picture is faster. And although I no longer remember the details and am too lazy to look it up, the two apertures were not at the same height and (I believe) the small aperture was also intended for shooting at longer distances. Whether the height variation applies to modern, and especially aftermarket sights, I don’t know.

Discussions of the forward assist tend to provide more heat than light, but there is at least one use for them that doesn’t involve trying to jam a defective/dirty/corroded round into the chamber. That’s ensuring that a round is properly chambered when we don’t want to let the bolt close at full power and speed. If, for example, one is on perimeter duty when it’s dark and snowing on Christmas Eve and we don’t want to make any more noise than necessary and possibly alert a bad guy in the house a short distance away to our presence, the chambering process just using the charging handle is very quiet. And if we’re not sure that the bolt is fully forward in battery, a gentle push on the forward assist will ensure that it is.

The charging handles of earlier weapons like the M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and M14 are on the rifles’ operating rods that also contact the rifles’ bolts, and pushing on them will accomplish the same thing as using the AR’s forward assist. The same is true of pushing on and rotating the bolt handle of any bolt action rifle now or in the distant past.
It was only long after the FA was added to the M16 due to combat experiences in Vietnam that anyone thought that the FA was an unnecessary feature and became exercised over its possible misuse. I.e., generations of soldiers, hunters, and other marksmen managed to be able to do the exact same thing with their rifles and not cause any disastrous results before the FA was even imagined.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
....And although I no longer remember the details and am too lazy to look it up, the two apertures were not at the same height and (I believe) the small aperture was also intended for shooting at longer distances. Whether the height variation applies to modern, and especially aftermarket sights, I don’t know.....

I just did a quick check and it appears the two apertures on this rifle aim the same, or if not there's *very* little difference. This was only 28' distance but on a gun vise I sighted at the very end of the prong on an extension cord hanging against a wall with the larger aperture and when I switched to the smaller one it was aimed exactly at the same spot. I'll have to check it when shooting at 100 yards or so.

quote:

.....but there is at least one use for them that doesn’t involve trying to jam a defective/dirty/corroded round into the chamber. That’s ensuring that a round is properly chambered when we don’t want to let the bolt close at full power and speed. If, for example, one is on perimeter duty when it’s dark and snowing on Christmas Eve and we don’t want to make any more noise than necessary and possibly alert a bad guy in the house a short distance away to our presence, the chambering process just using the charging handle is very quiet......

Makes perfect sense in that scenario.

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Originally posted by ridewv:
I'll have to check it when shooting at 100 yards or so.

I would be very interested in what you find.

Despite having had backup irons on my ARs for years I have never made the effort to see whether changing the apertures of different types changed points of impact. Perhaps now that I can see the front sights clearly again now (mostly), that should be something to check myself.