This rifle may be destined to be

This rifle may be destined to become my number one and favorite general purpose non suppressed defensive rifle in 6.8 spc II. Have a couple of changes planned then will get moved to my police style locking rack behind seat of my truck after it passes its 500 round testing and training period. It is built on a Mag Tactical billet magnesium lower, SIG Sauer M400 AR15 upper and 13.7" 5R 1:11 twist Noveske barrel with Noveske KX-5 Flaming Pig that with proper thickness washer pinned to exactly 16.1" from bolt face to end of muzzle device making it as short of a legal rifle as possible.

13.7" NOVESKE 6.8 spc II FLAMING PIG BINARY

gOOD PARTS ARE A FOUNDATION FOR A QUALITY BUILD

Found SIG upper receivers to be top notch quality and when they stepped away from AR 15/M4s as a primary product many were released at a very fair clearance price so was able to buy a few dozen that we keep hoarded for builds that suit them and they mate up to all quality milspec lowers perfectly. Center photo shows one of many boxes of MAG Tactical billet magnesium lower receivers that were able to buy several dozen during the time following Fostech buying the company and selling all the MAG Tactical marked product off at a very attractive price. We had built close to two dozen of these before they were sold and was our first choice for lowers and why we felt comfortable loading up on them for our inventory. One out of every six rifles we build gets a binary trigger so like other parts we try to buy in bulk to get more attractive pricing and Franklin has a very well done unit.

SQUARING THE UPPER IS REQUIRED STEP FOR BEST PERFORMANCE

We square all our uppers to ensure all are perfect so the barrel fits 100% square to the upper once the barrel nut is torqued. Can see our detailled process in our build tips section. Wie also put a bit of lapping compund on the shaft to smooth up the bolt carrier run for smooth operation from the first round without as much break-in period as most new uppers. Final photo will notice its still drying from cleaning the lapping compound out with 3M premium brake cleaner.

SQUARED UPPER RECEIVING ITS BARREL & PROPER TORQUING OF NUT

Once squared and cleaned we use a proprietary thread coating to reduce chances of galvanic corrosion between the receiver, nut and barrel which are usualy all made from different types of metal. We have a very specific method to torque our barrels that entails snugging nut then removing and repeating to preload the threads on reciever and nut so we don't have threads relax over time and cause our torque value to wander. This is another step many skip using a univeral armorers wrench to take a "guess" at how tight they have their nut.

FINAL TORQUING, FITTING OF GAS TUBE & FLASH CAN TO UPPER

Final torquing of barrel nut is done then can fit the MGI Adjustable Gas Tube and muzzle device. Noveske has done an excellent job in matching the Flaming Pig flash can so that with proper washer once pinned the 13.7" barrel makes the legal 16" minimum from bolt face to end of device. It must be properly pinned to be legal when done in this manner but it makes for a very handy length rifle while still meeting all legal length requirements. The Flaming Pig is best flash can have used that directs sound impulse and muzzle blast away from the operator. Mated to one of the most accurated barrels made (blanks are made by Pac-Nor a top notch custom barrel maker) the Flaming Pig and Noveske barrel even in a short length is amazingly comfortable to fire and accurate.

THE FREE FLOAT FOREARM IS PREFECT FOR MY GOALS ON THIS BUILD

This forearm is near perfect length as reaches alsot to end of the flash can. The round shage is very ergonomic and if need to rotate rifle do not have a sharp rail digging into your hand. Allows for a long site radius when backup irons are added and ability to move hand position the full ength of rifle without burning hand. Can add short sections of picatinny reail almost anywhere as this will be getting a combination tactical light and infrared laser aiming device for use with night vision. Notice how the Wheeler receiver vice allows flipping the upper receiver either direction based on need to position for working on it.

ANOTHER GAS TUBE, PINNING MUZZLE DEVICE & ASSEMBLING LOWER

Left photo shows the completed upper receiver compard to a standard 20" barrel, imagine how unweildy a Vietnam issue 20" M16 with flash hider installed and receiver added would be. 6.8 spc II is very forgiving in shorter barrel builds losing very little velocity and acuracy compared to 5.56 when you shorten the barrel. 30% more powder and bullet that weighs almost double and the 6.8 spc II makes 40% more energy than the 5.56 packing it in a small package with virtually no added free recoil. Why we are building as many 6.8s as 5.56 rifles now.

BASIC RIFLE COMPLETED BUT MORE WORK TO ACHIEVE FINAL GOALS

As configured the rifle now has a "pig tail" gas tube to increase gas length and bolt lock-up time. Its running a Colt M16 full auto carrier with H2 buffer and LWRCiI Advanced Combat "lobster tail" Bolt made from 9310 tool steel which is HPT/MPI tested, shot peened and uses dual extractor springs. The Franklin Binary Trigger was tuned in-house to 4.5 crisp pound pull don't try tuning a binary unless you have many triggers under your belt. We're running a B5 Enhanced SOPMOD Stock with a milspec M4 pistol grip.

Finished these two rifles (other is an 18" 5.56 Wylde built as a donation to a charity auction) within a day of each other so they both got headsapce checked using go, no go and field gauges and bores inspected with bore scope. Record a video of each bore inspection along with still photos to be able to beter track wear as round count increases. Being able to compare original bore condition to current condition every 5,000 rounds helps me catch any potential issues that may need addressed. For now it has a spare 1x power 2 MOA red dot till find the optic I want which was recently discontinued but works stunning on a similar rifle. meanwhile its getting some break in rounds down the bore till all the other accessories gathered to detail it out.

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