Here are a few things that I learned as I ventured into the world of ARs. The first one has to do with mounts for optics (as you mentioned in your post OldTurtle). I like to have a good, tight cheek weld on the stock as I am shooting. I feel it is important to be able to throw a gun up and have it naturally and comfortably fall to rest against my cheek. This ensures consistency in aligning my eye with the sights/optic. For this reason, I typically shy away from scopes with huge objective lenses because they must be mounted higher on the rifle. This forces me to move my head up out of the comfortable cheek weld position.
All of my rifles have either low or medium height rings. With that school of thought, I picked up a set of low rings when I bought the rifle. Big mistake! What I didn’t take into consideration then was that the stock on an AR is perfectly lined up with the barrel. As an AR fires, the bolt unlocks and the bolt carrier group moves rearward into the buffer tube to which the stock is mounted. By nature of the design, the buffer tube/stock must be in line with the barrel.
The stock on a conventional rifle, however, angles slightly downward from the barrel and action. This places a person’s head in a slightly lower position than on an AR stock. After a little trial and error, and about 3 trips back to the store, I found that even the high rings were not high enough for me to comfortably rest my cheek on the stock. I would have to cock my head and push my cheek into the stock before I could see through the scope. This was not comfortable at all!
After a little research on the web, I found what I consider a great value for someone wanting to mount a scope to an AR. The solution: the Burris Extreme Tactical rings! They are very secure, fairly light-weight since they are made of aluminum and have a decent price. And the height of their x-high rings was perfect for me! These rings do not require an extra mount or base but they are not QD rings either. They even have an optional ring top with a small Picatinny rail! Incredible cool factor!
AR triggers were the next subject that I had a crash course in. Mil-spec AR triggers are absolutely awful when compared to nearly any gun used for target or varmint shooting! A quick not here on DPMS mil-spec triggers. Having no experience at all with ARs, my first impression was that these triggers were horrible. However, after working on numerous rifles for friends and acquaintances and after my latest purchase of a high-quality AR from a very reputable vendor (which will be named later), the DPMS triggers aren’t all that bad. By far the worst trigger that I have ever felt is sitting at home on the most expensive rifle that I have ever purchased!!! Trust me, you will hear more about this later.
For my two Sporticals, I chose the 3.5 to 4 pound JP adjustable trigger with the speed hammer and oversize anti-walk pins.
JP Trigger Group
Anti-walk Pins
Speed Hammer
Now, I don’t want to get too in-depth here, but I must say that installing these triggers is a royal pain in the you-know-where! Not that it’s too difficult. I think that nearly anyone can do it. It just takes awhile to do it right. I probably put the trigger in and took it back out nearly 40 times as I was trying to get the fit just right. The final result however was very good. A trigger that broke at just over 4 pounds that was very crisp with almost no perceivable creep. I must note however that one of the speed hammers had not been polished at the sear engagement point. The surface was rough and the trigger pull was gritty. Because of this, I could never get that clean break that I was looking for. Since the sear engagement is adjustable, I was able to adjust all the creep out of it. This gave a quick and clean break but it was right on the edge of the sear. The engagement was half of what JP recommends and was just too dangerous.
My solution was to ditch the speed hammer and use the mil-spec hammer that came with the gun. With this hammer, I was able to adjust the trigger just how I like it. The feel was almost as good as the first JP trigger with the speed hammer.
After having installed two of these triggers, I cannot recommend the speed hammer. It is an extra $50 that, in my opinion, is not merited. An average person will never be able to tell the difference between the mil-spec hammer and JP’s speed hammer. But if you have the time and patience to install it, this is a good trigger at a good price.
I also tried out Timney’s modular trigger.
Timney Competition Trigger
This little gem installs in under 10 minutes vs 2 to 3 hours for the JP trigger. This trigger is not adjustable and there is a tiny bit of creep. However, the pull is smooth and it breaks cleanly. I highly recommend the Timney, especially if you don’t want the hassle of adjusting the trigger and grinding the back of the trigger for proper safety fitment.
In conclusion, I really liked the Sporticals. They were fun and I learned a lot while playing with and customizing them. I never had a bit of trouble with either one. But, as I stated earlier, I had the AR bug. I finally succumbed to the urge to build a better rifle and sold the first Sportical to fund my next project. Later, I sold the second to fund an even bigger project. But that’s another story!
To be continued …
