[DSM]

Brownells moly/teflon dark earth and alumahdye (just on the charging handle). Didn't have any trouble at all detail stripping it. It all comes apart/goes back together just like one would expect, pretty simple. Degreased, sprayed, baked, reassembled. I think it looks pretty sweet....and just like the pic thread don't give me any crap about the OD MIAD not matching the rest of the rifle, the FDE was sold out yet and the tan EO Tech 553's are still MIA. I did consider the dark earth and OD stuff to blend in with the multicam aspect, but all of it in the fancy and currently fashionable dark earth looks fine too.

 

[Ranly]

Thats a great look for the XCR, good job!

 

[XCR-Fin]

Very nice. I still haven't worked up the courage to DuraCoat anything but the furniture. Maybe the 6.5 kit will get colored.

 

[variablebinary]

That looks great. Very nice work

 

[Prizm]

That looks good.

 

[gr8santini]

Great job.

 

[DSM]

Very nice. I still haven't worked up the courage to DuraCoat anything but the furniture. Maybe the 6.5 kit will get colored.

Do you get good results with the duracoat? I bought their little starter kit and went to the hobby store for an airbrush and wasn't getting a very good coat at all. I'm assuming that I forgot to roll the chicken bones when I mixed it because the problem was that it would just rub right off, no adhesion at all. It was their littlest sample so I wasn't out a wad of cash thankfully but disappointing nonetheless, I know other folks have had great results with it.

Thanks for compliments everyone. Why should the SCAR and ACR have all the fun with fancy colors?! The first time I ever painted a rifle was an M24 and for a totally different reason where I was more worried about making it look "right" instead of it just looking good. This was fun to do, so if you're thinking about it yourself, give it a try! Pick your finish; duracoat, moly/teflon, Norrell's moly coat, wahtever, try it out on an old magazine or other part and practice. The fumes stink to high hell though.

I'll post a couple pics whenever I get the EO Tech from Knesek and Midway gets the MIAD's back in stock. They said it should be soon hopefully as they were the units in production at the time.

 

[magikbullet]

very nice ;D

 

[XCR-Fin]

Do you get good results with the duracoat?

Actually gr8santini is the one who did the DuraCoating for me (and others on the forum). It turned out great. I don't know the process other than the gun/parts needs to be degreased using TruStrip or something similar. I'm guessing without doing that step you could get a poor bond with paint/part.

 

[DSM]

I degreased everything and thought I had did everything right. In a former life was a small arms repairman so learned which shortcuts I could take with the TO's but I'm pretty good about following directions so maybe I got a bad batch or something. Or, I really did just totally do everything backwards. One of the two.

I busted out about 7-800 rounds on the 1050 this past week and I'm hoping to head out to the range and come back with a smoking and dirty rifle. A buddy needs to test a few loads too before we start full-on production.

 

[M38]

Very nice!

 

[DSM]

Made it through 10-12 mags and shot the ejector loose. My fault really, I knew I hadn't checked them at all recently, hell, this year even. Got it bolted back down but have been toying around with a more secure fix.......more to follow.

 

[aziator]

Safety wire is the way to go. I am planning on ordering some screws when I get back that have the heads drilled out for safety wire, shouldn't be that difficult

 

[DSM]

I thought about that too, like in the old M60 days! Then I thought about my riveting jig for AK builds. I think a couple rivets would stick it to the receiver good and permanent. It's an 8-32 thread if you didn't gauge it before you left.

 

[aziator]

I wouldn't want to rivet them just for the fact that it is meant to be able to replace it easily if needed.

 

[DSM]

I posted a few more of my thoughts about it in my thread in the 6.8mm area. It can be replaced yeah, but I'm thinking it has a record of low breakage. I asked Terra to see what the other folks around the shop thought about it since they've got tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of rounds cumulatively through the platform. If no ejector has ever reported breaking, not due to a loose screw mind you, then I think it's a decent idea. The rivets are not permanent in the since they can never be replaced. Demilling AK stubs and building kits has given me a deft touch with the cuttling wheel and a drill press. To drill, punch and press two new rivets I don't think would take any thing more than half an hour.

 

[aziator]

You have a good point, Let me know what you come up with.

 

[DSM]

I PM'd Terra about it, she said she would run it past Alex and get his thoughts. I'm looking at solving the barrel bolt turning loose on me the other day now. 600+ rounds and it was getting a touch loose, the barrel was starting to wiggle just a bit too. Have a plan....more to follow...

 

[DSM]

My CLass III buddy told me about the Nord-Lock washers. I know he had tried them on someone else's rifle with a thread-on suppressor. The intent was to keep the can from coming loose, after firing about a hundred or so rounds the intent was then, "How in the sh!t can we get this thing off!?!" I think I might go this route instead of the rivets. I'm looking at a distributor to see what they got, come in large packages so looks like the forum might be up for some freebies if they test out as good to go.

 

[DSM]

Got the Nord-Locks on the ejector screws. Everything seems to fit pretty tight. Test fit a 5/16" Nord-Lock on the barrel bolt and noticed the receiver was milled perfectly to accept it. They're normal size washers--was a washer of sorts in the initial design...or is it in the current design and mine didn't come with one? Obviously the bolt is now too "short" so have to swing out to the friendly hardware store and pick up a new bolt and do some measuring and some lathe work tomorrow or Sunday. The test fit was very promising, little room for movement. If you've never shot a barrel loose then one of these puppies seems to be the way to go for peace of mind that it will never happen.