Collecting and Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle (2008) - Surplusrifle.com Page 1 of 21 Check out our CD and Manual combos!!! Article Published Date: 01/28/2008 Article by R. Ted Jeo Adobe PDF Downloadable Version of Article Never has there been a rifle/weapon system that the average “Joe blow” can build/convert/deck out with the ease and abundance of parts as the AR rifle. In this and future articles, we’ll be looking at just a FEW of items that I thought were neat enough to write about. Now, mind you, there are hundreds if not thousands of parts and add-ons for the AR in its multitude of configurations and I am only going to look at a few of them. I really do not want to turn into an AR writer for the rest of my life because with the quantity of aftermarket parts that are available this could be easily done… (But seriously, if you find something TRULY unique…..please let us know.) I’ve been talking with several of my shooting buddies both in person and on line and it just seems that the AR bug has bitten all of them in one form or another. One friend ended up trading some computer work for a match grade Bushmaster AR full size rifle. Another was talking about how he was building up “yet another” AR rifle, this one decked out as the 1970’s issued style M16. Add in the recent article by Jamie on his AR sniper set up and a friend showing me an original COLT AR rifle (sans forward assist), AR rifles abound everywhere. This pretty much is a no brainer. Open up Shotgun News, I counted no fewer than 25 big ads, a lot of them full page ads, featuring AR rifles, parts or accessories. The AR has become the “Barbie Doll” dress ‘em up toy of the firearm world. Alternatively, if you are in the right age group, the saying, “Pimp my AR” may come to mind. I’m going to add my 2 cents of opinions on some items that I’ve found and like for my AR. For a time now I’ve been thinking of adding some Picatinny rails to my M4 (Clone-4). Something to mount accessories to like lights, grips, coffee makers, sandwich grills, and lasers to. The issue was that I didn’t really want to switch out the fore grips with the Picatinny rails on all sides, like the SIRS (Stock Imbedded Rail System) grips. Instead I http://www.surplusrifle.com/articles2008/pimp_my_ar_1/index.asp 1/29/2008 Collecting and Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle (2008) - Surplusrifle.com Page 2 of 21 was thinking of just a simple one rail system on the bottom. Personal preference and cost reasons. Picatinny….who….what….where? The name Picatinny, refers to the U.S. Army arsenal located in northern New Jersey. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center. The arsenal first started out as the Dover Powder Depot only to have it changed to Picatinny Powder Depot a mere 4 days later on September 10, 1880. The name was changed once more in 1907 to Picatinny Arsenal. Picatinny made gunpowder and munitions throughout its history and is now the facility that develops new technologies in weapons, monition and armor systems for the U.S. Armed Forces. HOWEVER…. Picatinny did not develop the rail system that carries its name…per se. The Picatinny rail system has its original roots back in the Weaver mount. There are two names of individuals that were instrumental in the subsequent development and evolution of the Picatinny rail system. [as much as I searched, I could find no definitive answer as to who or where the rail was designed. I did, however, come up with a few tidbits of info] The first is Earl Reddick (of Reddick Arms Development). He developed the tighter specs for a Weaver- styled mount that included cross slots at precise locations and specifications. Basically, the difference between the Picatinny rail and the Weaver rail is the size of the cross slots on the mount. Weaver rails have a slot width of 0.180”, the Picatinny has slot widths of 0.206”. Weaver devices will fit on Picatinny rails, but Picatinny device may not always fit on Weaver rails. [I also read that Reddick was the first to develop the .50 BMG sniper rifle. I could find little more than that on the internet]. There is more info on the second name, Dick Swan of Atlantic Research Marketing Systems (ARMS). Swan (with ARMS) was influential in the realization and development of a standardized mounting system. “In 1983, A.R.M.S. had developed a dovetail rail similar to the commercial Weaver style, but with significant variations to what was available on the commercial market. Some of those variations included, standardizing on a dovetail dimension for its product line, rectangular cross notches vs. the Weaver half round notch, a 3/8” wide channel thru the center top of each dovetail rail, and when practical, the notched channel was set at a STANAG length with holes placed at either end to facilitate the mounting of STANAG optical devices. In 1983, A.R.M.S. also developed a self-locking thumbnut design, that was used in the carrying handle optic rail mount. That self-locking feature is currently used to secure the M16 carrying handle to the flat top receiver. ”(“Sermon on the mount”, Mr. Dick E. Swan, Atlantic Research Marketing Systems, Inc. (A.R.M.S.), Joint Services Small Arms Systems Annual Symposium, Exhibition and Firing Demonstration, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 15-18 May 2006, http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2006smallarms/swan.pdf) Basically, ARMS worked with Picatinny’s Future Weapons Branch and Colt in the 1980’s and transitioned the M16A1/A2 style handle mounted system to a rail system. ARMS went on to develop the SIRS (Stock Integrated Rail System) that you hear a lot about now a days. [I suspect that the reason we call it the Picatinny rail is because of these cooperative efforts.] What’s this about STANAG? It refers to the NATO abbreviation for STANDardization AGreement, which covers all sorts of technical and non technical specifications for NATO member countries. Countries agree to the specs and utilize them in their military. These may cover the Display Symbology and Colors for NATO Maritime Units (STANAG 4420) to computer issues like storage interfaces (STANAG 4575) and everything inbetween. STANAG 2324 was the adoption of the US MIL STD 1913 “Picatinny Rail” for NATO. So, there maybe some some sort of cross over of history between the two names associated with the Picatinny/MIL-STD-1913/STANAG 2324 mounting system. Oh, and by the way, the 1913, Weaver and STANAG 2324 rails are not EXACTLY the same in dimensions. Sources: http://www.Wikipedia.org http://www.pica.army.mil/PicatinnyPublic/about/history.asp various forums and discussion forums ERGO Tactical Accessories, part of Falcon Industries Inc., provided me with their aluminum bolt-on “universal mounting platform” (UMP) rails to do this job. ERGO’s UMP rails are Picatinny/1913 standard configuration and come in polymer as well. ERGO provided me with 2, 4 and 6 inch rails, but they also make 6 and 12 inch blanks (i.e., no slots cut into them) for those of you with “ideas” they want to work on. The UMP standard rails come with hardware to mount the rails as well as covers to protect them. http://www.surplusrifle.com/articles2008/pimp_my_ar_1/index.asp 1/29/2008 Collecting and Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle (2008) - Surplusrifle.com Page 3 of 21 Figure 1 ERGO offers the UMP rails in three sizes and they come with low profile rail covers. Mounted 6”, 4” and 2” sizes. There are also instructions included to mount the rails to round free float style AR hand guards as well as those found of the FAL series of rifles as well. http://www.surplusrifle.com/articles2008/pimp_my_ar_1/index.asp 1/29/2008 Collecting and Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle (2008) - Surplusrifle.com Page 4 of 21 Figure 2 Each rail comes with mounting hardware and instructions Unlike other rail system options out there, ERGO’s rails mount onto and through standard AR “plastic” hand guard grips. The rails include the bolts and nuts that go through the AR’s hand guard vent holes. It is a simple matter of removing the front hand guards, threading in the nuts and bolts, and then reinstall the hand guards. You do not need to remove the rifle’s delta ring nor do you need to fiddle with front sight and barrel removal as seen in some of the more elaborate rail systems out there. I offer this type of rail installation as ONE option that is out there. AS ALWAYS, MAKE SURE YOU START WITH AN UNLOADED WEAPON To mount the rail, you need to remove the hand guards. That is accomplished by pushing down on the delta ring, releasing the spring tension on the hand guards so that you can pop them off. http://www.surplusrifle.com/articles2008/pimp_my_ar_1/index.asp 1/29/2008 Collecting and Shooting the Military Surplus Rifle (2008) - Surplusrifle.com Page 5 of 21 Figure 3 The one obstacle, if you would, is the delta ring on the rifle. Under spring pressure, you need a four armed gorilla to take off the hand guards. Figure 4 The answer is to use a hand guard removal tool.