StrangerDanger

You drop this things price any more and you'll force me to buy it even though I don't need it! Anyone interested should jump on this. Sukhoi_fan is one of the good guys. I've dealt with him in the past.

It's my fault. The photobucket account gets overloaded within 10 days. I have created a second account, I'll try to edit the URLS.

Received the bolt carrier today. Completely smooth transaction. Thanks a lot!

Sadly, the mod seems to hurt the stock's value. I reverted mine and a friends back to OEM back when I had mine all torn down. You will need to replace the grip core if you wish to return it to OEM condition. The drilled out hole will not allow the original roll pin to fit firmly. The stripped grip core is relatively inexpensive to replace. You'd need; Grip core Plate retainer Roll pin Probably about 70 dollars worth of parts with shipping. Curious to know why you're going back to the regular pistol grip stock. I've considered switching stocks, but I had interest in the Field Stock more than the OEM pistol grip variant. I'm pretty happy with the current sling setup I have now with the collapsible stock. The IWC rear mount is kick ass.

Did you drill out the steel block inside the pistol grip when installing the Mesa Tactical QD mount? Or did you do as Benelliwerkes suggested and widdle down the fastener's outer diameter? Do you still have the existing retaining pin that the block replaces? You might have better luck returning it to stock condition, and fetch a little more money for the unit. http://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/1439620.htm

If an SBS is an option, you'll be happier going that route. An 18.5" in confined spaces like a home is crampt. I'd aim for the 14" range with a matching length mag tube. You might need the shell elevator welded up to ghost load.

USPS flat rate priority mail boxes are provided for free by the USPS. The small flat rate box shipping rate anywhere in the US is about $5.50 roughly. Insurance depends on the value of the item. The USPS service is actually pretty efficient. I use it all the time in my shipping routine. I print the stamp at home, get the box sizes I need delivered in bulk for free and arrange for the post office to pick the packages up at my house for free. The USPS even gives you a small discount for doing it online vs. taking it into the post office. My only costs involved with packaging are tape and padding material. I use bulk napkins that I get for free for packaging material. The price gradually goes up as you need a larger box. Even the large flat rate boxes that you can fill with 70 pounds of items cost under 14 dollars. They offer various dimensional sizes for these boxes, so it is easy to ship longer items as needed.

I'm impressed. That is some serious skill. Even doing the layout would be tough. How do you press those raised edges into the inner side of the elevator? Or the rear pivot point raised bosses. I'm curious to hear how the titanium works too. I never found titanium to be very smooth or slick to the touch. My concern would be the surface interfering with the shells as they're ejected from the magazine tube. Also, I would have gotten rid of the moon shape cut in the front of the elevator. It would help avoid the Benelli thumb.

This is going to be a fun build. Lots of options when it comes to actually shooting it. Are you planning to reload for it?

AggiePhil is correct. It's an Aimpoint T1 4moa dot on a LaRue low mount. The optic was painted in Burnt Bronze Cerakote. I tried an EOTech on this M4 years ago. A 552 model. After several years, and about 8000 rounds, the reticle was so fuzzy I couldn't use it anymore. Even a trip back to EOTech didn't really fix it.

Would you take 250 shipped for the bolt carrier assembly?

I have never heard of a gunsmith specializing in the M4. The end user is often left to sort through all the various aftermarket parts and find out the hard way what works and doesn't work. I know I've been there. I have a huge junk drawer or have resold the parts to other users. The M4 is pretty user friendly. Most owners can do their own work on the weapon. Most of the issues I see come from users installing subpar aftermarket parts or installing them improperly. Ie: Not following a torque spec or using an improper driver. In the past, I have assisted several users here with modifications that they wanted done, but did not have the confidence or the tooling to attempt the modifications themselves. I'd gladly assist anyone on this board with the modifications for free. Most users force me to take a small tip for my time and any shop materials I use.

Jdkarmy, the hammer movement you describe is normal.

It certainly was a bigger PITA than I expected. In the end, I paid about 300 - 350 dollars to have it refinished inside and out. Not bad really, for the complex order I had. Most won't be able to do this job themselves though. Pulling the receiver extension without damaging something takes some skill and specialized tooling. Then fitting everything back together and making it function properly can be a pain. I lube the weapon the same way I always did -- rather heavy on the bolt carrier group and inside the receiver extension. Everything else gets a light coat. Contact points on the trigger pack get grease. The magazine and ARGO system are kept bone dry. Cleaning is far easier than factory. The carbon just wipes off with a rag or q-tips.

Update after several months of use. Still concerned with random stoppages, I decided to polish and rebuild the M4 from the ground up. Here is a description of the failures I'd randomly have; When pushing the shell release button, a cartridge would eject onto the elevator anemically. When listening to this, I could hear that the shell was not being placed on the elevator with authority. When pulling the bolt handle to the rear to chamber the round, the bolt handle would hang up at the rear. I would then have to push the bolt handle forward with the palm of my hand in order to chamber the round. I then began my long trouble shooting phase of; 1. Replacing the magazine spring (no effect in function was observed.) 2. Replaced my carriercomp follower with a Brownells brand follower I had (no effect in function was observed.) 3. Replaced the receiver extension spring (no effect in function was observed.) At this point I decided that I needed to start polishing components to smooth out anything that might be causing the action to hang up. I purchased some 800 and 1000 grit lapping compound and some 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper. 4. I polished the bearing surfaces of the receiver extension's plunger with the 1500 grit sandpaper to almost a mirror finish. The action's feel was improved, but the failures were still present. 5. I polished the rails of the bolt carrier and along the bottom of the bolt carrier where the hammer makes contact. No noticeable difference was detected upon completion of this. 6. I tore apart the trigger pack completely. I polished the bosses around the shell elevator. I polished the shell elevator itself on the inside. The idea was to allow the shells to slide along the elevator easier. I also polished the front face of the trigger group where the rim of the case makes contact. I polished the inside face of the shell release lever. Polished the contact points of the breech latch. After this was all complete, no change in the failure rate was detected. The action was a lot smoother though. 7. I polished the inside of the receiver around where the shell elevator sits and along the front of the receiver near the magazine tube. No noticeable benefit was observed. 8. I removed the shell stop and polished the raised edges and along the front of the stop heavily. Loading and unloading became easier, but the problems still persisted. 9. I took the magazine tube apart and cleaned it extensively. There was some black crud visible inside the tube. I removed this crud from the spring as well. I took the follower and polished the contact points. Upon reassembly, the rounds were being shot onto the shell elevator with authority! What is weird, I took another trigger pack from a friend's M4 and put it in. Most of the problems went away. So I purchased a new trigger pack from Brownells assuming that was the problem. The problems then persisted with the brand new trigger pack. FML. I think the black crud inside the magazine tube might have been a byproduct of the Cerakoting process. I jammed a shop rag down it and pressed a Tornado brush through it and cleaned it out completely. In the end, I ended up with a better weapon, since the polishing did not cut through the Nickel Boron finish, it just polished it to nearly a mirror on the contact points. It was just a serious PITA, and frustrating.

Did you have any issues with the tolerances being affected? When I had three sets of pistons done in Nickel Boron, I had to polish the high spots on the pistons so they would free float in the barrel. Polishing was pretty easy, I just chucked each piston in an electric drill and spun it while holding some 1500 grit wet/dry sand paper around it. Since I used such a low grit and frequent test fitting, it took about five minutes each. Cleaning is much easier.

I found the Channellock brand to be crappy honestly. I have a set and they don't work for crap. I have a cheap set from Ace that cost me like 10 dollars and they're better. You do not want to be prying on the snap ring. The cam pin is pretty thin walled and will crush easily.

They'll come back up in about 2 weeks, I exceeded my bandwidth for the month at Photobucket.

Thanks for the offer. I set up another account last night. I'll offload some of the demand to the other account. I don't want to go thru and edit a bunch of URL's. So they'll come back online in about two weeks.

I'm too cheap to pay for it. I'm considering making a secondary photobucket account to essentially double my bandwidth. I'm just too lazy to do it.

Using a heatgun, you should be fine heating a camo model. Many people have done so.

Interested to see the final product. Any plans to make a matching handguard?