Old member (Bennybone) with a new forum handle here

Took in a factory Alexander Arms M4 upper, here is the "before" photo



Performed the following waredrobe changes:

• Rifle Length DoubleStar handguard, smooth varmint style contour

• Yankee Hill low profile gas block to allow for the handguard to slide over and conceal

• Installed 2 picatinney rails into the available slots on the front of the handguard

• Pulled the barrel and polished the feed ramps

• Used a 1/2x28 TPI Kaw Valley muzzle brake, rethreaded to 9.16x24, honed out a crush washer

• Custom laser etched dustcover, outside and inside

• BCM Mod3 Large Latch charging handle

• Used a Yankee Hill beauty ring, it was too large so I milled it down and press fitted with locking agent

• Reassembled - it can wear either an LW15 polymer M4 lower or A2 lower.

"After" photos:









And the Night and Daytime capable setup

Sightmark Photon 3.5x Digital NV riflescope pictured with a UNV20IR - IR illuminator




Field testing this Spring.....

HTXH

Ohh....nice!
Waiting for my Photon 5X to get here, hopefully this week!

Have a dedicated 6.8 ARP 16" TC barreled AR waiting for it.

Nice setup!
The kaw will keep the noise level down for the shooter.
The front pica-tinny rails looked a little bowed not sure if it's from camera.
If they are I would leave them that way, if you move the IR light all the way forward it will point to the slightly to the right,if you set it toward the back it will point to the slightly to the left, once you shoot at night you can find the best placement to center the IR within the photon's fov.
With ar15 parts so low I ordered a new lower reciever with integrated trigger guard, Made from 7075-T6 forged aluminum for 42.00, just ordered the PTAC blackhawk LPK for 29.99 will need polishing to perform, not sure what caliber to build. May go 300blk suppressed.

Nice setup

Hard_Ware -

Very astute observations!

The rails I added are polymer which is why they bowed out. I chose them because you can set the mounting screws to custom locations and therefore I didn't have to drill into the handguard. Also if need be I can restore the handguard to stock look by taking them off.

The nice thing about the UNV20IR is that is can be focused and defocused so along with as you mention having the light offset from center it should make for good illumination with the adjustable beam.

Those Palmetto State Armory PTAC kits are cheap, I wonder about where they are sourcing them.

300 black out is an interesting caliber, the ammo is crazy priced though and making the cases from 223 is laborious. Have you looked at building a ARP 270AR, that'd be worth the laborious effort in my eyes.

I am already making 300blk ammo for a couple of friends.
They cut the brass and I load it for them, so brass should not be a problem.
The subsonics should last a long time with the low chamber pressures.
But will look into the arp270 ar.

Thanks!

Wow! Looks like you can give it commands and it'll know what to do.

Good job!

Cute little gun...

Nice build, how does the Grendel perform on pigs?

Scott

Previous to this build me and my hunting buddy have witnessed a great many pigs fall to his Alexander Arms 24" Overwatch with a 120gr Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet.

I will be testing custom made Hornady 105gr GMX and 117gr Interbonds this Spring as the "Grendel Horde" continues to lobby for more hunting projectiles to take advantage of the Grendel's capabilities.

Sweet gun
But there's a bug on it

Where are you finding the brass for the grendel? I assume your reloading? I sold mine because I couldnt find the ammo and when I did, it was ridiculously expensive except the hornady sst.

That is Roger my pet knat, he shoot 6.8 SPC.....

The guy I bought the upper from had 50+ pieces that came with the deal so that'll last me a couple of years - you can get lots of mileage out of the Grendel if you load mildly.

I thought he was waiting to catch a ride on the 6.5 bullet train

Smart knat you got there if his 6.8 anything like this one:
My Photon 5X came in this morning.

How are y'all liking that Sightmark Photon NV scope? I get a good deal on Sightmark products, and that thing has piqued my interest. Seems like a good value. Does it work with no moon? What do you estimate range in pitch black?

Haha, just found HuntTXhogs youtube review... Thanks!

Truce Truce

Vern that is one sweet looking setup, let us know if the main thread how you get along with that Photon. I think a lot of pigs in your area should be very nervous!



Hey CD - No the photon doesn't really cut it with no moon, you are going to have to rely on the illuminator to see anything. Just remember the factory built in IR isn't moveable so you will not be able to light up the target much past 150 yards.

I plan on getting the review up soon on the 3.5x so that hopefully I can answer your questions specific to that model on range of the scope with no moon.

Stay tuned

Truce!!

I've been giving lots of piggies dirt naps over the last year with my N750 on my other 6.8.
I primarily built this one to take some friends and family out at night and introduce them to a new aspect of pig hunting.
It's also a backup to Kermit in case something goes wrong.

I have a couple of the Sightmark IR Illuminators I use to wake up some gen1 stuff I have.
It is focusable and 850Nm and works pretty well with gen1 and the N750.
They do have a faint red glow like some IR cameras so the pigs seem to get used to it quickly.
You don't really see it unless it's pointed right at you so I slowly sweep in from above for the final shoot.


They are only about 50.00 and I plan to test one with the Photon tonight also.

Very nice,let us know how it performs,been wanting to put one together myself.

Very nice

Very nice
If I saw that business end pointing at me, I would just lay down and start kickin!!!