AR Stoner Extended Scope Mount

I was in the market for a mount for a lower end beater kinda scope, and ran across this option on midway (near as I can tell, AR stoner is basically MidwayUSAs in house store brand line of products. Good stuff if you're on a budget). I was originally going to go with a larue QD mount, but money being a bit tight on this build, I decided to find a more permanent mount that I could just dedicate to that particular upper receiver (which was a good call, since this thing was tricky to get installed and I don't feel like fucking with it anymore).

There are 10 screws holding this little bastard together, and the construction is remarkably simple; just two halves that clamp together over rail and scope all at once. Remove all the screws and dry fit the mount around the scope (you should be doing this with your mounts before installation anyway) then slide the mount onto the rail and adjust your eye relief, before leveling the crosshairs. Tighten the two large screws to 20-25lbs, then insert and tighten the four smaller screws below the scope ring. Lastly, make sure everything is kosher and tighten the top four screws. Simple, right? Lol

Turns out, after a trip to the range, this little "cheap" scope mount is solid as a piece of granite. The simplicity of the design (so long as it is used correctly) reduces the number of ways for this mount to fail, and does just as good of a job as some products costing two or three times as much. I don't know how they managed to price this fucker so low, but god bless their accounting department!

Nordic Components Free Float Handguard

Another pretty straight forward AR upgrade. If you can turn an armorers wrench, you can install this barrel nut and the handguard itself can be hand tightened if need be (so long as you have a solid upper receiver fixture, a solid grip and a vise). Be aware that this handguard does not come with any rails or rail mounting hardware.

The model I used was the extended rifle length one, out of consideration for my long gangly ass arms. Even at over 15 inches, it is very light compared to the railed handguards I have used in the past. It does have a tendency to ring metallically when the bolt is sent forward, I think due to the lightweight construction and the material itself. Not a deal breaker, just something that I noticed.

Rail mounting holes are drilled and tapped, and positioned at every angle you could possibly need a rail at (top, bottom, left, right, as well as the 45* positions in between) and rail sections are available from NC for a reasonable price.

Overall a good handguard in the under $100 range. The price is right and with construction like this, it's a great value.

JP Enterprises Captured Recoil Buffer

Not going to go too in depth on this one since its really a pretty straight forward upgrade. Short version, this product takes the concept of a captured spring (which we typically see in handguns, rather than rifles) and shoves it squarely into the buffer tube of an AR. To be honest, if this had come from any other company I would have been dubious, but JP has a solid reputation, and all the write ups seemed solid. The price is a bit high compared with a typical buffer system, so unless you really need the noise reduction and perks of a self contained buffer assembly, this may not be your cup of tea.

I was concerned about being able to tune this system to a specific caliber and load, but it turned out that it will perform perfectly in a variety of calibers. I ran the gauntlet with a 5.56 and .300 BLK upper, with loads ranging from 35gr-90gr in the 5.56 and 110gr-220gr in the 300, and had zero failures the whole day. The captured system doesn't soak up as much of the recoil from the heavy blackout loads as a hydraulic buffer system, but that is easily balanced out with an appropriate compensator or muzzle brake depending on your application.

Overall, a pricey, but effective product.