What dumb stuff did you put on your rifle before you knew better?

[RVTECH]

My initials with silver letters into the stock of a kit built .243 Mauser.

I was 18 years old at the time...

I am still 'crucified' by it every time I look at it.

 

[MTpockets]

Somewhere, under all this junk, was a quick handling decent shooting M1A with a medium weight SEI Crazy Horse barrel.


Edit to add: I knew better...

 

[Caveman Jim]

I too started out with a bushmaster, stock is a clock, but it came with an Adams arms piston kit so I had to take it to a professional to have it installed. Yes, at one time Caveman was a newbie to the AR platform back in the day.
Don't buy cheap parts or optics.

 

[BDA.45]

A silencer.

 

[BDA.45]

Now I got like 15 of those bubbleguming things.......

 

[Joe13]

Well I pieced my first AR together:



I had some really great friends - all members of this forum either current or former bust mostly current, took me to an FFL and transferred it into one of their names and brought it back to me like this (still my favorite AR):


Edit: I have 3 great friends from high school times and a bunch of great friends I met through this forum.

Also there was a note saying they would do some unkind things to me if I ever used that 28 year old red dot on another AR lol.

 

[Joe13]

My shooting partner was a Marine stationed at Subic Bay in the late 70's and I was a sailor back then and passed thru there about the same time on Wes-pacs. We didn't know each other at the time but have compared notes so to speak. He told me that one time he spit polished his M-14 to the inth degree and was so proud of it when walking guard duty. Until his Sargent saw it and made him take it back to flat and dull. No sense of humor I tell ya.

Off topic but a guy I was in with was known for OCD polishing his entire boots - like a teenager with a sock so to speak.

Well, he had a long game and obtained a pair of patent leather boots that looked just like his issued boots.

Took longer then any of us that knew about it for the drill SRGT to catch on to that. He was polishing everyone's boots after that for a week lol.

 

[Old Dog]

I just had to have a VFG on all my ARs... one day, I realized that I not only didn't need 'em, I'd never used 'em, ever.

And then I decided I needed an equivalent to a PEQ-15, since I'd had one in Iraq. One day, one of my buddies gave me a reality check and said, just when the hell do you think you'll need that? (okay, so I still have a DBAL... in the safe...)

Only thing I hang on my ARs now is a Surefire Mini-Scout light. And a two-point sling.

 

[Spitpatch]

I put a scope on an Anschutz target .22.

....and it shot noticeably worse than with the peep and globe.

Since that time, I've revisited this with multiple other rifles, and have confirmed repeatedly that a peep and globe (given a target definable by the naked eye) is a more precise sighting system than optics.

 

[Spitpatch]

I put a bipod on a big game rifle.

...and it added a half pound, destroyed the balance of the gun, eliminated any hope of a fast mount and swing, problematic going in and out of a case, and when the gun was fired, hummed like a ten-penny finishing nail hit with a greasy ball-peen hammer. Shooting position had to conform to the limitations of the pod itself, rather than solely indicated by the pragmatic field situation.

Unless one is an idiot who uses big game animals for target media at long range, and enjoys TV shows where they "prove" it's easy by filming a 12 year-old gut-shooting a Muley Buck at 600 yards (or one hunts exclusively from a blind), an attached bipod has no place in the field when after big game. Sticks, carried or packed separate from the gun are just as fast to employ, infinitely more versatile and adaptable, and can serve dual purpose as a walking aid if needed.

 

[bradsteen]

I put dumb crap on my guns all the time (like this). That's part of the fun of gaining experience with guns - experimenting with stuff to see what works or doesn't work for you. But that's what range toys are for. Also why I think it's important to have more than one, so you can have at least one kitted out in a format that you know works well for your application (i.e. home defense) and not mess with it, and the other(s) you can bastardize to your heart's content.

 

[Indy62]

I put an 1-6x24 lpvo scope, bcm vertical grip, light, ambi safety selector, radian charging handle, vg6 Precision Delta compensator, a magpul bi-pod..even replaced all the furniture with bcm gunfighter fde components. Oh..and an Ontario OKC3S bayonet for bubblegums and giggles.

Then for some reason I watched a bunch of youtube tac-bro video's and read some forums saying cool people have minimum barebones setups with the most expensive scope...that's it..so I took all the crap off.

Then a week later I looked at my rifle and realized I liked all the sh!t I put on it..most of it was pragmatic and has a use...so I put it all back on.

Don't worry what everyone else does. Do you.

 

[jozguns]

My 1st AR was one I bought and I thought it looked cooler to get the model with the shorter handguard. Also, I didn't know the difference between mil spec and commercial buffer tubes. Now that gun has a stupid barrel mounted light and a bubblegumty stock that rattles. Oh well, it was a learning experience.

 

[mattmcg]

For me it was offset iron sights. Found it difficult to line up quickly behind them properly causing me to slow down. Tried removing the rear and keeping the front to use it as a reference and was much quicker and happier with it. Eventually sold the offsets. They were Magpul Pros which were well made, but didn't do it for me.

 

[TTSX]

Not me but a guy I know mounted something like a 4-25x50 30mm scope and an extra tall bipod on his magnum hunting rifle.... To shoot blacktail at 50 yards. Makes the gun weigh as much as a school bus full of grade repeaters.