First time AR 15 owner needs help.

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I picked up this AR last week. I'm in Massachusetts so I saw a pre 94 at a reasonable price and jumped on it. Anyway it seem to be in good shape but I would like to swap the handguard out to something with m lock and picatinny. The handguard on it is a free float carbon fiber with no way to mount iron sites or anything for that matter. Not sure how to remove this. I read online sometimes they are epoxied on. Anyone have any first hand experience swapping these out?Resized_20201021_212914.jpgResized_20201021_212941.jpg
 
I picked up this AR last week. I'm in Massachusetts so I saw a pre 94 at a reasonable price and jumped on it. Anyway it seem to be in good shape but I would like to swap the handguard out to something with m lock and picatinny. The handguard on it is a free float carbon fiber with no way to mount iron sites or anything for that matter. Not sure how to remove this. I read online sometimes they are epoxied on. Anyone have any first hand experience swapping these out?View attachment 402238View attachment 402239
IDK either that is just a toss together to get rid of parts or it may shoot lights out? Put a nice scope on that rig and see how she shoots. You might want to leave it be.
Then just buy a upper? I seen several uppers on sale tonight. Does not seem to be a huge shortage of AR parts I found everything I needed tonight
 
Keep that upper as is and just get an upper with an m-lock rail on it.
You might be in for more trouble than it's worth.
The muzzle device may be pin and welded on and have to come off just to put a new rail on.
Then you still have to see what kind of gas block they have under there.
As a last resort you could try to epoxy a picatinny rail on it.

This might be one of those times where you fix it, till it's broken.
 
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Keep that upper as is and just get an upper with an m-lock rail on it.
You might be in for more trouble than it's worth.
The muzzle device may be pin and welded on and have to come off just to put a new rail on.
Then you still have to see what kind of gas block they have under there.
As a last resort you could try to epoxy a picatinny rail on it.

This might be one of those times where you fix it till it's broken.
"Fix it till it's broken" hahaha, you might be right. I was looking at a few complete uppers trying to decide if they were worth it.
 
Keep that upper as is and just get an upper with an m-lock rail on it.
You might be in for more trouble than it's worth.
The muzzle device may be pin and welded on and have to come off just to put a new rail on.
Then you still have to see what kind of gas block they have under there.
As a last resort you could try to epoxy a picatinny rail on it.

This might be one of those times where you fix it till it's broken.
That was my first thought. Find the upper you want and put it on.
 
Find the upper you really want, quad rail for example, then you can put sniper legs on it along with irons on top and other stuff on the sides. Then sell the redheaded stepchild.
 
the op's rifle looks exactly like one my buddy had built back in the late 80's when ar's were starting to be used in competitions other than service rife. his handguard was not carbon fiber, though. 3 gun was in it's infancy. of course my friend had a scope, most shots were taken past 75 yds. red dot optics were really not common on anything other than target pistols then and they were usually big and clunky. remember those first generation aimpoints we bolted to our .22s?
 
Remove upper, clamp upper receiver into vise somehow, gently apply some heat to the threaded area, put a strap wrench on it and remove. Trust me; It'll come off. I've had to remove floated forends put on by Marine Corps Armorers that must get a bulk price on red Locktite.
 
Or one could ask why we are adding iron sights to an upper designed for an optic. Backup iron sights are a croc. Good optics change the battery once a year and they are as reliable as the sun coming up. There is no need for iron sights. If you want them, replace the upper. Sell the upper. I know 100s of people in the market for good uppers.
 
Remove upper, clamp upper receiver into vise somehow, gently apply some heat to the threaded area, put a strap wrench on it and remove. Trust me; It'll come off. I've had to remove floated forends put on by Marine Corps Armorers that must get a bulk price on red Locktite.

Over time I've seen similar suggestions to "apply some heat" but I have not seen how people do this. Can you point me towards some instruction on how to do this?

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
I picked up this AR last week. I'm in Massachusetts so I saw a pre 94 at a reasonable price and jumped on it. Anyway it seem to be in good shape but I would like to swap the handguard out to something with m lock and picatinny. The handguard on it is a free float carbon fiber with no way to mount iron sites or anything for that matter. Not sure how to remove this. I read online sometimes they are epoxied on. Anyone have any first hand experience swapping these out?View attachment 402238View attachment 402239
Don't mount sights to the hand guard. Iron sights go on the barrel for best accuracy. The barrel doesn't move around and a handguard does. Thats my opinion and I'm sticking to it... there are others out there but this one is mine.
 
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Few things:

(1) You're likely better off just buying a whole new upper. That's an older-style, competition upper and you'll waste time and money trying to turn it into something it isn't designed to be. New uppers with MLOK handguards are common enough. You might want to sell the upper the gun came with unless its unique to that gun.

(2) BUIS aren't really necessary; in fact, the modern trend is to go with a LPVO and an offset red dot in a 45-degree mount. Be real with yourself regarding how much hard use the gun's going to see. If you're trying to get BUISs to co-witness with a red dot, then that's all you, but you'll still be better off with a new upper.

(3) That stock and pistol grip should likely go as well.

I'd hate to say this, but it looks like the only thing you got of value to you was the lower.
 
I think that's pretty neat looking actually.

If you don't know how to take it apart, and can't find out - I suspect that you'll end up breaking it, (I probably would).
So - go buy another upper and either swap them depending upon what you want to do that day, or sell this one.

But, as someone else said - shoot it first.
 
Over time I've seen similar suggestions to "apply some heat" but I have not seen how people do this. Can you point me towards some instruction on how to do this?

Thanks in advance for the help.
A small propane or mapp gas torch (like you'd use to sweat copper pipe fittings). Wave it back and forth all the way around the threads till it smokes a little. Should come right off.
 
If you can get the gas block or gas tube out, then you can use a strap wrench to spin off the hand guard/ barrel nut. Otherwise, you need to break the epoxy bond between the hand guard and barrel nut.
 
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