bolt action AR-15

BOLT ACTION AR-15

Free conversion. First off, an apology to my true blue minions that subscribe to my newsletter, for this repeat subject. Bear with me, I'll babble on about the philosophy of bolts versus semi after I give the mechanics of conversion. Nothing you won't see in my book Apocalypse Gun Porn ( in BBBno2, free, link at my web site ), but with all the new readers perhaps a subject worth repeating. Plus, hopefully, someone somewhere finds this article through a search and I save them $60, they fall in love with me, tell all their friends, and I get a few more permanent readers.

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To close off the gas tube on an AR, one normally gets an adjustable gas block they can close off. These typically run over $50. Here is how you can do it for free. Warning, proceed at your own risk, entertainment purposes only, not a gunsmith, blah, blah. Be an adult. Take responsibility. If this fries your face, it is YOUR bad. This is a hypothetical. Look at your A3 front sight ( an A shape with the little thingy poking up you aim with ). Look at the horizontal line on the A. Three quarters of the way to the right, as the rifle is laid down with the bolt release facing up, is a tiny hole.

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Get yourself a pin punch. I believe it is a 3/32 ( yeah, commie scum, that ain't metric ). After removing the handguards, you punch out this pin ( you'll need a bench block-even homemade from wood ). Assuming you took out the bolt carrier group and charging handle, the gas tube can now be pulled out. It is snug, but will withdraw without a tool. If you had been looking down the barrel from the stock, the tube would have been inserted with the pin east to west and the gas opening facing south. You want to flip the tube upside down.

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Normally, you cannot do this because a AR gas tube is not straight. It runs along then makes a slight jog up, perhaps a quarter inch, then runs straight again. What you have to do is duplicate that but in the opposite direction. Normally, the gas tube will curve north of the gas tube opening. You want the curve to be on the south of the gas tube opening ( NOT the opening at the receiver end, the opening at the front sight end ). Take a vise, and carefully straighten out the tube, then curve the tube the opposite way it was. Inserted into the rifle originally, the tube curved UP. You want to curve it DOWN. Then when you insert it correctly the gas opening faces up rather than down. Now, gases from the barrel hit a block rather than being allowed in to an opening.

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It just takes a couple of small adjustment to the tube to reverse the curve. Don't force it, like when the wife finally gives you some loving. Just small bends as you keep placing the tube in the vise a few times to change the orientation. The tube is pretty strong, you will probably have to tap it with a hammer rather than pull on it by hand. Put it back into place to make sure the bolt group seats properly. Once satisfied, pin the tube back into place. One caveat, I don't know if you can reuse the pin or need a new one. They are 50 to 99cents at PrimaryArms.com so it can't hurt to be sure.

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There should be zero issues with this hack. I've done it, but I have yet to get out and fire the rifle to be absolutely sure. At most, I imagine the biggest issue would be a bit of carbon build-up that might freeze the tube into place without cleaning ( as suggested by a minion ). There shouldn't be any gas blowing back on you. Of course, wear those safety glasses to be sure, if you try this. But just looking at your rifle this doesn't seem physically possible. Now, I can hear you screaming in impotent rage, why, oh why, would you want to neuter a wonderful rifle to “only” fire as a bolt action rather than semi-auto?

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Easy peasy, little lemon squeesy. There is this little unloved tidbit of reality called logistics. Either in an apocalypse or even in a civil war, those extra rounds you just shat out will not be replaced. WWHHhhhhhhaaaaaaat?????? UNPOSSIBLE! We are 'Muricans, hear us roar, the tap of wasteful luxuries will never be turned off! We refuse such a paradigm! Suppressive fire is the ONLY tactic ever, and we insist on it! Francis, you poor deluded moronic fool, please relax. Sit down, deep breath. You and your way of life is hosed. End story. Get over it and move on. This ain't going to be your daddy's war. The ammo you came with to Spicy Times is all there is.

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You can waste it, run out soon and die in one last bayonet charge, or you can nut up and realize your crap stinks like everyone else. You no longer get special consideration. THE APOCALYPSE REFUSES TO CHANGE JUST FOR YOU. Deluded humping snowflake mother humper. Look, if you have big bucks, stock the hell out of ammo and keep spraying and praying ( sorry, brain chemicals are outside your control. Under stress, you will jerk the trigger until dry ). Under my carefully calculated removal of a guess out of my ass, you should have four to five times the ammo for a semi as you do a bolt action.

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And the minimum rounds you need for a bolt, going into a civil war followed by an apocalypse, is at least five thousand rounds ( or round equivalents with reloading ). So if you insist on semi-auto, that minimum is twenty thousand rounds. That is $4k of steel cased ammo to go along with your $400 rifle ( that assumes the price hasn't increased since I wrote this ). Not to mention all those evil high capacity magazines and gear to hold said mags.

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With a bolt action rifle, your uncontrolled brain spazing out in panic says, in effect, one round, just one round! Make it count! With a semi, your brain is yelling at you to destroy the target before the target gets you. The same message it gave the bolt action user, but the process of destroying the threat is different. One is caution firing and the other is incautious firing. A bolt action is just a tool making your brain chemicals work for you rather than against you. AND, hello, logistics. And, as a special extra bonus, that darn AR is going to be a WHOLE lot easier to clean.

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For poor people, with limited budgets for ammunition, a bolt action is just what the doctor ordered. All the rest of you Tommy Tacticals equating dingus size with the number of magazines carried, well by all means DON'T use the AR as a mid range marksman rifle. Just keep using it as a light weight but powerful submachinegun. And PS, Jesus on a pogo stick. Questioning your shooting skills is not questioning your manhood. Skills are skills. Nothing special about them. And we all suffered from uncontrollable brain chemicals. Please remember puberty and your Little Brain making all the decisions. Don't be emotional, Nancy.
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( addendum-still haven't gotten out shooting.  Furnace, the roof breaking.  Definitely going, as the NOL expressed an interest and we all know shooting is the cement that holds preppers to The Dark Side.  My second conversion went fine, except I was a little off on the tube bend and I had issues feeding from the mag.  All I had to do was reach in with a screwdriver and move it a smidge over to center in the upper receiver and all was good.  Just a heads up to check actual functioning to assure proper alignment )
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( Addendum, three months later.  As you are shooting and the rifle heats up, the gas tube is shifting.  I kept getting bolt jams.  Cut off just under an inch of the tube, on the receiver ( not front sight ) end.  Now it is flush with the receiver wall and doesn't mess with the bolt gas intake.  And yes, get new gas tube pins.  Also, the gas only travels up slightly from the gas intake, perhaps about an inch.  No worries about frying your face )

( .Y. )

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