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Posted: 5/18/2001 9:35:04 AM EDT
Sup^

I just got myself a Preban M-17 to keep my postban company and I noticed somthing, the preban dosnt have the long mag well. What's up with that? Does it affect anything? Is the differnce only comsmetic? This is realy bugging me. The other thing is, what can be done to turn a M-17 into a tack driver? Can you free float the barrle? Please post you pics of your customised M-17's.-------------->Scientist out

[rail]
Link Posted: 5/18/2001 9:47:21 PM EDT
[#1]
Scientist-

I have a preban M17 but Bushmaster put on one of the new upper and lower receiver units because mine kept separating.  From what I remember, there was no difference having the short mag well.  Go to the Industry Forums and go to the Bushmaster forum and do a search.   You will find a lot of M17 stuff there.

BTW, I don't think there is much you can do to make the thing more accurate, other than the trigger mod someone posted a link to a while ago. (might have been the old board)  But mine is plenty accurate as is. [:)]
Link Posted: 5/19/2001 9:13:44 AM EDT
[#2]
Scientist,

A word of advice/information based on experience: Depending on the tolerances of any given M17 the shortness of the preban and early postban style magwell MAY cause feeding problems.

If the pre ban type magwell is tightly made it will hold the mag tight enough so that the ammo nose tips sit high enough. If not then the mag tends to be loose which allows the mag to rotate down and point too low at the chamber mouth.

The two early post ban M17s that I have owned had the short magwells and both had a slight problem with jams and mis feeds due to this lack of proper sizing.

The newer post bans with the longer magwell seem to have been made to solve just this problem. If you as a designer make the mag interface as long as an AR type you can still accommodate a large variety of AR mags and their varying sizes and still have reliability. The longer the mag well is the more stable the magazine will be.

Having said all of that I would not worry too much as this reliability problem varies from gun to gun.

Free floating is almost impossible and unnecessary given the tensioned nature of the barrel and the receiver. Both guns that I had were great in the accuracy department and what I would add is a bipod to steady the rifle and a trigger job.

Having the "trigger" sear and hammer sear polished also helps the trigger pull and accuracy.

If you want to go to an extreme for accuracy you could have the carry handle/scope mount removed and replaced with a weaver rail mounted directly to the aluminum upper. The reason being, as you may have noticed, the handle tends to flex a lot. Not a real solid situation for a scope!

Despite these quirks I still love the M17 and it is one of my favorites sometimes even over the AR-15 carbine.

This address is a good one on M17 modification. Worth a look or two.

http://www.loudpipes.com/laissezfirearm/bushm17s.htm

Congratulations on your getting a pre ban! You are blessed to have it.

Hephaistos
Link Posted: 5/20/2001 4:25:15 PM EDT
[#3]
Originally Posted By Armed Scientist:
The other thing is, what can be done to turn a M-17 into a tack driver? Can you free float the barrle? Please post you pics of your customised M-17's.-------------->Scientist out
View Quote


Well, the barrel _is_ freefloated, in a manner of speaking... The results of the barrel being under tension is similar to having an freefloated HBAR - barrel whip, flexing, and harmonics are atenuated, thus increasing accuracy.

My tests with M885 ammo showed that a modified M17S with a shortened barrel (~18") printed 1.5MOA repeatedly.

I've sent you my M17Sk piccys. Enjoy.

P3[pyro][^]
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