Took these 2 out for a date on Valentine's Day

Does anyone know what sling Ranger Nick Irving is running on this M24? Looks like it's made from parachute static line/webbing cord. Looks like it might be an older VTAC, but I can't confirm. I'm pretty sure I ran one like this on my Block II SOPMOD when I was in a unit on the east coast. Wish I had paid attention to details like that back then.

That looks to be a homemade sling from tubular nylon with some black heat shrink at the stock and by the plastic buckle up front.

Looks like I need to start some more builds

Whatever HCS did to a Remington trigger on my Mk13 build.....it's absolute tits

Mk14 Mod 1







Here are the specs:

Receiver: SAI 5 line, serial number 042102
Barrel: Original SAI Crane Contract military barrel, 18 inch 1-11 twist, marked GENESEO IL 308 CC
Bolt: Original SAI Crane Contract military bolt, marked MK14 MOD 0, with NOS USGI internals and chrome firing pin, 1.631 headspace
Selector: forceman's super secret faux selector kit!
Op Rod: TRW
Trigger Group: TRW with a match trigger job
Rear Sight: USGI H&R base, WCE M marked pinion, SA marked large hole SOCOM aperture
Gas Cylinder: All USGI with an SEI 2013 GLFS-D-18 gas lock
Front Sight: XS USN 2, 11-2166-580-1
Flash Hider: Surefire FH762KM14
Vertical Foregrip: Tangodown BGV-MK46 FDE
Bipod: Tangodown ACB-4 FDE with FDE centerpiece
Bolt stop release: SEI extended, U.S. stamped on the back side
Scope mount: Larue LT-608
Rings: Nightforce A118 30mm
Scope: Nightforce NXS 2.5-10x24, .25 MOA turrets, mildot reticle, RECON NAV-SPEC marked, Wilcox red dot mount with a Doctor MS01 3.5 MOA
Pistol Grip: Tangodown BGV-16 FDE
Chassis: Sage NSG Gen 1 Mod 1 M14 ALCS/CV-BS, 6 screw top cover
Stock receiver extension: Vltor carbine
Stock: Magpul CTR FDE
Riser: Magpul PTS CTR 1.25" FDE
Rail covers: Tango down BP-4 FDE for the sides, Tangodown BK-4K FDE 2 panel for the bottom
Case: Eagle Industries Mk14 Mod 2 EBR
Slings: Tac Ordnance CQBWS, LBT VTAC AOR1, LBT VTAC AOR2
Suppressor: Surefire 762K-DE (still need)

I'm missing a 8-40 torx base screw for the MIRS. If anyone has an extra they're willing to part with please let me know. Thanks.

If you don't want to wait, check out McMaster-Carr. They'll have it and will get shipped super fast.

Mk15 Mod 1 is finally complete!!!

Salty AF!

Looking for suggestions from the masses.  My parts were delivered to AJ Brown Arms in October of 2017, it is now March of 2020.  I have emailed and called Mr Alan Brown requesting my parts to be returned and I have not received a word back.  It has been at least a month from the email and after several calls, I still have nothing.  Does anyone live down the street from the guy and can go check and see if he is still breathing? I can get bubba gump to build the damn rile at this point.

Decided I'm going to have the barrel profiled for an "M24" marked suppressor from Allen Engineering.

Still debating on whether or not to add an M24 Badger guard w/ magazine.

As she sits currently:

I wouldn't change a thing....looks like your trying to sharpen a Razor.......As in you can't improve on perfection.....

The first shot is the modernized retrofit setup before I ultimately decided to keep it old school retro. I do like it, but at the end of the day I think I'll always prefer the simplicity of the original aesthetics. So after thinking long and hard about it, I decided that the OG retro M24 is what I prefer. I won't do both. Time to move on to the next project.

That said, pursuing an M24 has truly been a labor of love and this thread provided invaluable references, information and resources to help me realize the effort. I appreciate those of you who answered questions and provided feedback, both in the thread and through private correspondence.

Command Inspection layout. Scouts out. Recon by fire.

@bmmc

Interesting bipod feet. Details?

They're a set of Phoenix talons. I was actually inspired to add them based on a photo I came across in this thread. They're becoming increasingly difficult to find since the company went out of business, but I managed to secure two sets of them during the process of compiling items for this service rifle project. http://soldiersystems.net/2009/06/12/pod-claws-from-phoenix-tactical/

Great pic.

I figured you guys in here would be the most likely to respond to my question.

I have the opportunity to buy a NF NXS 5.5-22x56 NAV-SPEC scope.  It has .25 MOA turrets and ZeroStop elevation, and is dang near brand new.

I haven't been able to find any real info by Google searching, so can anyone give me a current market value?

Any responses are much appreciated, thanks.

How much is the seller asking for it?

I feel sorry for whoever has to move that safe.

Seller is a friend of a friend who said to make him an offer.

Let it be as it sits and build another one!

What cheek piece is that with the Velcro? Also is that an actual Eagle Stock pack? Those are really hard to find. There’s a lot of stock packs based on that one, but I can’t find the actual OD green Eagle. I’m in the same dilemma with my M24 clone. I’ve got the Badge bottom metal with 4 mags and 2 MARS rails but love the simplicity of the OG M24. It seems a bit overkill with all the other shit on it and I don’t want to dump all the money into building another 308. Really nice kit you got tho. That carry bag/shooting mat was part of the M24 kit? Sorry so many questions lol

@Davey_Sickboy

The cheek pad is a Wiebad mini stock pad https://wiebad.com/mini-stock-pad/. I believe the one I have is cut specifically for the Magpul PRS Gen 3 stock. I purchased that stock used second hand for another rifle project I was working on and the cheek pad came with it. Turns out it works great with the velcro on the M24 stock. When I had the MIRS on the rifle I used a comb height kit from Triad Tactical, which I cut to fit the cheek pad https://triadtactical.com/triad-comb-height-kit/. Works really well together.

While accumulating accessories for the M24 I came across a few Eagle stock packs, but they sold for more than I was willing to pay. I was watching two recently that sold on Ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Eagle-Industries-MARSOC-M24-Sniper-Rifle-Cheek-Pad-SEAL-NSW-DEVGRU-RECON-SOF-/143538553721?nma=true&si=2kffhADYY18Jz44n5m%252F6e%252BeyUp0%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

https://www.ebay.com/itm/M24-SWS-Eagle-Industries-Sniper-Rifle-Cheek-Pad-Stockmate-SEAL-NSW-DEVGRU-SOF-/143540469771?nma=true&si=2kffhADYY18Jz44n5m%252F6e%252BeyUp0%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I knew I wouldn't be running the stock pack on the M24 having tried an M81 woodland Triad stock pack and also the one I had on hand (pictured), which I've had for years. I believe it is made by a company called Galati. I just threw it in the shot since it was sitting inside my Hardigg deployment case.

I ended up sending the M24 DBM back to Badger Ordnance after I decided to just run it OG. I'll also be selling the MIRS since I don't need it. As you said, I prefer the simplicity of the original and it just added additional bulk/weight that I didn't need nor want. Admittedly, it does look pretty awesome on the rifle though. Nevertheless, since this a real deal M24 that was sold as part of the return and rebuild program I decided that it deserves to remain in the classic configuration as issued. Just added my own personal touch with the paint, which I hope will start to wear soon to give it more of a battle-worn look.

The sniper drag bag is the real deal Eagle Industries HSRC that was part of the basic issue M24 kit at the US Army sniper school.

I haven't heard from him in a while, but I was able to get my parts back a few months ago. I waited over 2 years and then I started seeing the build quality on my friend's rifles, I definitely made the right decision requesting the parts back (see my post below). Keep trying to contact him, he'll eventually answer. Good luck!

I hate having to make this post and I don't want to talk shit about a gunsmith, but I need to show the work Alan Brown is currently putting out. Many people have been happy with his Mk13 builds over the years, but this has changed in the past year or so. Multiple people have contacted me regarding the quality of his builds and there's definitely issues with them. So much so that everyone had to send their Alan builds to other gunsmiths in order to be fixed. I'm not sure what's happened to Alan, but I hope he can improve his quality and regain our trust/confidence.

This is not a shit post, I just want my fellow collectors to see the work that coming out of Alan's shop. Money doesn't grow on trees and you should always do your due diligence when selecting a gunsmith for your build. I don't want to start any fights, so I'm not going to say who is currently rebuilding this Alan Brown built Mk13 Mod 2. Until Alan is able to turn his build quality around, I won't be able to recommend him as a gunsmith. There are some great builders out there, I highly suggest looking to them if you need to complete a build.

Lets start with the receiver, which was never trued. It's common practice for gunsmiths to true the receiver, chase the threads and lap the bolt lugs, etc. However, none of that work was done on this receiver, even though it was supposed to have been done. The finish is also subpar and appears to have discoloring or runs in the finish.




Next up is the barrel, which was especially bad. My friend said the rifle shot very poorly and that's what really tipped him off to have the rifle checked out by another gunsmith. Alan only cut the front part of the barrel, he didn't remove ANY material from the chamber end. In fact, some of the numbers Lilja stamped on the face of that end are still visible! I've seen this on a few of his other builds, but I've never heard of another gunsmith doing this. A barrel should always be cut at both ends of the blank.



Since the barrel was only shortened from the muzzle end of the blank, this led to another problem. When the barrel is only cut from the muzzle end, you end up with a larger outer diameter at that end. This problem doesn't occur with a properly cut blank that had material removed from both ends. Because the outer diameter was larger towards the barrel's muzzle end, it caused the barrel to come into contact with the nightvision front rail.

This contact led to poor accuracy and scratched the hell out of the barrel. Alan knew about this mistake because he used a dremel tool to remove metal from the underside of the front rail..... and then colored the bare metal with a sharpie marker. After all this extra "work," the barrel was still contacting the front rail!




The crown/threads were poorly cut and the custom thread protector is an absolute joke. The protective cover has 2 very shallow threads cut into it, so it doesn't do too much protecting when it doesn't stay in place.



Sometime this week the gunsmith is going to center the barrel's bore in his lathe and measure the chamber's run out, I'll post pics of the results when that happens. He also says that the chamber is extremely tight and barely takes a GO gauge.

I hope you guys find this information useful and I hope Alan is able to turn his shop around. Do not wait 2+ years for a build with this type of work!

aw hellz naw

I'm afraid so, this is the stuff currently coming out of his shop, my friend got this rifle back a week or 2 ago. If anyone here has parts with Alan, you might want to consider getting them back and finding another gunsmith

That is a shame - he built my Mk12 upper years ago - workmanship was really top notch.

I had heard he is dealing with health issues, so maybe it's interfering with his time and ability on this stuff.

His African safari vacation was also interfering with his time and ability.......

Well if that's the case, yeah - that's definitely not cool. Especially with the insane lead times he has on his stuff.

Yep, definitely not a good way to run a business. I don't have any problems with the man living and enjoying his life, I just have a problem with the unprofessional attitude towards his customers. There's been a lot of lies, broken promises, no communication and shoddy craftsmanship. All he has to do is update his customers and put out quality work in a timely manner.

The market for custom built rifles has absolutely exploded over the past decade and a simple Google search puts people in contact with dozens of amazing gunsmiths. There is absolutely no reason why anyone has to wait 2+ years for a build, with no communication and terrible quality. I get texts and emails from people every single week asking me if I've heard from Alan and we've seen people ask the same question across a few forums.

Even if he's older and not in the best health, the business problems he has can easily be remedied, but apparently he's just choosing not to do anything about it. I've personally sent 50+ people over to him for Mk13 builds, I had the trust and confidence in him to take care of my friends and customers. I also waited 2 years for my rifles be built and I got sick of the runaround, so I asked for my parts back a few months ago. Alan has betrayed that trust and I can't in good conscience recommend him for builds.

After sending him my parts in June 2017 I finally got him to respond to my request for my parts back on December 6th last year. He only sent me half which arrived Dec 26th or 27th. Then until 2 days before SHOT Show that I received the stock that I sent separately back from him along with a refund of the build fee. He had never even opened either of the boxes.

I believe you and I conversed briefly over email about choosing a new smith, and the one that I spoke to described having to fix similar, albeit less extreme as your example. Barrels not machined properly for the cans, accuracy issues, etc.

In the MK13 thread on Snipers Hide I described my dissatisfaction and one person pretty much said that we were being rude and unsympathetic to Alan. If anything waiting almost 30 months for a rifle build, with communication every 6-8 months if you're lucky, to be told over and over the same thing everyone in this thread has heard: no time estimate, heath issues, etc is the epitome of patience and sympathy.

But if I was being honest from between his business practices that I feel are unacceptable and the photos you have posted, it seems that on top of everything he just doesn't seems to care anymore.

I along with many others such as yourself have also stopped recommending him for builds to other people in the clone community.

Appreciate you guys putting the word out. FUBAR for sure. Charlie Mike

So to try and brighten my day and yours since we want rifles that are put together well and shoot excellently...here are my two Marine Corps Rifles.  I just got back the XM-3 last week from a smith that worked for Iron Brigade Armory when they were making them for the Corps.  This rifle is as close to perfect as you can get.  And it shoots really well too.



From my research and gathering photos from members on here and the interwebs, The rifle is marked as correctly as you can get.

That looks awesome.

Was it difficult to source any of the parts?

Beautiful rifles.

The only two parts that are close to impossible to find are the Colorado Micro Precision UNS mount and the Surefire CA762SSAL/RE flash hider.  I found someone online that had the mount and a titanium recoil lug so bought them, and another seller had one of the flash hiders...way overpriced but needed.  The scope base I called Badger Ordnance and they had some left over so got that.  The Nightforce is an F1 that they don't make anymore and found it on egay.  The stock pack I got from Eagle Industries.  They had some Left handed ones in OD left over so I bought one of them.  I sort of was lucky to find everything and get a hold of my smith.  He was great to work with and knew everything about the rifles since he built them for Iron Brigade and the Marine Corps

Great story and fantastic rifle sir!!

Man, that's badass. It's always a thrill to score hard to find out of production parts isn't it? Especially if you find them at a reasonable cost. It sucks to pay out the ass for needed parts, but so far, with regards to my M24 effort and my current undisclosed service rifle clone project, I've managed to source critical parts that have proven very elusive for a reasonable cost. I'm getting close to completing my current project and will share it here once complete. Beautiful rifles, brother.

I got my hands on a virgin 0 MOA Mars rail, with Original Manual and Screws. Haven't found anything like this in the past two years.

Nice. What are you building?

I actually had just recently sold it, currently barely keep up with just 1 build, whoever bought it is going for an m24a2/a3.

I thought it was very interesting, to my knowledge the internet has not seen the actual manual for the MARS, and some have ignored the "Red threadlocker spread thinly & evenly under the base prior to install".

Edit: Also the picatinny "wings" are supposed to be installed offset so that it kinda looks like a Z or Swastika but i've only seen people flipping it and making it look like a pitchfork

Good for you if you bought that Rem700 MARS 0 MOA rail when B's was blowing them out on clearance.

I haven't done much research on the detailed specs of the XM-3.

What does the H-OCG stamping refer to?

I have a revision B MIRS rail as well but no screws with it. I know they are 8-40 threads but cant find what the proper length of the screws should be. I also am not sure what the angled set screw dimensions are. Can anyone help me with that info? Thanks.