PMCI - October 2017

a parts bin collecting dust. With an investment in time learning
some highly suggested AR-15 armorer skills and the right tools,
you can build a rifle to your exact specifications and forego
wasted money.
Recently, I decided to upgrade from the 10-year-old Smith
and Wesson Viking Tactics edition AR-15 I have been shooting for
1000’s of rounds over the hard shooting decade. To compliment
my old reliable rifle, I wanted a rifle specifically for teaching the
classes I offer through my company, the Swanson Training Group,
the sister company of the Swanson Media Group. The old S&W
rifle has served me very well through numerous classes I have
taken as well as taught over the years but as the industry changes
and technology improves, it was time to incorporate some newer
products on the market for a slimmer profiled rifle. To save money
and not waste unwanted rifle components, I decided to build my
instructor rifle rather than buy an off the shelf rifle.
UPPER / LOWER
To start this project, I reached out to my good friends at Sons of
Liberty Gun Works (SOLGW) in San Antonio, Texas. These Lone Star
lead slingers (plus one wild Aussie) take their rifle craft seriously
and hold all their products to the strictest standards. SOLGW
has a great reputation for Mil-Spec (or better) 7075-T6 forged
lowers with their contours being fully machined leaving no flash
marks from the forging. Small details like that offer absolutely no
worries with combining them with other top-quality parts from
other areas of the industry. This would be the perfect place to get
a stripped upper and lower receiver for my new rifle’s skeleton.
Within a week, I had my rifle’s starting point on my office desk
and ready to move forward.
BARREL
The next step was to find the heart and soul for instructor rifle
build commonly known as it’s barrel. This would be an important
factor in how my new rifle would accurately perform with various
available ammunition was well as handle around barriers and
obstacles when not on a traditional square one-way range. For
this choice, I reached out to Ballistic Advantage and chose their
economically priced Modern Series 16” 5.56mm government
profile barrel. These affordable barrels offer a lot of the same
qualities as high-end barrels offered by other companies and a
1 MOA guarantee where most do not. I choose to go with the
16” length to keep the rifle maneuverable without sacrificing
too much loss in velocity as a longer service rifle length while
also forgoing the need for a tax stamp that most of my students
wouldn’t have with their rifles either. Very rarely do I see ATF
classified short barrel rifles, aka SBRs, in my classes. To enhance
reliability, I opted for the med-length gas system and tube to
slightly reduce recoil and back blast commonly found in carbine
length systems.
SPECS
Length 16”
Material
4150 Chrome Moly Vanadium
Profile
Government
Finish
QPQ Corrosion Resistant
Gas System Length Mid-Length
Gas Block Journal .750”
Twist Rate 1:7 inches
Muzzle
1/2x28 Threaded
Weight
28oz
TRIGGER
One of the items I regularly stress to my rifle students is a good
trigger. Too often, I have seen good shooters ruin their shots
with gritty, overly heavy and poorly constructed triggers. For my
instructor rifle project, I chose to go with an ELF drop-in match
grade trigger from the great folks at Elftmann Tactical. I met
these guys at SHOT SHOW in Las Vegas earlier this year and was
immediately impressed with both them and their products.
FIREARMS: INSTRUCTOR RIFLE
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