Kaptain
03-27-2008, 05:45 PM
sometime back, i came into a nice bushmaster carbon 15. it wasnt what i really wanted configuration wise, but it was a start. i did some research online about the carbon 15, and AR barrels, just to find out that the carbon 15 upper has a proprietary thread, meaning buying a new barrel and slapping it on my upper was out.
i decided to do some searching online and just buy a whole new upper assembly, but it seemed that everytime i turned around everything i read said that the bushmaster carbon 15 would not accept standard "mil-spec" uppers, that the bushmaster was different and they would not work. i called bushmaster and spoke to kyle about having bushmaster build me a custom setup, putting a 20" predator kit on a carbon 15 upper ( so things would work correctly). anyway, i told him id give him a call on monday and order it up ( to the tune of almost 700 bucks not including the charging handle,bolt and carrier,etc). monday i called them, and asked for kyle who wasnt there (i dont remeber the guys name i spoke to on monday) so i told the guy what i wanted and what kyle was going to do for me. the guys words were
" why would you spend all of that money on a carbon 15 upper and a predator kit, and the extra funds to have it all all custom made when any quality AR-15 upper will fit like a glove..the bushmaster carbon 15 is 100% fully mil-spec and is interchangable with all AR parts."......thats why i cant remeber the guys name, i was stupified because "kyle" neglected to tell me this, and was johnny on the spot to setup the custom stuff for me ( which he said would take 3 months to get back as the barrel had to be made from scratch in AZ).........
anyway, you get the idea, so to make a long story short, i was browsing around on galati international and spied a 24" bull barrel varmint upper with a 1" thick E.R. Shaw barrel 1 in 9" twist,called them and snatched it up. bought a new bolt,charging handle and A2 stock assembly ( the carbon 15 is the M4 with collapsible stock) ,etc.....well, i got it all via fedex this morning (F-A-S-T shipping) and installed it all. it came already headspaced and ready to go. slapped a set of extra high millett AR rings on it and stuck a new 6X24X42mm mildot adjustable objective scope on and took it to the range ( i live all of 5 minutes from a 4 mile by 4 mile high desert area that we call "the swamp" as it gets bottomless in the winter, but you can shoot long range out there with no fear or hurting anyone or vehicles, and its flat as a pancake..its all owned by pacific gas and electric)
i started out setting my target up at around 60 yards ( +/- paced off) and dialed the scope in about 1" high. moved the target out to about 250 yards, and man, talk about one hell of a tack driver.i put 3 rounds in the fresh target, and i thought "oh sh*t, somethings wrong with my gun" as i only saw one hole in the target, until i rode out there and seen that it had shot a 1 hole 3 shot cloverleaf. i was shooting some of my 52gr speer hollowpoint reloads over about 26 grains of H335. gun loves that load. one thin g i really liked is that this setup threw my brass in a nice neat little pile just to my right. the carbon 15 upper slung the brass every which way and it was a b*tch to collect it all. plus, the carbon 15 upper for some reason hated wolf with a passion (even with the shell deflector the wolf cases, even with the shell deflector would hit me in the right side of the face everytime.
heres a picture of the end result . i would HIGHLY recommend the upper setup to anyone lookin for a tack driving monster. only thing is the 1" thick 24" bull barrel makes the gun a bit heavy, but i can definately deal with that. only other thing i didnt like is it didnt come with a sling swivel stud for mounting a bipod, but i took care of that. the freefloat tube is pretty thich, so i drilled and tapped it and put in a stud from my old stock.
anyway, the gun functioned absolutely flawlessly.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/johnsguns/ar.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/johnsguns/ar2.jpg
i decided to do some searching online and just buy a whole new upper assembly, but it seemed that everytime i turned around everything i read said that the bushmaster carbon 15 would not accept standard "mil-spec" uppers, that the bushmaster was different and they would not work. i called bushmaster and spoke to kyle about having bushmaster build me a custom setup, putting a 20" predator kit on a carbon 15 upper ( so things would work correctly). anyway, i told him id give him a call on monday and order it up ( to the tune of almost 700 bucks not including the charging handle,bolt and carrier,etc). monday i called them, and asked for kyle who wasnt there (i dont remeber the guys name i spoke to on monday) so i told the guy what i wanted and what kyle was going to do for me. the guys words were
" why would you spend all of that money on a carbon 15 upper and a predator kit, and the extra funds to have it all all custom made when any quality AR-15 upper will fit like a glove..the bushmaster carbon 15 is 100% fully mil-spec and is interchangable with all AR parts."......thats why i cant remeber the guys name, i was stupified because "kyle" neglected to tell me this, and was johnny on the spot to setup the custom stuff for me ( which he said would take 3 months to get back as the barrel had to be made from scratch in AZ).........
anyway, you get the idea, so to make a long story short, i was browsing around on galati international and spied a 24" bull barrel varmint upper with a 1" thick E.R. Shaw barrel 1 in 9" twist,called them and snatched it up. bought a new bolt,charging handle and A2 stock assembly ( the carbon 15 is the M4 with collapsible stock) ,etc.....well, i got it all via fedex this morning (F-A-S-T shipping) and installed it all. it came already headspaced and ready to go. slapped a set of extra high millett AR rings on it and stuck a new 6X24X42mm mildot adjustable objective scope on and took it to the range ( i live all of 5 minutes from a 4 mile by 4 mile high desert area that we call "the swamp" as it gets bottomless in the winter, but you can shoot long range out there with no fear or hurting anyone or vehicles, and its flat as a pancake..its all owned by pacific gas and electric)
i started out setting my target up at around 60 yards ( +/- paced off) and dialed the scope in about 1" high. moved the target out to about 250 yards, and man, talk about one hell of a tack driver.i put 3 rounds in the fresh target, and i thought "oh sh*t, somethings wrong with my gun" as i only saw one hole in the target, until i rode out there and seen that it had shot a 1 hole 3 shot cloverleaf. i was shooting some of my 52gr speer hollowpoint reloads over about 26 grains of H335. gun loves that load. one thin g i really liked is that this setup threw my brass in a nice neat little pile just to my right. the carbon 15 upper slung the brass every which way and it was a b*tch to collect it all. plus, the carbon 15 upper for some reason hated wolf with a passion (even with the shell deflector the wolf cases, even with the shell deflector would hit me in the right side of the face everytime.
heres a picture of the end result . i would HIGHLY recommend the upper setup to anyone lookin for a tack driving monster. only thing is the 1" thick 24" bull barrel makes the gun a bit heavy, but i can definately deal with that. only other thing i didnt like is it didnt come with a sling swivel stud for mounting a bipod, but i took care of that. the freefloat tube is pretty thich, so i drilled and tapped it and put in a stud from my old stock.
anyway, the gun functioned absolutely flawlessly.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/johnsguns/ar.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v291/johnsguns/ar2.jpg