Hi there, i got a great looking mossy Tac 22 with 4 extra 25 round mags plus the original 10 rounder, for a very good price,
The gun looked like brand new just as described, but ever since i thought of getting one, (cos its the only non restricted m4 style one that took my eye, i didnt like the thin banana mag on the ruger 22 etc, ) the front end however has always looked wrong to me, too long for an m4, too short for an m16!! and no flash hider!
so my plan all along was to make it look more like an m4/car15 in a loose kind of way, since getting the actual flat top is almost impossible, i decided to do some chopping around,
I know most hate it, but i like the look of the carry handle, so even if i got the flat top i would have got the handle to put on, so this way i saved a bit of money!
So having had the precious beast in my sweaty mitts for less than an hour today (thursday 26th)! i began my conversion (i did test fire it etc before starting to cut!!),
I have been looking at all kinds of pictures, of m4's car15's etc, and working out the handguard length which it seems is usually 6 inch but can be 9 or even 12 depending on the tactical fit out, well i was going to go for the 6 inch look, but then thought i want to add some bolt on tactical goodies, and didnt want to end up with cramped hand space, but didnt want the long rails, so i made my handguard a nice custom 7 inch rail! so 3 inches or so had to come out the middle,
my first worry was how to join the two chopped halves together, i was thinking epoxy resin, black allen head bolts, and those repair plates you get from the hardware store, so i got those in preperation,
Then when the moment came to take off the handguards, i realised that the rails are srewed on and are made from strong solid polymer, and were very tough, so all i did was remove them from the sides, take the handguards to my table saw and carefully cut the section out of the middle of both halves, then trimmed them for a good snug smooth gap free fit (took longer to do than say due to an unseen very slight angle on the saw blade hehehehe) it turned out not to be exact middle due to the webs moulded inside which i wanted to kep for strength,
then i cut the rails to length and utilised the original screw hole at the front sight end, and re drilled at the other end of the rail and made an extra hole to make it 4 screws in total per side which now hold the rails to the sides, and once that was done i felt that the handguards seemed just as rigid as they were originally, i put some good old electrical tape round the barrel and the rear part where the halves clamp to the barrel and the front of the receiver, this took the wobble out of the fit, and i was quite amazed at how strong and rigid the whole thing now feels,
then i turned my attention to the wobbly 25 round mags, took out the 10 round part which sits into the extended fake mag top wrapped it in a few turns of electrical tape, put it back in,hey presto solid as a rock, (gotta love electrcal tape) it also filled the slight gap under the flash hider so thats fine and solid too, now its only the fit in the mag well and that fix everyone knows so i wont bore you with that one,
i think it looks great, and i now have room for some gadgets on it, (when they get he from china) i have rail covers, an an/peq laser / flashlight and a folding front grip handle, on their way so will post pics of completed job once done, but for now if i did it right you can see the beast and the handguard, the only thing is that due to my custom length, and wanting to get the picatinny rails to match two of the vent holes are a little close, but once the rail covers are on they wont be noticable anyway, the bi pod may or may not stay not sure yet, but hey , now i have an m4ish tac 22 i am a happy bunny!!! well thanks for looking, cheers, Dave,
http://s557.photobucket.com/albums/ss18 ... =slideshow