Rifle setup is a perennial subject of discussion among a wide variety of groups, ranging from active-duty, tier-1 operators in first-world national military on down to fatass tactiboos arguing about optics online. It’s not a subject that has a single correct answer, or in which any answer can even be right or wrong (Well, there might be a few wrong answers out there…) So don’t expect me to tell you exactly what you should do with your gun, here. Instead, I’m going to go over a couple a good builds, a couple of fundamentals and tell you how my guns are built. Regarding that last one, I want you to remember that I am a tinkerer, and I’m always fiddling with my builds. With the exception of my main SHTF gun, my other guns are very likely to be reworked in different ways over time. I’ll try to outline these as best as I can.
The Fundamentals
First off, we need to go over a few fundamentals. There are a few things every rifle needs, a few things every fighting rifle needs, and a few things that specialized fighting rifles need. I’m using a GPR (General Purpose Rifle) as a reference here, but I’ll discuss DMR/SPR (that’s Designated Marksman’s Rifle or Special Purpose Rifle), sniper rifles and dedicated CQB/CQC (Close Quarters Battle/Combat) rifles in a future post about what kinds of rifles you may want.
What Every Rifle Needs
This is simple. Every rifle needs a magazine or breach to load ammo, an optic or sights to aim with, a trigger, a stock and a handguard (to avoid having to grab the barrel with your non-trigger hand). That’s it. The most common fighting rifle in the US is an AR15, so that’s what I’ll be focused on here. But this applies to AR10s, HK416s, various 5.56x45mm bullpups and other forms of military rifles.
Magazine
My favorite magazines are the Magpul PMAG Gen3 with a window in medium coyote brown. Unfortunately, they’re almost always out of stock everywhere I go, both online and in person. Not all rifles have removable box magazines, however. Some rifles have tube magazines, or internal box magazines. A tube magazine is that second tube below the barrel that you can see on some hunting rifles and a lot of shotguns. Internal box magazines are hard to see because they’re internal, but a lot of bolt-action rifles still use them. My Remington 700 has a 4-round internal box magazine.
Capacity+1
If you’re new to gun talk, you may see a lot of references to numbers with a +1 at the end. This refers to the ability that some guns have to put a round in the chamber while the magazine is fully loaded. Not all guns can do this, and some are rather difficult to do this with. For example, my Remington requires you to push down on the four rounds in the magazine and slowly slide the bolt forward until it can hold the rounds down (sorta) then push down on the front of the top round to slide the fifth into the chamber. Also, if you unload the rifle after doing this, you’ll see scratches from the bolt on it that are worryingly deep. Meanwhile, my EDC pistol is very easy to do this with. Just take the mag out, lock the slide back, drop a round in, drop the slide and re-insert the magazine.
Optic/Sights
Every rifle needs a way to aim. Nobody who’s ever survived a real gunfight confined themselves to firing from the hip, or even from the shoulder without aiming. Options for optics are very broad, but they boil down to a few simple categories. Just a quick note on terminology: “Sights” covers all the options, with “Optics” referring to the subset of sights that have some sort of glass lens involved, and “Scopes” refer to magnified optics, specifically magnified optics that don’t have a 1X option.
In roughly ascending order of size:
- Iron Sights. Iron sights are the bare minimum. They’re the oldest form of sights out there. You can, with enough training, reliably hit a human-sized target at up to about 400-500 yards with iron sights. Don’t count on doing that without a couple years of marksmanship experience, however. Getting a sight picture with iron sights is very quick, and they tend to be very accurate, though the lack of magnification limits their utility at range.
- Red Dots. Red dot sights use a lens that has a semi-reflective coating on it, with a small laser or led light positioned such that it will point at the same spot through the lens, no matter where your head is. They are the single fastest form of optics out there, faster even than iron sights. They’re extremely simple to use. If you can see the dot, you know where you’re aiming. It’s really that simple. (And yes, I’m aware that cheaper red dots have parallax problems around the edge of the lens, but that’s less of a problem than some tactiboos like to make it out to be). Red dots can be exposed (which doesn’t necessarily mean non-waterproof) or enclosed (which doesn’t necessarily mean waterproof). Many red dots are paired with a magnifier, which is a fixed-magnification, low-power scope that has no reticle built in. Magnifiers come in both fore- and aft- varieties, with the latter being far more common, and having the advantage of increasing the side of the reticle (usually a simple 2-6 MOA dot, but which can be other shapes, including a BDC, or Bullet Drop Compensator, the christmas-tree like shapes you often see in scopes, giving you measured distances to help you aim at ranges your optic isn’t zeroed to).
- Prism Optics. Prism optics use -you guessed it- prisms to magnify the image coming in through a lens. They work very similarly to lensed scopes, but can be much smaller. A lot of the lower-power versions of these are known as ACOGs.
- Low Power Variable Optics. These are traditional scopes that are capable of doing a 1X picture, which tends to have a pretty good eye box (see below for what this means), though the eyebox can be smaller at higher magnifications. They can also be zoomed in up to 10X, though 4X and 6X high-ends are more common. These are the newest form of optics on the market right now, being only about 10-15 years old.
- Medium Power Variable Optics. These are your traditional hunting scopes, which usually go from 2X or 2.5X up to about 10X or 12X. A few military sniper scopes fall into this category, as well. Especially scopes that are intended to be widely used.
- High Power Variable Optics. These are another flavor of traditional hunting scopes and the most common variety of military sniper scopes.
- Fixed Power Scopes. These are some of the rarest optics out there in the tactical community, but still quite common with hunters. These tend to not go much higher than 12X, as it’s too hard to find your target otherwise.
We’ll get into how to choose the right optic later. I’ll write an entry in this series about how to properly zero your optics, as well.
Stock
Most rifles are going to come with a stock, and while AR15s have a lot of after-market choices, there’s really not a lot of fundamental difference between them. So there’s not much to say here.
Handguard
Every rifle should have one. Many are made of wood, many are made of plastic or metal, usually aluminum. Just like with stocks, AR15s have a lot of options. Generally speaking, the one that came with your rifle is just fine.
Additional Components of an Effective Fighting Rifle
Fighting rifles really need a few additions components in order to be competitive in a modern gunfight. A fighting rifle doesn’t need to be an AR15, or even chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO. But it does need to have detachable box mags that can carry at least 20 rounds and the ability to mount accessories. I’ll mention a few other parts here, but the only ones I would consider absolutely necessary are a foregrip, a flashlight and a sling.
Foregrip
These come in a different shapes. Some will be vertical, some angled. Some will be big handles you can really grab hold of, some are tiny little nubs that just give you a bit of extra purchase. Either way, you want something to give you a good grip on the front of the rifle.
Flashlight
Every fighting rifle should have a flashlight, because you need to see what you’re shooting at, and the sun doesn’t care who wins a fight.
Sling
A sling is just what it sounds like. It’s a fabric strap you can use to hang onto your gun. They can be a single-point sling, which is a loop with a tail that can attach to the rifle at a single point. Or they can be two-point slings, which is a length of fabric that attaches at both ends to the rifle. Single-point slings are more nimble and maneuverable, and are often preferred by more specialist gunfighters like Navy SEALs and Green Berets, who usually use them mainly while wearing armor and kit (AKA battle rattle). Two-point slings are more common and are preferred by those who may need to stow their rifles behind their back, or use the sling to help brace their aim for longer-range shots.
LAM
A LAM is a Laser Aiming Module. It is a visible or infrared laser, like a pointer, that can be dialed to point at the exact point of impact at a given range. Some LAMs are very simple devices that can be had for less than $20 on Amazon. These tend to consist of a simple visible laser that can be zeroed like an optic. Others are complex, expensive devices that can cost upwards of $3,000. These tend to combine visible and infrared flashlights and visible and infrared lasers. The AN/PEQ-15 is the most popular kind of complex LAM.
Stop
A barricade stop is like a foregrip, except it is meant to give you the ability to create a pivot point against some kind of cover, rather than to be something for you to hang onto. It will make it easier to get your rifle properly lined up on cover without over extending too far past it.
Rail Covers
Rail covers are any of a number of different types of accessories that are meant to cover the bare metal of your handguard rails. They can make it easier to grip the slick metal with sweaty or bloody hands, and they can help mitigate some of the heat that comes off the barrel during heavy firing of the weapon. This could be as complex as 3d printed Rail Scales, as simple as a cut-up dishrag, or somewhere in the middle, like the common MLOK rail cover.
Bipod
A bipod is a pair of legs that allow you to brace the front of the rifle on the ground. They can provide a pivot point for moving your aim about, and they can stabilize your aim. They’re really only useful on rifles meant to shoot at long ranges, and tend to just get in the way on rifles meant for close quarters combat.
Flared Magwell
A flared magwell can be useful for speeding up your reloads. It’s a plastic piece that bolts on around the existing magwell and gives it a (bigger) flare that makes it easier to fit a magazine into it with shaking or gloved hands.
Brass Catcher
A brass catcher is a net or box that fits over your ejection port to catch brass. This really isn’t something that’s useful unless you’re a reloader, or you’re committing crimes and don’t want to leave your brass behind as evidence.
Limb Saver
A limb saver is actually the brand name of a sort of padded sleeve that fits over the end of your stock. It gives you extra padding to mitigate recoil. A lot of stocks will already include some padding, making these more a matter of quality-of-life or convenience for those who don’t have a padded stock. They’re not necessary for anyone; if you need padding on your stock, you’re not healthy enough to be getting involved in a gunfight.
QD Mount
There are a huge variety of QD (Quick Detach) mounts you can buy to attach your sling to your rifle. They can come as replacement parts (like handguards or backplates), or they can be bolt-on parts, attached via MLOK or picatinny rail.
Anti-Cant Device
This is generally just a small bubble level that attaches to your scope or picatinny rail and lets you know how level your rifle is. It’s useful for shooting at long ranges, where a small amount of twist on the rifle can make a big change in your point of impact relative to your reticle.
Choosing a Rifle
I’m not going to be too long-winded about this one. Basically, buy what you can afford, but bear in mind that you’re going to spend a couple hundred more on accessories and possibly replacement parts. If you can shell out $6k for a top-of-the-line Knight’s Armament gun and you want a no-compromises build, go for it. If you can only really swing a $350 Radical, then go for that, and know that you’re still getting 90% of the performance of that $6k gun, and you can make up the difference with a few hundred dollars worth of replacement parts.
The only real question is whether you need a left-handed or right-handed rifle. For bolt-action guns, this can be important, as it will allow you to use your trigger hand to work the bolt. For an AR-15, this isn’t really that important. You may have heard stories about brass going down some southpaw’s shirt, but I’m left-handed and a prolific shooter, and that’s only happened to me a few times, when I was shooting in odd positions. That being said, you may need to modify your rifle with a left-handed or ambidextrous magazine release and safety lever. My advice would be to go ambidextrous, not fully left-handed, because it’s more useful, and you should be able to shoot your rifle right-handed in a pinch.
One final consideration nowadays is whether you want a quad-rail (one with picatinny rail on four sides) handguard or an MLOK one. The quad-rail is used on the M4 carbine and M16A4 rifle from which the M4 was developed. They are rugged and tough, but also bulky and have a lot of sharp edges. MLOK is more modern, and its smoother and thinner, but provides a slightly less secure method of attachment that will take a little bit of experience to get adept at using properly.
How to Set Up a Rifle for Potential Civil Defense
Now we’re getting into the meat of things. Here’s where I’m going to share my own opinion and discuss my own rifles.
For starters, you need a light, sling, optics and foregrip. I know some people don’t like foregrips, but in my experience, they make such a big difference and have enough uses (they can be substituted for a bipod in a pinch, they can serve as a stop, and they help you get a good grip on the gun) that I personally don’t consider them optional.
If you’re a lefty like me, you might want to invest in an ambi safety. These are cheap, coming in at under $50 for a pretty decent one. One advantage of these is that they frequently offer a 45 or 60 degree throw option, which is nicer than the 90 degree throw that comes on most stock safeties. You may also want to invest in an ambi mag release, which will let you drop your magazine with your trigger finger. I generally like to grab my magazines (to put them in a dump pouch) when removing them with my right hand, where I can use my thumb to release the magazine using the default, right-side button. But I always get an ambi, because there have been fights where I was so focused on reloading as fast as possible that I was willing to just drop my magazine, clearing the magwell for a new one while my right hand was pulling the new magazine from my gear.
You don’t need a left-side eject gun if you’re a lefty, but if you’re patient and have the money for it, you can find one out there and get a tiny little bump to your quality of life (mainly in terms of not having the forward assist and deflector digging into your chest while the rifle is hanging from the sling). Bear in mind that if you do go this route, you might have trouble sourcing replacement parts, and if you’re building your rifle, you’ll need a left-handed upper and a left-handed BCG (Bolt Carrier Group). The rest of the parts can simply be installed backwards.
Moving on from there, there are accessories which are cheap and which I believe make a big enough difference to be worth it for almost anyone, but which aren’t really necessary.
For starters, I recommend getting something like the Magpul ASAP. This provides you with a sling attachment point right at the backplate, which is the best spot for a one-point sling. To go with this, I recommend a QD point to be placed about halfway down the handguard on the inside of your rifle (for most people, this is the left side, for lefties, this is the right side), ideally closer to the top than the bottom. Pair these with a sling that can be adjusted from one-point to two point (usually by having a QD point on a buckle of the sling itself).
Amazon, Temu and even the TikTok shop have cheap slings which can be adjusted in length easily via a pull-tab and changed from single-point to two-point easily. Be wary of the ones for less than $12 on the latter two options mentioned above, as they frequently have QD lugs or points that are out of spec, and will let go. Alternatively, you can get clip points from Magpul that will work with their adjustable, single-or-double-point slings. The Gen 2 MS3 sling from Magpul costs about $50, but it’s very high quality and represents a good buy-once-cry-once investment. They also sell clips to substitute for a QD slot for the front. Even if you don’t like the clip style, there are backplates similar to the ASAP that have QD points, or even have a loop of steel on either side for a clip.
If you’re determined to stick with a two-point sling exclusively, I recommend attaching the back point on the outside (that’s the same side as the hand you’re working the trigger with) of the stock, with the front point being about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down your handguard.
For your handguard, I recommend MLOK. Quad rails may look cool and retro, but as mentioned above, they’re bulky and have sharp edges. Rail covers exist to get rid of the sharp edges, but these can’t make it less bulky. And weight does matter when you’re carrying a rifle around 16-20 hours a day for multiple days on end.
Next, I recommend a LAM. I personally run a PEQ-15 clone on my SHTF (Shit Hits The Fan) gun, which has infrared and visible lasers paired with infrared and visible lights. That covers my flashlight and gives me an ‘active’ aiming solution that can be used under normal lighting conditions, or while running night vision (which I’ll write about in a future entry). Active aiming is even faster than a red dot, as one can fire accurately even from the hip.
Note that there’s no reason why you can’t have both a flashlight and a LAM with a visible flashlight. There’s no harm in having the ability to blind your enemy. I currently don’t run this, but I’m thinking about buying a 2,400 lumen flashlight soon.
Speaking of lumens, I recommend going with at least 800 lumens. You want to be able to flood a good sized room with light, and to project that light (that’s actually a function of candella, but high-lumen lights generally have high candella as well.) I would prefer to be at 1000-1200 at least. I wouldn’t recommend anything higher than 2,400 lumens, as the backsplash of the light can blind you when you’re just trying to get a quick look in the shadows.
For the foregrip, I recommend a vertical foregrip. I learned to use a ‘broom handle‘ foregrip when I was in the Army, but there are better options available today. The best ones tend to be a bit smaller than your hand, and are used as more of a handstop, with your thumb not wrapped around the grip, but either on top of the handguard or resting near the top of it. That being said, if you prefer an angled foregrip, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve run both, and while I prefer a vertical one, your experience may vary. But if you’re unsure which you prefer, go with the vertical one.
I recommend some kind of rail cover on any exposed rail after you’ve set up your gun. This will protect your hand (even a gloved hand) from the heat of the barrel during heavy shooting and give you a good grip on the gun.
Finally, I recommend a flared magwell. This can shave tenths of a second off the reload time of even an experienced shooter, and can make reloading without fumbling the mag possible for even inexperienced shooters under stressful conditions.
For the optics, you have three basic choices. You can combine a red dot with a magnifier. You can get a prism scope and mount a smaller, pistol-style red dot on top or offset to the side (accessible by tilting the rifle until it’s above the barrel) or you can get an LPVO.
Your choice here is really a personal one. I recommend trying out different styles and figuring out which you prefer, but as for myself, I prefer a prism optic with a piggybacked red dot on top. I don’t recommend MPVOs or HPVOs or fixed-power scopes unless you’re building your rifle exclusively for use at long ranges. If you are, then I recommend either piggybacking or offsetting a red dot, just in case.
LPVOs aren’t exactly battle-proven, being so new, but they are currently in use by both the Marine Corps and the Army, with the latter using them mainly in a Special Operations role. A red dot and magnifier have been used by Special Operations extensively throughout the GWOT (Global War On Terror) through the 2000s and early 2010s. Prism optics were developed during the GWOT and were proven during that time, as well.
LPVOs sound very powerful, and indeed they are, but there are a few weaknesses, including poor optical quality on all but the most expensive ones. And they can get quite expensive, with the high end coming in at over $3,000. ACOGs can be expensive as well, with the Trijicon originals generally running from $1,200-1,500. Red dots can also be expensive, though less so, with the most expensive versions being the holographics made by EOTech, running up to about $900, but most name brands running in the $300-600 range. However, prisms and red dots can also be found for quite cheap. My current prism and red dot setup cost about $300 in total, and it works as well as the prism I used to use back in the day, which runs about $1,200. Indeed, it works better, as the glass quality is comparable, the reticle is just as useful, and the prism is a 6X, compared to the 4X I used to use. And finally, the in-between levels of magnification that LPVOs provide tend not to be actually useful, with most people running them at 1X or max magnification. I run one on a DMR rifle I built, but that’s a recent development, and I may change that one day.
If you’re willing to experiment a bit, you can actually get cheap, knockoff red dots and prisms for under $100, or close to it. You’re very likely to get what you pay for, but if you’re lucky, a good shopper and willing to buy two and test one, you could end up with a great deal. I have an optic that cost me $80 for a 3X prism with an included red dot on top. I bought two and stress-tested one, finding that it was much better built than other offering from that company. Unfortunately, that optic doesn’t seem to be available any more, but there’s no rule that says that was the only good knockoff. Cylee Optics makes high-quality red dots that hang and bang with $500-600 options, despite costing about $100-150. And Monstrum Tactical makes LPVO and prism optics in the $100-300 price range that compete with $400-1,500 options. CVLife also makes optics focused on the hunting scene that run a bit less than Monstrum options, but give you a commiserate quality. They’re not great, but they work.
I don’t really recommend backup iron sights (otherwise known as BUIS). The most common and popular version are the popup sights from Magpul, but even these are rather inaccurate, compared to fixed iron sights, as the fact that they have to be able to move to pop-up means there will be some play in them. I’ve experimented with offset irons and pop-up irons that give a sight picture under the mounts of my optic, and none are really that good. Yes, iron sights never run out of batteries, but everything except red dots don’t need batteries to work, and red dots often get 10,000-60,000 hours of life out of a battery, and spare batteries are small and light, and can be stored even in some stocks or pistol grips.
(Concerns about optics breaking aren’t entirely unfounded, but I never broke an optic in my day. In fact, the only optics I’ve ever broken were some cheap ones I bought off Amazon and deliberately stress-tested.)
I do not recommend going with just a red dot, or a 1X prism optic. Even in close quarters, the ability to magnify your vision is invaluable.
After market triggers can also be a great upgrade. They can make you a bit more accurate, make shooting faster easier and the right one can even catch a few eyes at the flat range and impress people. Many aftermarket, match-grade (meaning a competitive shooting match) triggers are kind of expensive, running $180-350, but there are some affordable ones out there, too. The LaRue Tactical MBT-2S was made for the express purpose of undercutting the after-market trigger market from Geissele, who is the best known brand by selling a match-grade trigger for about $135, 1/2-1/3 of the price of a Geissele. Palmetto State Armory has their own match-grade trigger for even cheaper, at about $90, and that one frequently goes on sale for an extra $10 off. Installing a trigger might seem intimidating at first, but most of the big names make ‘drop-in’ triggers that are extremely easy to install. I have the PSA version in two of my three ARs, and will be putting one in my third rifle soon.
At the end of the day, the most important thing is for you to be familiar with and comfortable with your rifle. So whatever setup you go with, be sure to practice and train with it.
Tips and Tricks
- One common point of failure are the screws that hold attachments onto your rifle. Recoil is harsh, and is exactly the sort of thing that can loosen bolts and screws. To mitigate this, Blue Loktite can be applied to the screws/bolts before tightening them down. Red Loktite can be used on parts that you don’t expect to ever deliberately loosen again, though I personally can’t think of any parts on any gun I own that I won’t ever want to take off.
- Another thing that very few people who haven’t actually been to war in a combat role will talk about is how uncomfortable it can be to carry a gun around all day. To mitigate this, foam tape can be applied to certain areas to make it more comfortable. The bottom of the handguard in front of the foregrip and directly in front of the magwell, the front of the magwell, the back of the pistol grip and the bottom of the trigger guard are all places that can benefit from this tape. This was a trick me and my team worked up back in the day, and I cannot recommend it enough. It makes a huge difference at the end of your third day outside the wire, and it prevents you from getting any of the mild, expected discomfort after just a few hours.
- Your handguard is likely to be quite modular, so don’t be afraid to experiment with different layouts. Some people like their foregrips to be far forward on the rifle, and this is very valid. I prefer mine to be a bit further back, though not all the way back by the magwell. After hours and hours of carrying a rifle, it can be quite a relief to grab the front of the magwell with your fore hand, and which this doesn’t provide the most stable shooting platform, it can be a lot less of a strain, so keeping that free matters to me. Some people like their LAM on top of the rifle, others like me, prefer it on the side.
- Pay attention to the weight of your rifle. Cheaper rifles tend to be heavier, and adding heavy accessories and optics to them can quickly make them unwieldy. Larger caliber rifles (like AR10s) can also be quite heavy. You’ll want to keep your rifle light, since you’re likely to be carrying it around for 20-30 hours for each 10 minutes you spend fighting with it.
- If you choose to paint your rifle with spray paints, be sure to mask off any optics or openings in your weapon that could get paint inside. Getting paint inside your gun is a great way to make it less reliable, and getting paint on your lenses might permanently ruin them, as even cleaning them could result in heavy scratches.
- That being said, it’s a good idea to paint your rifle, as a solid black gun is easy to recognize at a distance. Ideally, you will have vaguely diagonal (rear top to front bottom) stripes and irregular shapes, using colors that will blend into both the background and your own clothing and gear.
- You don’t need expensive engine enamels for this. Regular, matte spray paint works fine. Avoid satin, gloss or high-gloss paints, as they’ll shine in the light.