Thanks Jeremy S!
Grey Ghost Precision, home of the Specter series of rifles has launched an independent website. GGP is an offshoot of Grey Ghost Gear which offers nylon gear and armor systems. Manufactured exclusively for GGP by Mega Arms, the Specter series of rifles include light and heavy models.
During a recent range trip to West Texas’s Spartan Tactical along with Leupold and Knight’s Armament, I got a chance to see a few new items demonstrated by KAC’s Jack Luba and Kevin Boland.
You may have already read about the new bipod, so this time I’ll mention the Improved 45 Degree 200-600m Offset Rear Sight mounted to the SR-25 above.
Notice it is called an “Improved” model. That’s because while the actual sight itself remains unchanged, they’ve improved the base. The two main changes are that it’s now ambidextrous, and attaches with 1/8 hex rather than the screw, previously used.
Make sure you stop by Knight’s booth at SHOT Show to get a first hand look at this sight.
I spent Veterans Day this year at Range 37 near Ft Bragg with Grey Ghost Precision checking out their new Specter series of rifles. Manufactured exclusively for GGP by Mega Arms, the Specter is offered in Heavy (7.62 NATO) and Light (5.56mm) models. Both were a joy to shoot. My main concern was reliability and overall shooting experience. The day was not the best opportunity for me to look at accuracy and hopefully, this will be happening soon.
For years shooters have been asking Mega Arms to build complete rifles based on their popular MATEN 7.62 Upper and Lower sets. Mega heard what they are asking for but decided to team up with Grey Ghost. These are the only guns built completely by Mega Arms and this new relationship is a natural fit considering the two firms’ close proximity to one another and privately held status.
Truth be told, I spent most of my time with the Heavy since it was something new. The initial rifle I shot performed flawlessly with the first magazine but then I started to notice failure to fire on the second round out of the magazine. After it happened three times, Jason Curns, Firearms Manager at Mega Arms took a look at it and replaced the firing pin. After that, it ran like a sewing machine the rest of the day. This was the only malfunction I noted over the several hours our group spent at the range.
Gemtech also brought in two suppressors that they will be offering with GGP as well as their Blast Jackets which help dampen the side blast of comps.
Here, you can see the Gemtech suppressor mounted to a Specter Heavy.
I also fired the Light carbine on a pop up range. After a morning with the Heavy it was a lot of fun to shoot and was equipped with the new Mega Slide Lock charging handle.
Although, I’ve talked about the specs for the rifles before, I’ll go over them again.
The proprietary receivers are built from 7075-T651 billet aluminum and are True Black Type III hardcoat anodized to military specifications, with a surface hardness of 60 Rockwell. The forends are 14″ extended Mega MKM KeyMod handguards, which are hand fitted to the upper receiver using Mega Arms’ custom lockup system; M-LOK forends will be available in the future. The barrels are medium weight 16″ 416 stainless steel with 11 degree target crowns. They are fitted with Gemtech Jake Brakes and are treated with black nitride inside and out for superior corrosion resistance. One thing to note is that the Heavy’s upper does not incorporate a Forward Assist. This is a holdover from the MATEN. According to Mega, most .308 BCGs don’t have serrations so the BCG wouldn’t do much good.
The lower receivers feature ambidextrous bolt releases and BAD-CASS selectors. The triggers are single stage, with a 4.5 lbs pull. They also come equipped with properly staked mil-spec six position receiver extensions, Magpul ACS stocks, and Magpul MOE+ pistol grips. The Specter Light comes with enhanced takedown and pivot pins directly from the factory.
As I stated up front, I used this experience as a familiarity shoot and came away very pleased. Numerous people fired the weapons in both Light and Heavy configurations. Several times we had to wait for weapons to cool down due to the amount of rounds fired. I only noted the firing pin issue during the entire range session. In addition to our range, the rifles were used the day prior by every competitor during one of the stages of the Green Beret Foundation fundraiser shoot. There were no malfunctions noted during that event and no one complained about the weapon’s accuracy during the competition. While the range was not optimized for an accuracy evaluation, I hope to get the opportunity soon.
Dale Comstock Retired SF NCO, former Delta member, contractor and author has teamed with Tactical Black Firearms to introduce a line of AR15-style rifles. For this article we’ll concentrate on the Everyman model.
Features
-Fully adjustable Magpul collapsible stock
-Magpul forend
-Vertical foregrip
-Flip-up rear sight
-A2 Front sight, F-Marked Front sight post
-Custom Dale Comstock engraved 7075-T6 Premium lower receiver by Tactical Black Firearms (TBF)
-TBF Premium upper receiver
-Premium 16″ Barrel
-.750″ diameter F-marked front sight base with sling swivel. High pressure tested and magnetic particle inspected and then phosphate coated. -Carbine-length gas system
-1 in 7″ twist rate
-Chrome-lined bore
-HPT/MPI Barrel
-M4 Feed ramps
-M16 Bolt Carrier Group
-Carpenter 158 Bolt, and a full profile chrome lined carrier. Bolt is made of shot-peened, Mil-spec Carpenter 158 steel. Gas key is secured with grade 8 fasteners and staked. Bolt carrier is parkerized outside and chrome lined inside.
-Iron Viper Products ambi selector
-Modern Survival Straps Comstock Carbine sling
-HEXMAG 30 round standard magazine (where legal)
Note: 15 round available to Colorado residents – NOV 2014
Available in Black, Original Tigerstripe and Comstock Desert Tigerstripe.
shop.tacticalblackfirearms.com/Dale-Comstock-Everyman-Spartan-AR15-Carbine
Last week I had the opportunity to try out Grey Ghost Precision’s new Specter heavy and light rifles. These are manufactured exclusively for GGP by Mega Arms. One of the 5.56mm light guns had an interesting charging handle. At the time, the new Slide Lock was still under press blackout but they allowed me to snap a photo for when it did come out.
Well, it’s out now. The patent pending design is ambidextrous but doesn’t rely on all of the moving parts that rival makers incorporate into their designs. Instead, it’s pretty straight forward. Much of the design has to do with the tooth on the catch. Rather than a sharp tooth it is more angled which allows for an easier opening on the pull. You can’t say there aren’t any moving pieces because there are. It’s just simpler than everything else out there.
What’s more, it works. I messed with it quite a bit to get a feel for how well it locked and unlocked as well as the pull. I must admit, I had a smile on my face as I cycled the Slide Lock over and over.
So far, the Slide Lock is only available for 5.56mm AR-style platforms, but Mega is working on a 7.62mm compatible version.
Here, Jason Curns, Firearms Manager at Mega Arms goes over the new charging handle.
Coming soon from MegaArms.com.
Yesterday, I had the chance to visit Pennsylvania-based Lancer Systems. All I really knew about them is that they make a great AR magazine along with some really cool 3-Gun carbines. Aside from with the carbon fiber furniture, the guns’ most prominent feature is the flared Magwell.
The thing about these Magwells is that they were originally a component in a modular lower receiver that could be swapped out for different degrees of flare. Think of this as a big funnel that, once you get your magazine into, it’s going to seat home and I can tell you, this isn’t some 3-gun gimmick, it works.
The story I’m told by Lancer’s Director of Advanced Weapons & Components Ty Weaver, is that someone with the Army saw this feature but mentioned that there was no way they were going to buy a million new lower receivers. That’s when the engineers at Lancer Systems went to work and developed the two-piece Adaptive Magwell which can be retrofit to any mil-spec AR lower receiver as well as few others. It will give your existing rifle that flared Magwell.
One thing that is required to mount the Enhanced Magwell is a standard AR-style triggerguard because the Magwell mounts into the triggerguard slot in front of the trigger. The two-piece design was meant to accommodate slight variances in AR Magwells. It’s available right now and mounts using an Allen wrench.
That Allen Wrench was a point of contention for GI use since most troops don’t run around with tools, so Lancer Systems came up with a one-piece design that can be mounted using the tip of a 5.56mm cartridge. Prototypes were made by welding the current two-piece models into a single unit. This eliminated the need for an Allen wrench.
You may also notice that the Enhanced Magwell opens up the trigger guard a bit which can help while wearing gloves. But, you’ll also notice it doesn’t widen the gap under the trigger so you won’t get caught under it.
Some readers may not understand the advantage to a flared Magwell, so now that we’ve talked about how easy it is to install, I’d like to explain what using it did for me during a range session. I ran numerous reload drills. I didn’t have to remove my carbine from my shoulder and put the Magwell into my workspace in order to see what I was doing out of the edge of my vision. Instead, I kept the weapon shouldered and was able to guide the magazine into the enlarged Magwell while keeping my attention on what was in front of me. For me, that was the huge advantage and sped up my reload times.
The Lancer Systems Adaptive Magwell is great for anyone that wants to incorporate a flared magwell into an existing rifle in order to speed up magazine changes. Because it allows the weapon to be returned to its original configuration by removing the magwell, it should be an attractive option for law-enforcement and military use. The two-piece model is available now and can be easily installed with the supplied Allen wrench. The new one-piece version which can be installed using a cartridge tip comes out around SHOT Show.
If all of that doesn’t sound good enough, how about this? It’s only $99.99 retail.
store.lancer-systems.com/product/adaptive-magwell/rifle_accessories