8 ball's C8 build progress thread

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8 ball

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So, thanks to Claven2's nice C8 pics I am now doing a C8 build of my own. I will keep this thread updated as parts roll in and work progresses. So far I have a Bushmaster A1 upper, a FA Colt BCG, charging handle, delta ring and an M-16 trigger group. I have a Dlask C8 Canadian Forces marked lower on order from Dlask. He is indicating a 4 week wait for this to be built. I also have what I understand are the correct 6 hole handguards on the way. Anyway, enough talk, here is what I have in hand so far.
IMG_0605.jpg


Following is a list of parts that I am still looking for. If anyone can point me to any of the following parts it would be much appreciated.
2 position milspec buffer tube
Old style castle nut with the round holes instead of the square notches
Old style collapsable stock, either aluminum or fiberlite
A1 rear sight assembly

And lastly I have a question regarding the pistol grip. Is there a "fat" grip that is proper for the older C8's?
 
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Is this unforgivable? :redface: I am trying very hard to match the proper specs for a 1/7 chrome lined barrel. Truthfully, if I could get my hands on an LMT or DD barrel I would much rather use that and save the Colt barrel for a future build.
 
For the parkerizing, I ALWAYS use Armacoat - best parkerizing I have yet found in Canada - they do both zinc and manganese - your choice. For a C8, go with the manganese.
 
8 ball said:
Is this unforgivable? :redface: I am trying very hard to match the proper specs for a 1/7 chrome lined barrel. Truthfully, if I could get my hands on an LMT or DD barrel I would much rather use that and save the Colt barrel for a future build.
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You're building an obsolete clone: as a Colt Kool-Aid drinker I get it. Please save the barrel though...the SOCOM barrel is a lifetime barrel for most uses, get something cheaper for the clone build....please!. As for the two position stock, don't do it man, it is not functional and you can't tell anyway. Use a Diemaco or Colt 4 position. Good luck with the build, love the C8. Oh, stick an A2 aperture in the upper too...you'll have a gun that looks old school but is way more shooter friendly.
 
FWIW, I went with a 6-position extension despite the rest of the gun being more or less right because I wanted the extra functionality. I also compromised on a 1:9 twist chromed M4 bbl as a donor because I didn't want to hack up a Colt bbl, but for the ultimate in authenticity you are on the right track. Hard to beat the bbl you already have.
 
I see that you are using a selective fire bolt carrier, selector, hammer, disconnector and trigger. How authentic is this build going to be?
Will the Dlask lower allow the selector to rotate 180 degrees from "Safe"? If so, the hammer will follow the bolt foreward. With soft primered ammunition, US ATF has been able to obtain Club Fed. vacations for builders, who mistakenly thought that an auto sear was necessary to complete the cycle.
 
While it's within the realm of possibility that it could go full auto with those parts, it's highly unlikely. With the hammer riding the bolt carrier back it shouldn't have enough force to light the primer.

Having said that, to be on the safe side you should at least change out the disconnector to remove the possibility.

And if on the off chance is does go fast, remove the offending parts immediately and for the love of Pete, don't tell anybody about it.
 
Soft primers are necessary for hammer follow firing. Laddies in the US thought that as long as their DIAS was safely hidden they were golden. ATF has used hammer follow firing for convictions. They had no objection to using carefully selected ammunition. Meets the definition of "capable of firing more than one shot on a single pressure on the trigger". Don't know if the RCMP have tried.
 
FWIW, I used F/A parts in my fire control group as well, with the exception that I used an AR15 disconnector, not an M16 part. This totally eliminates slam-fire full-auto.

I would suggest you compromise on that one part, for legality reasons.

As a side-note, the first shipment of NEA rifles used the following un-moduified F/A parts:
-Trigger
-selector
-disconnector.
Their rifles had AR15 hammers, nevertheless, a bunch of their rifles started doing F/A slam-fire when the selector was rotated to the auto position. They quickly modified the remainder of their disconnectors by grinding off the tails and had dealers mod those rifles already shipped out - for obvious reasons.

F/A disconnector, trigger and selector is the combination you need to avoid. The F/A hammer plays no role unless you install an auto-sear for delayed hammer follow.
 
Among the other semi only modifications are the larger diameter firing pin collar, and the notched hammer.
Anyway, it is likely best to avoid any possible misunderstandings.
 
i find it odd that people have diemaco parts in canada. i know there were some from VERY early production that went "missing" but the ammount that are showing up on this web site is shocking. just my 2 cents.
 
I appreciate all the comments and concerns as well as some who have come forward with offers for parts. I will let everyone know what other parts have been secured once the deals have been finalized. I will probably end up using the M-16 trigger and hammer and a semi auto selector for reasons mentioned above. If I am able to source another good quality 14.5" 1/7 chrome bore barrel in the next couple months I will use that for the C8 build and save the Socom barrel for another build where it will not have to be modified. Can anyone answer my question about the original grip size for the C8's?
 
C8's use the same grip as Colt Sporter A2 HBARs. It's fatter than most current production A2 grips.

As for Diemaco parts, although Colt Canada doesn't sell to Canadians, they DO periodically supply over-run parts to Colt USA and several European customers who, in turn, do sell to civilians. If your'e inventive, you can secure the vast majority of the parts for a C7 or C8 legally.

In the case of my C8 build, the only actual Diemaco-procued parts on the rifle are the handguard and front sight post. The rest are Colt USA or Armalite parts.

My C7 clone has a lot more Diemaco parts on it, many of them sourced from Europe, the balance from the states.
 
*MALICE* said:
While it's within the realm of possibility that it could go full auto with those parts, it's highly unlikely. With the hammer riding the bolt carrier back it shouldn't have enough force to light the primer.

Having said that, to be on the safe side you should at least change out the disconnector to remove the possibility.

And if on the off chance is does go fast, remove the offending parts immediately and for the love of Pete, don't tell anybody about it.
Click to expand...

Did you miss all those "My NEA is doubling" posts?

Very nice build but I agree with Sparrow, don't destroy a valuable Colt barrel for this build. Any 14.5" will do the job just fine. Ditto on the buffer tube, why lose utility for a part that can't be distinguished without removing the stock.

Your upper does not appear to be a Diemaco unit.
 
I have full-auto parts in my AR-15, minus the selector (and obviously no auto-sear nor the holes in the receiver for the auto-sear pin). Are you guys saying that if I had an auto-capable selector in there that the disconnector might not be able to keep the hammer back? Why wouldn't it?

Also, I have a two 2-position mil-spec receiver extensions with two aluminium stocks and a 4-position mil-spec receiver extension with a plastic N-marked stock on it that I keep for a possible CAR-15 build or something in the future.

angrysoldier said:
i find it odd that people have diemaco parts in canada. i know there were some from VERY early production that went "missing" but the ammount that are showing up on this web site is shocking. just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

I thought of this too when I started seeing ambidextrous magazine releases with 1s and dots stamped on them... I won't go into details...
 
The issue is that the "tail" on the disconnector, in semi-auto, hits a ledge on the selector in full-auto mode which causes it to NOT catch the hammer if you keep the trigger pulled and the hammer thusly is NOT caught by the sear and follows the bolt carrier home. In some cases, this will simulate full-auto. NOT GOOD (in a legal sense).

If you remove the disconnector tail or use a semi-auto selector, you're good to go.
 
Now that I think about it, the auto-sear notch of my hammer is slowly chopping away my disconnector from slamming into it so hard after each shot... I'll have a semi semi-auto disconnector soon. :p
 
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