AR-15 gas blocks

[Light Infantry]

Another one of my questions on AR-15's.

As I may have stated previously, I have been shooting AR's for a long time (started my career with an FN and ended it with a C7), but never got into modifying them. My young son is now very keen and i have been helping him modify an AR. We have been looking at the various hand guards that are available, and looking to buy one. So now from what I gather we will be changing out the front sight/gas block to a low profile gas block.

He also wants to extend the hand guard past the gas block, with free float hand guard that has M-Lok so he can install accessories on it.

We are doing this on my Norinco. As I said to him, we will play with accessories on the cheap gun and play around until he finds what he really wants and then we will upgrade to another AR.

We are keeping this as a budget build, so we are not looking for high end parts. Just good parts that are reliable and have a good reputation.

So my questions are:

What is a good cheap low profile gas block to buy?
How easy is it to install? I.e. are there gas hole alignment issues i need to watch for etc? Or is it a plug and play type thing?
What hand guard would you recommend? Although we are being budget conscious, he wants it to look cool! LOL. He is only 17 after all.
For the hand guard, straight forward install once again?

For those interested, this is what we.he has done so far. He had a Magpul AFG on it, but decided to go with the vertical grip instead.

 

[CanAR15]

Another one of my questions on AR-15's.

As I may have stated previously, I have been shooting AR's for a long time (started my career with an FN and ended it with a C7), but never got into modifying them. My young son is now very keen and i have been helping him modify an AR. We have been looking at the various hand guards that are available, and looking to buy one. So now from what I gather we will be changing out the front sight/gas block to a low profile gas block.

He also wants to extend the hand guard past the gas block, with free float hand guard that has M-Lok so he can install accessories on it.

We are doing this on my Norinco. As I said to him, we will play with accessories on the cheap gun and play around until he finds what he really wants and then we will upgrade to another AR.

We are keeping this as a budget build, so we are not looking for high end parts. Just good parts that are reliable and have a good reputation.

So my questions are:

What is a good cheap low profile gas block to buy?
How easy is it to install? I.e. are there gas hole alignment issues i need to watch for etc? Or is it a plug and play type thing?
What hand guard would you recommend? Although we are being budget conscious, he wants it to look cool! LOL. He is only 17 after all.
For the hand guard, straight forward install once again?

For those interested, this is what we.he has done so far. He had a Magpul AFG on it, but decided to go with the vertical grip instead.

That front sight gas block is already pinned so IMO that's the most secure way to have it attached. An option is to pull off the gas block and cut off (hacksaw/grinder/dremel) the sling, bayonet mount and then most of the front sight down to where the gas tube is pinned. Lots of Youtube videos on how to do this. This will allow a free float rail to fit over and still have a usable and very secure gas block. Another benefit to this it that the gas block will always be aligned with the gas hole in the barrel. If he can deal with a non free float hand guard, I would recommend the Magpul SL (slim line) which will give him some extra length without losing the fsb and is m-lok compatible.

There are lots of free float rails out there it just depends on $ and availability right now. Our dollar is absolute $hit so anything coming from the states will be more expensive.