Del-ton, a way forward...

So I bought one for me and my son as a way to deal with the coming apocalypse on the cheap, understanding that these guns can be upgraded into something better. So do any of you have a suggestion on what that path would be?

 

Looks like a run-of-the-mill AR15. Add a good optic you like using and a light. The absolute best thing you can do is practice with it

 

id say the following list is at minimum what you need on that gun asap #1 A quality optic, anything I'd suggest will be double what the gun cost lol, a good adjustable sling a metric f*** ton of quality magazines, a good bolt carrier group and a quality weapon light.

Start out with some quality irons Daniel Defense AR-15 Iron Sight Set (Rock & Lock ®) | Daniel Defense ,

10 magazines minimum Magpul PMAG GEN M3 Window AR-15 .223 / 5.56 30-Round Magazine (gunmagwarehouse.com)

When you get the rifle remove the bolt carrier group and check to see if Delton used their HPT/MPI tested bolt visual reference here, if they didn't that's an upgrade worth doing, I recommend BCM, their bolt already has a quality extractor spring, black extractor insert and a MIL-SPEC crane O-ring. Bravo Company Manufacturing AR-15 Bolt Assembly (primaryarms.com)



padded vickers sling Blue Force Gear VCAS Vickers Padded Push Button Sling - MultiCam (primaryarms.com) QD push button swivels already included ,

You still need the M-LOK QD attachment for the rifle, only one needed as you cant use the rear qd swivel thats included with the sling on that m4 stock. Attach sling in the standard way until he upgrades his stock with something that has a QD pocket.



WML
Streamlight ProTac Rail Mount HL-X Pro Weapon Light (primaryarms.com)

M-LOK rail section for WML
Magpul M-LOK Aluminum Rail Section - 5 Slot (primaryarms.com)

 

If it kicks harder than an m4 should, consider upgrade to a Colt or equivalent H2 buffer and spring. My understanding is most ARs are overgassed, the H2 is ideal 90%+ of the time.

(ETA: weight yours first and compare buffer weights found on line)

 

Good iron sights - magpil pro, maybe magpul mbus3, other reputable metal sights (i'm not a big fan of plastic irons). I suggest folding sights.
A decent optic - holosun is hard to beat for the money, i like old Aimpoints they are almost indestructible.
White light - streamlight is great for reasonable price.
Quick adjust sling
Buy a box or two of match-grade ammo, after you're comfortable with the rifle, see what it/you can actually do for accuracy. It will be very frustrating trying to practice marksmanship will an inaccurate barrel/ammo combo. Recently my friend was getting upset with his rifle's accuracy until i gave him some of my good loads. Rifle went from 6 moa to 1.5 moa - rifle really didn't like the ammo he was using.
If you're familiar with ARs then ignore this - get familiar with the rifle controls at home, on an empty gun. One of the worst things I see are people on the range just learning their controls after a malfunction on a loaded (and jammed) rifle.

 

Thanks for all the replies, some good advice there. The first thing is going to be switching some of the controls over to left hand, and optics. Where I go from there will be determined by how well the guns shoots. I don't expect it to be MOA at 100 yrds, but some of the vids I'm watching are talking 3-6" groups and that will be hard to accept. I guess I'd be OK with 2-3".

 

The military acceptance criteria for a M4 is 5 MOA, roughly a 5” group at 100 meters. Remember that the rifles are designed to kill people not make pretty holes in paper at long distances. A minute of man rifle out to 300 meters is enough for most purposes.

 

That's M4 (fixed hand guard) with m855 ammo. Mill-spec = high volume+lowest bidder. A free floated barrel with good ammo should do much better then that.

 

Practice practice practice, then go out and get yourself a BCM or LaRue that your life can actually depend on

 

Should, but not will. If you’re stocking up for the coming apocalypse like the OP it’s probably going to be with bulk milspec ammo not expensive match grade stuff.

 

I think OPs post was a little tongue in cheek regarding an apocalypse..mostly cause nobody should rest their lives on a $400 rifle

 

Agreed. A $400 rifle is better then nothing and a good starting point.

Accepting a 5 moa rifle is like getting a soldier with 31 on the ASVAB, still "mil-spec" to be recruited. 5 moa is the absolute worst to pass as an M4, 3 moa would be an acceptable middle of the bell curve (assuming 1 moa is perfect with ball ammo).

 

M855 ammo was tested from a test stand barrel firing three groups of 30 rounds, achieving a standard deviation of 1.8” at 200 yards. In other words, 68 rounds within a 3.6” circle, 86 rounds in a 7.2” circle and all rounds within a 10.8” circle. In other words, in a perfect test scenario the ammo is capable of roughly 1.8 MOA.

 

Do you have a reference to that? I remember the 1.8"@200, but i though it was diameter, not radius.

This is what i remember - MIL-C-63989C MILITARY SPECIFICATION CARTRIDGE, 5.56MM, BALL, M855
3.11 Accuracy. Both average vertical standard deviation and
the average horizontal standard deviation shall be no greater than
6.8 inches at 600 yards, or alternatively, no greater than 1.8
inches at 200 yards using an indoor range.

OK- Sorry if I'm sidetracking THIS thread, but this might be interesting to some.

 

Or a mix of what shoots well out of the gun and some reloads for when it really counts.

 

Every thing I've read stated this weapon, while not fancy, goes bang every time. Plus, when I get done with it it won't be a $400 gun anymore. Hence the reason for this post.

 

No, not TIC. I have a lot of things going on right now that require expenditures, but current events seemed forced upon me. Like society spiraling out of control.

 

Id take a low tier 400 dollar AR15 that shoots at 5, hell maybe even 10 moa but shoots every time i dont care. As opposed to a 2400 ar that FTFs every other round. Which is exactly what happened to me as there have been QC issues with AR15 manufacturing across the board (YMMV). A gun that goes bang is better than one that doesn’t.

Most urban combat engagements will happen under 100 yards. Not to mention if you get in one the likelihood of your survival is less than 1%. The best thing you can do is employ combat avoidance strategies and defensive skills.

 

So after having the gun in my hands this is the first addition.

https://www.primaryarms.com/b5-systems-ar15-collapsible-precision-stock-black