Picked up my pac-lite barrel from him this evening. Nice young man, and great communication thru the whole deal. I recommend.
Alright, first let me say that Dustin did a great job and his modification made this firearm drastically more usable for hunting purposes. The balance / center of gravity difference is substantial. Also to Dustin's credit, he brought the upper back in the exact condition it was in when I gave it to him. There are no tool marks, no new scratches (read above where he talks about his difficulties with the brake) and no metal shavings.
Now to the pics. I'm disappointed that I did not take more pictures prior to his work - in fact, I have just the one already posted above (link now broken).
Before:
[Broken External Image]
After:
[Broken External Image]
[Broken External Image]
Closer look at the barrel / brake:
[Broken External Image]
[Broken External Image]
Comparing (roughly) length vs 16" armalite 5.56:
[Broken External Image]
[Broken External Image]
Excuse the dog. She figured out I was up to something important and naturally could not resist the opportunity to get in the way.
I received the upper back from Dustin this afternoon and did not feel like going to shoot in this heat, thus I can not report at this time on the gas port adjustment he made to compensate for the pressure differences of the shorter barrel. Based on the quality of the rest of the job, I have little doubt that he got it right. That said, I will update this again after I have had a chance to put a few rounds down the tube.
Tom