To all enlisted members

[Kyle7]

Hello,
I have a question for all currently enlisted members of the Hide, specifically the Army. I am just curious if one can provide and use their own weapon upgrades on their issued rifle, such as the rear hand grip, foregrip, stock, etc... Ideally, i would like to have the Magpul MIAD grip, AFG, MBUS sights, MOE carbine stock, and the Magpul trigger guard on my service rifle. Thank you!

 

[Slapchop]

Call me crazy but why not just ask your Plt Sgt/Section Leader/Company CO? I'm sure any answer you get from them will be better than any answer you get here.

 

[docdredd]

Depends on the unit, Commander, Mission yadda yadda.

back during the invasion we ran pretty much anything we wanted, including hillbilly armor on Humvees, Home brew suppressors made in machine shops, Personal weapons that "accidentally" made the trip across the pond and a bunch of other un approved stuff.
But nowadays? In a more garrison environment? I doubt it.

 

[Hairball]

Not enlisted anymore; however, when I was stationed with various Marine units it was strictly issued stuff only. While some would try and add their own gear and even buy their own bpv, once someone up the chain noticed it would be corrected. They even banned underarmor apparel the last time I deployed.

 

[catatonic]

It is mostly up to you command to let you get away with gear and weapons modifications. That said, the Army as a whole frowns upon people going above -10 level if they are not armorers, and -10 level is a very small window of modifications. Trigger guard and grip will most likely be a no go. Stock, probably not either. An AFG and a rear MBUS shouldn't be too much of a problem. But as I said before, that's command dependent.

 

[batman292]

My troop allows us to add anything from optics to bipods/foregrips. As long as we maintain what we are signed for.

 

[Switchblade]

Command, Squad Leader, Team Leader, just depends on what they said back in OEF VII, as much as it will today. POG's will say no, dirt huggers will say, uh yeah, whatever the fuck you want, fill those damn sand bags and be quick about it

 

[nickforney]

Don't just swap out your mil gear with magpul crap. Why would you swap a good rear sight for a magpul mbus? generally the stock is ok for any unit you will just have to maintain the other stock. If you are in garrison that generally means you draw it from the arms room swap out the stock then when it goes back to the arms room the mil stock goes back on. Also remember anything you put on that goes back into the arms room may very well disappear.

Simply bring in an AFG and the stock you want to use and ask the boss. Explain that you will mount after you draw it and remove when you return it. I would strongly suggest a BCM gunfighter medium charging handle. If you are down range or on your way down range carry it and then pack it up in a b or c bag. Remember on the way through manas these days you need a memo for any non issue gun parts. So expect to lose your charging handle excess stocks ect unless you pack them in the connex or get with your armorer or something. Or you could just have an O3 sign off on the memo that you draft yourself a month in advance to leaving country.

 

[Victory]

My guess is that you are in an MOS that isn't 11 series and that you haven’t shown up to your first unit yet. How close am I?

It's all in your command. I rocked an 18" Noveske upper, sopmod stock, CQBSS scope, and geissele trigger while in Astan. 95% of the conventional Army commanders would not have allowed it. There is no definite answer to this question.

 

[paramil]

We had an SOP that addressed additional gear. Might want to check with your chain of command to find you the answer.

 

[bogeybrown]

As everyone else has pointed out (yeah, I'm going to say it again too) it all depends on your command and what you're doing. Most of the units I've worked with that actually had a combat mission pretty much rocked what they wanted to but had to return their weapons to standard configuration at the end of the deployment. I've also been on camps full of FOBbits that had more cool-guy shit thrown on their rifles than the guys who actually had a chance of USING them.

For the most part, aftermarket stocks, rail covers, grips, PMAGs, etc seem to be fairly widely permitted (in the Army). Keep in mind though that the USPO in-theater prohibits you from mailing home "weapons parts" which they interpret VERY strictly, so if you bring it on deployment either plan on packing it up in your personal kit or leaving it behind because mailing it home with the rest of your excess gear is near impossible. I've watched guys throw tantrums as the postal guys pulled hundreds of dollars worth of cool-guy shit out of boxes and said "no-go". I myself got kind of shitty a few years ago when I was told I couldn't mail back a $1500 optic because it was a "weapons part". I ended up surrendering a ton of PMAGs and some other trinkets to appease them but managed to negotiate the release of the optic.

 

[ArmaHeavy]

I remember the set in stone rules as being "No internal modification of the service rifle." That bit came out of Korea when a soldier modified his Garand to hold one extra round after the rifle ran out, and launched that empty piece of metal into the stratosphere.

The guy got a court martial for his ingenuity.

Nowadays, it's a little bit simplier. The command climate(and whether they like guns) will ultimately dictate what you wear, what you shoot, if you can modify it and how much of a badass you look like in all those photos you post on facebook, send to Soldier of Fortune, and give to pretty female journalists that your trying to get some warzone lovin' with.

Will the CO of your financial service support unit approve of your DD Mk. 18 upper? Not likely. Will the CO of your Battalion recon platoon approve? More likely.

Make sure to come up with a better reason than "makes it look good."

A proper response will say that it improves your hold, and grip on the weapon, and makes it easier to control. If you shoot for shit with all the latest additions, then don't expect any of them to let you keep it on.

 

[hippyshake]

A lot of us were running 10.5 uppers and stuff without a word from higher. That was also 09 though. Ive heard a stan is a raging garrison feat now.