Sons Of Liberty Gunworks M4-76 Giveaway
It's a new year and a new month, and that means it's time for another Primary Arms AR-15 Giveaway! This month, we've decked out a Sons of Liberty Gun Works M4-76 with some of the best optics and accessories available.
Drawing from premium brands like Sons of Liberty Gun Works, SureFire, Expo Arms, Blue Force Gear, and our very finest Primary Arms Optics, we've put together a compact and maneuverable tack driver. The complete package is valued at over $4000, but we'll be giving it away to one lucky reader completely free.
As always, no purchase of any kind is necessary to enter. Just click the button below, fill out some basic information, and claim your entry!
If you'd like to know more about how we put together our M4-76 rifle or why we chose the parts and accessories we did, just keep reading. We'll go through the entire thing, part by part.
The Rifle
The core of our build comes courtesy of Sons of Liberty Gun Works: an M4-76 AR-15 with a 13.7" barrel and a pinned and welded muzzle device. SOLGW is one of the most respected modern manufacturers of AR-15s, each of their rifles an amalgam of high-grade OEM components and in-house innovations. They've built their reputation by offering high-value AR-15s that punch well above their weight class, and it shows in their M4-76 line.
The M4-76 we selected for our build utilizes a 4150 CMV steel 13.7" barrel with a 1:7 twist rate and a midlength gas system. While 1:8 has been growing in popularity these past years and is considered by some to be the ideal twist rate for AR-15s, we prefer the traditional 1:7 rate for this build. Given the shorter barrel, we want to be able to use heavy 77-grain bullets to engage long-range targets. The slightly faster twist rate will ensure proper stabilization with even the heaviest of 5.56 rounds.
The barrel is nitrided rather than fully chrome-lined. While there is some debate about whether or not chrome-lining has any discernable negative effects on accuracy, we can be certain nitriding won't hurt one bit, so that's generally our preference when accuracy is a priority.
At the business end of the barrel, you'll find SOLGW's ever-popular Nox muzzle device properly timed and welded in place. This ensures the rifle meets the legal requirements of NFA regulation and serves as a perfect QD mounting platform for any KeyMo-compatible suppressor. Or, for those in states that prohibit suppressor ownership, it can be used standalone to both tame muzzle rise and limit flash.
Around the barrel, you'll find a full-length M-LOK handguard that's been heavily skeletonized to reduce weight. The upper receiver features T-marks for reference when installing or moving optics, which is a small feature, but a very convenient one often skipped by even premium manufacturers. The inside is dry film lubricated to decrease friction on the bolt carrier group, as well.
The M4-76 is a practical rifle—you won't find many extra frills or fancy competition parts here. The upper receiver features SOLGW's ambidextrous charging handle, but beyond that, the controls are simple, rugged, and effective. The Liberty Fighting Trigger is a perfect example; it's nickel-boron coated and polished for a smooth pull, but every bit as heavy as a mil-spec trigger, allowing for accurate fire without compromising safety.
Unlike many of its peers, the M4-76 uses an A5 buffer system. Pioneered by VLTOR, this buffer system reduces bolt carrier speed and decreases wear on your rifle while improving reliability. Combined with the midlength gas system, it makes for an exceptionally smooth and soft-recoiling rifle.
The Optics
Quality, purpose-driven optics are a huge part of what set mediocre rifles apart from excellent ones. Your optic is one of the primary interfaces between you and your rifle and has a larger effect on performance than any other single part, so it's essential not to skimp.
For this build, the optic needs to be as versatile as the rifle: optimized for long-range performance, but highly capable of short-range engagements as well.
Naturally, we opted for our exceptional PLx® Compact 1-8x scope. For starters, it's nearly as short and light as 1-8x scopes can be at less than 17 ounces and only 9.28 inches long. This complements our rifle perfectly, adding a ton of available magnification with minimal weight and bulk.
The scope uses Japanese Extra-Low Dispersion glass lenses to achieve incredible brightness and image quality, which is especially important for precision target engagement with a low-power variable optic; you can't rely on excess magnification for a detailed target picture, so a clear, correct image is essential, and the PLx Compact delivers.
The primary benefit of the compact barrel on this build is improved short-range capability, though, and the PLxC has a lot to offer on that front as well. The eye box is exceptionally forgiving for a 1-8x optic, making it quick and easy to acquire a sight picture, even at very short ranges.
The reticle assists here as well, offering an illuminated horseshoe and chevron for effecting aiming at any distance and in any lighting conditions. The horseshoe offers a big, bold reference for rapid short-range shots, while the chevron can be used in its entirety for fast, precise hits. The point of the chevron provides an infinitely small aiming point as well, making it perfect for long-range shots demanding ultimate precision.
The illumination is powered by our AutoLive® tech, allowing it to self-deactivate during long periods of inactivity, such as when stored, then instantly reactivate when moved. It's a convenient feature for anyone since it saves users from having to remember to turn off their scope after every use, but it's especially valuable for those who want to use their rifle for defensive applications, as it allows the scope to be stored turned on and ready for action.
The PLx Compact 1-8x is available with three different reticles, but we opted for the ACSS® Raptor M8 Yard 5.56 / .308 Reticle. Rifles of this type have traditionally been used to dynamically engage targets that may be moving or otherwise challenging, rather than shoot precise groups from a benchrest, so we felt the BDC offered by the Raptor M8 was the best fit.
The BDC offers estimated holds for drop and wind drift out to 800 yards, making it perfect for a 5.56 rifle. It also integrates auto-ranging tools using both target width and height, and since the reticle is located in the first focal plane, ranging is possible at any magnification level.
Lastly, the PLxC offers a few quality-of-life features that aren't essential for every rifle but come in rather handy on our M4-76. The integrated magnification adjustment lever on the magnification ring is the first—since our rifle is intended to engage targets at both long- and short-range, and may have to switch between the two rapidly, being able to quickly change magnification is essential. The magnification lever makes that easy, even from unconventional positions or with sweaty hands.
Interchangeable turret caps are the other feature we're particularly fond of for this rifle. While many LPVOs are zeroed and then never adjusted again, precision shots are half of our rifle's use case, so we want to be able to dial for drop if preferred. Switching out the capped turret for a tactical exposed one makes that considerably faster and easier.
The Accessories
Tactical firearms and flashlights go together like pistols and holsters—they might not be technically required for function, but they do make the firearm a whole lot more practical. No one gets to choose the time of day when they'll have to defend themselves, so it's important to be prepared for as many scenarios as possible.
For our build's weapon light, we went with a SureFire M640DF Scout Light Pro. SureFire is one of the oldest and most respected names in the business, having built weapon lights for police and military personnel for decades.
The M640DF is one of their newest models, packing a blazing 1500 lumens of output when used with a rechargeable 18650 cell. That prodigious level of output means it's suitable not only for indoor use but for a lot of outdoor applications as well.
It's a dual-fuel light, so users have the option to choose between 18650 rechargeable cells or disposable CR123A batteries. It's a convenient feature, especially for those times when your light is fading, but you don't have another rechargeable battery ready. Still, you will need to use 18650s to achieve maximum output. CR123As are only capable of generating 1200 lumens in the M640DF—which is still more than enough for most applications.
With many lights, the factory mount goes immediately from the package to the spare parts bin as it's replaced with something more tailored, but with this SureFire, the factory mount is more than satisfactory. SureFire's Pro Mount comes with adaptors for either Picatinny or M-LOK rails and can be precisely tuned for angle, letting users tuck their light as close to their rail as they like or maneuver it around other accessories, like an IR unit.
While we usually prefer to keep rifles pretty barebones to reduce weight and snag potential, we felt it necessary to add a sling in addition to a light. Slings are massively versatile and useful for a wide range of applications, whether it's keeping the gun affixed to your person while you work light switches and doorknobs in a home defense scenario or getting the rifle out of your hands while hiking to a hunting camp.
Slings are beneficial for certain types of target engagement, as well. When firing from an improvised position, a sling can be used to form a more stable firing platform, which is especially important if the target is more than a couple hundred yards away.
For our sling, we picked a Blue Force Gear VCAS Push Button sling. It's a tough, no-nonsense sling with a rapid-adjustment tab and push-button detachment swivels. The rapid adjustment tab is key for our purposes—as with switching magnification levels, we want our rifle to be able to switch from a tightened down, supported firing position to a loose and mobile one as fast as possible.
The push-button detachment swivels are mostly a convenience, allowing the sling to be stored separately from the rifle or detached for cleaning and transport, but it also serves as an emergency release should your rifle or sling get caught on something while you're moving. Rather than stop and try to untangle it, you simply pop one of the push-button swivels, pull the whole thing free, and keep moving.
Summary
The M4-76's 13.7" barrel marks it as a rifle optimized to be as short as possible without necessitating a tax stamp, but that doesn't mean it has to be limited to close-quarters target engagement. With the right optic and ammunition selection, it's more than capable of ringing the gong out to 500 yards or more, and for this rifle, our PLx Compact 1-8x scope is definitely the right optic.
To claim your entry for our SOLGW M4-76 AR-15 Rifle Giveaway, just click the button at the top of this page. The total value of the giveaway package is $4030.91. Some terms and conditions apply. The giveaway ends January 31st, 2023, at 11:59 pm CST.
At the end of the giveaway, we will contact the winner via email by February 3rd. The winner MUST be legally able to possess a firearm in compliance with federal, state, and local laws; and pass a federal background check. The winner is responsible for all taxes. Exclusions apply, and no purchase is necessary. A full list of terms and conditions is visible through the Giveaway Landing Page.