[Chief_10Beers]

Has any of you installed a Flash Supressor from Choate? Choate Flash Hider Front Sight Ruger Mini-14 Series 580 Blue ... uctDescrip

If you have, did you do it yerself or did you take it to a gunsmith, If you did, how easy or hard was it to do the install..................

BTY, My Mini 14 is a 580.......................

 

[chill1955]

I was very dissapointed with the quality

Has any of you installed a Flash Supressor from Choate? Choate Flash Hider Front Sight Ruger Mini-14 Series 580 Blue ... uctDescrip

If you have, did you do it yerself or did you take it to a gunsmith, If you did, how easy or hard was it to do the install..................

BTY, My Mini 14 is a 580.......................

Not sure if they make one for your application but... I bought one for my 190 series stainless ranch and the suppressor was undersized and the ID was way out of round. Once I hand reamed the ID to slip fit I went ahead and put it on. I cut and crowned the barrel to 16.25". All of that combined did improve the accuracy from a 2-3" moa to a 1.16" moa on 5 rounds slow firing using 62 grain bullet. Choate did finally call me back after I had completed the project. He wanted it back to look at and I said no thanks.

 

[Amrhein]

I installed a 580 size Choate on my Mini 30, (no mods to do), works great and did it myself in under 20 min, including the drilling. You just need to keep the sight centered (use the setscrew on bottom). I wish Choate would make the M-14 style for the 580 and up, which would then fit on my older Mini 30.I have installed several Choate's on different Mini's, never had any issues, just take your time and keep things line-up

 

[Chief_10Beers]

I installed a 580 size Choate on my Mini 30, (no mods to do), works great and did it myself in under 20 min, including the drilling. You just need to keep the sight centered (use the setscrew on bottom). I wish Choate would make the M-14 style for the 580 and up, which would then fit on my older Mini 30.I have installed several Choate's on different Mini's, never had any issues, just take your time and keep things line-up

I have the 580 too and I really wanted the M-14 Look-a-Like FS. I even called Choate and they said they have no plans to Manufacture the M-14 FS for the 580 series Mini, which is a shame. What was your method of trueing up the Front Sight?

I had also installed the Choate upper Hand Guard, man, that changes the whole look of the Rifle.................................

 

[Amrhein]

I used laser bore sighters and bubble level, I also installed the M1 Carbine rear sight. the pics are of the same Mini 14 after I made the change

 

[Chief_10Beers]

I used laser bore sighters and bubble level, I also installed the M1 Carbine rear sight. the pics are of the same Mini 14 after I made the change

Thanks for the Pics and INFO. I see you have the Choate Hand Guard too........................

 

[USAF Rotorhead]

I just ordered that exact Choate flash suppressor from Midway and it is enroute to the house. I'm hoping to have time next week to install it.

I'm planning on cutting my 580-series down to 16.25, crowning it, and attempting as carefully as possible to drill it myself.

I was originally going to go with the Mo-reaper, but I ordered it back in early Feb, and it back-ordered then I just stopped getting any updates on when it would be available to be shipped. I have a time crunch on this project so I went with the Choate, but before I pulled the trigger on it I tried to find as many reviews as I could and damn near all of them were positive, so I ordered it Sunday and it shipped yesterday.

I saved about $80.00 going with the Choate over the Mo-reaper.

Amrhein's photos of his two guns helped seal the deal...they look awesome!

 

[Remotecontrol]

I put that same Choate flash supressor on my blued 582 RR. After much effort, I could't get the factory sight off -- it was hard-stuck. So, as the Choate instructions suggest, I cut off the factory sight just at the back side, which provided a guide to keep the cut straight. Took me about 10 minutes with a new hacksaw blade and cutting oil.

I used various grits of sanpaper to re-crown the OD of the cut barrel, and and a brass screw in a drill & polishing compound to lightly flare the ID (several YouTube videos show how to do all of this in detail).

Turned out far better than I expected. The new Choate FS was a tight fit, but a few taps with a hard rubber mallet did the trick. I used Red Loctite to secure the FS and the bottom set screw - I didn't drill/install roll pins; the FS is on tight and isn't going anywhere (I've shot ~100 rds since installation and it's rock solid). I was sure to align the sight before the Loctite set.

The whole operation took me about 1 1/2 hours, and the overall length of the barrel is only 1/4 inch longer than stock. Looks like it came from the factory that way.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

I put that same Choate flash supressor on my blued 582 RR. After much effort, I could't get the factory sight off -- it was hard-stuck. So, as the Choate instructions suggest, I cut off the factory sight just at the back side, which provided a guide to keep the cut straight. Took me about 10 minutes with a new hacksaw blade and cutting oil.

I used various grits of sanpaper to re-crown the OD of the cut barrel, and and a brass screw in a drill & polishing compound to lightly taper the ID (several YouTube videos show how to do all of this in detail).

Turned out far better than I expected. The new Choate FS was a tight fit, but a few taps with a hard rubber mallet did the trick. I used Red Loctite to secure the FS and the bottom set screw - I didn't drill/install roll pins; the FS is on tight and isn't going anywhere (I've shot ~100 rds since installation and it's rock solid). I was sure to align the sight before the Loctite set.

The whole operation took me about 1 1/2 hours, and the overall length of the barrel is only 1/4 inch longer than stock. Looks like it came from the factory that way.

So the Choate Instructions said to Cut the Barrel aft of the Front Sight?....................

 

[Painfulitchingandswelling]

Just Took Mine To The Gunsmith.

After looking high and low I found a Gunsmith.

Getting the Choate M-14 style flash supressor w/ barrel cut, trigger job, and a trigger stop.

I don't know this guy so I am hoping for the best. I got a pretty good feeling after meeting him.

 

[USAF Rotorhead]

I plan on cutting just a little farther than the end of the front site, but not much.

Thanks for the write-up, Remotecontrol...very good info!

 

[Remotecontrol]

So the Choate Instructions said to Cut the Barrel aft of the Front Sight?....................

The instructions suggested cutting off the stock sight if you had difficulty removing it. I think it further suggested cutting it just aft of the sight to ensure you get a straight perpendicular cut (I no longer have the instructions so I can't verify the last part). I'm not certain where the taper ends on my 582 barrel, but with the persuasion I had to use to tap the FS on, I'm glad I didn't cut any further back.

Here are some photos: one of the surgury, one just after installition was complete, and one with my longer Accu-Strut attached (kinda wish I'd bought the shorter Tactical strut now).

 

[Chief_10Beers]

The instructions suggested cutting off the sight if you had difficulty removing it.

Interesting. I'm not too keen on Cutting my Barrel. I imagine Ruger used some type adhesive on the Front Sight along with the Rollpin. I have a Heat Shrink Gun I can use to heat up the FS and if there is any adhesive, it should soften it up some.

I'm probably making this install worse than it should be as I fitted a few Grip Frames on my Blackhawks and that is a lot of tedious work. Well anyway thanks for posting on how you did your install, I really appriciate it..........................

Edit to add: Thanks for the Pics!

 

[Remotecontrol]

Honestly, I wasn't keen on cutting the barrel either. I'd read about the heat gun option for removing the front sight, but I didn't have a heat gun, and didn't want to buy one just for this. However, I did have a hacksaw and a packet of fresh blades, and after reviewing everything on the web I could find (to include this site) about cutting and crowning a rifle barrel, I dove in. I was actually surprised how smoothly everything went. I did drill a small dimple in underside of the barrel so the FS set screw would have something to grab on to. The trickiest part was aligning the sight on the new FS before the Loctite set.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Honestly, I wasn't keen on cutting the barrel either. I'd read about the heat gun option for removing the front sight, but I didn't have a heat gun, and didn't want to buy one just for this. However, I did have a hacksaw and a packet of fresh blades, and after reviewing everything on the web I could find (to include this site) about cutting and crowning a rifle barrel, I dove in. I was actually surprised how smoothly everything went. I did drill a small dimple in underside of the barrel so the FS set screw would have something to grab on to. The trickiest part was aligning the sight on the new FS before the Loctite set.

One more question, Amrhein said he used a Buble level and Bore LAZORs to align the FS, what was your method?.......................

 

[Remotecontrol]

I used a dual-axis bubble-level. It seems to have worked as the gun shoots as true as it did with the stock front sight. A laser boresight would have been great, but that's another toy I don't have.