Okay, today we’re going to start off with a bit of a rant, but I promise it will all make sense in a moment.
I personally believe that insurance companies and car manufacturers killed colored cars outside of white, gray, and black. Think back to the old days when it came to cars. You would see more reds, yellows, blues, oranges, and all kinds of other colors. Now, you drive anywhere and just see a sea of the same colored cars over and over again. Honestly, it’s very boring.

I believe insurance companies and car manufacturers didn’t like all those other colors because it makes it harder to simply swap parts when you have multiple colors. They can charge you more to redo something when, in reality, they’re not really doing anything at all other than pulling something off the line.
I guess what I’m saying is this: bring back fancy colors on cars that aren’t just reserved for fancy cars. I want to see more colors on the road than just black, white, and gray because it gets very old and monotonous.

GunTec USA Neon Yellow AR-15 Furniture

I brought that up so I could talk about today’s review.
For those of you who follow us on Instagram, you probably already know that we got a kit in from GunTec USA to review. The kit includes neon yellow AR-15 furniture and accent pieces. This particular kit was a Christmas prize won by one of the crew members at our Christmas party last year. Yes, I know it’s almost Christmas again, but we finally had the opportunity to sit down and actually build the gun out.

For this particular build, we started with a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle.
Another company that played a role in this build was Real Avid. We used their AR-15 Armorer’s Master Kit, which includes the tools needed to build and customize an AR-15. Boy, did this kit come in handy.
The combination of the GunTec USA furniture and the Real Avid armorer’s kit gave us what we needed to turn the standard rifle into something much more unique.

Why Build a Neon Yellow AR-15?

I know there are a lot of you out there who don’t like flashy colors. A red, yellow, or one of these other non-black, tan, or green guns may not be your cup of tea, and that’s perfectly understandable.
If it’s not for you, it’s not for you.
But this is something that I personally like. I enjoy having a customized gun that is built specifically for me and the way I want it.

I’m not taking this rifle out into the woods and trying to camouflage it. I’m using this gun to shoot a target, and so are the crew members. If I want to have a camouflaged gun, I can build one. This particular gun was going to be neon yellow because that is his favorite color.
I’m also really tired of hearing people say over and over again, “Why did you mess up that gun by making it ugly like that?”

I don’t believe guns need to have a reason.
You don’t have to have an excuse for every gun you own. Sometimes they are just fun guns to own. other times they are a work gun. Sometimes they are meant to be your concealed carry gun. There are different reasons to build different firearms.
For those of you who want to keep your rifle completely stock, leave everything black, or only use the most functional pieces possible, that’s great. You do you.
We’re going to enjoy making our guns unique and building them around what we enjoy. That’s exactly what we did here.

What Comes in the GunTec USA AR-15 Furniture and Accent Kit

Let’s talk about what comes in the GunTec USA AR-15 furniture and accent kit.

• Mag catch lever
• Gen 3 Ejection Port Door (Gate) – fits forged/billet uppers
• Multi-degree short-throw ambidextrous safety
• 5.56 Charging handle
• Extended takedown pin set
• Anti-rotation pin set
• Forward assist
• Extended mag catch release
• Extended bolt catch release
• Enhanced trigger guard 
• Handguard: US-made, T6 aluminum, 15-inch extended length, M-LOK system, 1.34-inch internal diameter, includes proprietary barrel nut (10.8 oz)
• Stock: 5.56 caliber, high-density polymer, matte black with neon yellow buffer tube, neoprene rubber buttpad, includes buffer tube, end plate, castle nut, H1 buffer, chrome recoil spring, and QD swivel (19 oz total kit weight)
• Pistol Grip: US-made, skeletonized cut-out design with ergonomic finger grooves (3.6 oz)

The purpose of this kit was to give us the pieces we needed to transform the appearance of the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 and give the rifle the neon yellow look we wanted.
One thing you will notice is that there is no bolt carrier group included.
A lot of people might want a bolt carrier group included, but personally, we planned on changing the standard bolt carrier group that was already in this rifle to a nickel boron bolt carrier group. That has been our go-to preference for bolt carrier groups whenever we have the opportunity to make the change.
So, while the existing bolt carrier group was perfectly usable for this build, we already knew that it wasn’t going to be the final configuration.

Real Avid AR-15 Armorer’s Master Kit

The other major part of this build was the Real Avid AR-15 Armorer’s Master Kit.
Let’s talk about what comes in the Real Avid AR-15 Armorer’s Master Kit and the tools that come with it.

The Real Avid Armorer’s Master Kit – AR15 includes a complete collection of specialized gunsmithing and assembly tools housed in a professional storage case: [1, 2]

• Armorer’s Master Wrench: Multi-function wrench with torque wrench attachments and interchangeable hammer heads (rubber, polymer, and brass).
• Lug-Lok Upper Vise Block™: Secures the AR-15 upper receiver into a bench vise via barrel extension locking lugs at multiple angles.
• Smart-Fit® AR15 Vise Block: Inserts into and expands inside the lower receiver’s magazine well for a tight, wobble-free fit in a bench vise.
• Master Bench Block: 11-function/multi-orientation block designed to hold up to 5 components and support 13 different pin capabilities.
• Easy-Grip Handguard Removal Tool: Simplifies delta ring compression and handguard swaps.
• AR15 Pivot Pin Tool / Pivot Lock: Assists with easy installation and removal of the stubborn front pivot pin.
• Pin Punch Set & Stacking/Starter Punches: Precision punches ranging from 1/16″ to 5/32″.
• Pin Alignment Tool: Helps line up roll pins during assembly.
• Accu-Grip Picks & Brushes: Precision picks and cleaning/detailing brushes.
• Bore Illuminator / Safety Flag: Chamber safety indicator and barrel inspection light.
• Front Sight Adjuster Tool: A-frame/gas block front sight adjustment tool.

Now, this is not a review on how to build an AR-15, how to dismantle one, or how to use every individual tool included in the armorer’s kit. This is about discussing the different challenges we had with this particular build and the direction we ended up taking with it.
The Real Avid kit ended up being extremely useful, especially once we started working on the upper receiver.

Starting With the Lower Receiver

First things first, we wanted to start with the lower receiver.
We stripped off the grip, safety selector, buttstock, pivot pin, and takedown pin from the gun. We also removed the magazine release because all of these pieces needed to come off before we could start putting everything back together.
The first thing I did was install the new pivot pin. One thing you will notice about this pivot pin is that it has a thicker head. That gives you a little more grip when you’re trying to pull the gun apart, which I really like.
It’s not a flat-faced, normal-looking pivot pin or takedown pin, and that small change makes a difference in how easy it is to grab.

After that, we added the extended magazine release.
The extended magazine release uses the same spring and magazine catch, so all you’re really changing in this case is the button and adding the extension to the magazine release. That means you can reuse the existing parts instead of throwing away a bunch of extra pieces.

Anti-Rotation Trigger Pins

The really cool part was replacing the trigger pins with anti-rotation pins.
I really like the accent anti-rotation bars on both sides. They add a nice pop of color to the gun, and they fit the overall look we were going for with the neon yellow build.
The next thing we added was the skeletonized aluminum grip and the safety selector.
The safety selector gives you a lot of options for where you want to set your safe and fire positions. That can make it more comfortable depending on the shooter.

However, it isn’t always guaranteed to be locked into the correct position for safe and fire right out of the box, so you may need to adjust it once you have the safety attached on both sides.
The adjustment itself is simple. You back out the screw and then tighten it back up once you have the position where you want it.

Installing the Buffer Tube and Stock

After that, it was a very quick installation of the buffer tube and stock.
In this particular case, the kit does not come with a back plate. This is something we do intend to change in the future because we want to have a QD mount on the back, but we did not order one at this time.
For this build, we simply put the gun together as it was.
At this point, you can see that the lower was completely put back together. Everything was very quick and easy to change.

I didn’t have to remove the trigger. I didn’t have to remove springs. All I had to do was punch out the old trigger pins and replace them with the new pins in one go.
That made this a very quick and easy job. They really thought about making the process as quick and painless as possible for the person rebuilding the gun.
Unfortunately, this was the end of our easy street.
Moving on to the upper receiver is where we started running into difficulties, thanks to Smith & Wesson apparently never wanting anything to ever come undone.

Working on the Smith & Wesson M&P 15 Upper Receiver

One of the reasons this particular firearm was purchased was because it came with a plastic handguard, which brought the price down significantly.
It also didn’t have an A2 front post sight. Instead, it had a large railed gas block.
That gas block had to come off because the handguard included in the kit required a low-profile gas block which we ordered from KAK.
The first thing we did was pull out our Delta ring pliers from the Real Avid armorer’s kit.
I truly appreciate having Delta ring pliers in a kit like this because they make life so much easier when you’re taking apart guns that use handguards with Delta rings.
The pliers made it very quick and easy for us to get the handguard off and start getting access to everything else we needed on the upper.

After that, we removed the set screw in the gas block and then punched out the roll pin in the gas block.
That roll pin had some sort of sealant on it and required us to take a blowtorch to it before we could remove it.
That’s something I had never seen before.
I believe someone put some type of Rocksett or similar material into the roll pin when installing it into the gas tube, and we had to burn it out.
We did bend up a few of our punches in the process, but thankfully, all of the punches needed for building and rebuilding an AR-15 come in the Real Avid armorer’s kit.

Removing the Rocksett from the Delta Ring

This is where the real trouble started.
Obviously, I don’t want to put the upper receiver directly into a vise because there isn’t really a great way to grip it without having some type of vise block to lock everything down.
Thankfully, the Real Avid AR-15 Armorer’s Master Kit comes with an upper receiver barrel extension catch.
What this does is match the lugs on the inside of an AR-15 barrel and allow you to lock down on those lugs when you’re trying to crank down on either a muzzle device or, in this particular case, a Delta ring.

This is where the trouble really started hitting us because the Delta ring was Rockset into the receiver.
First, we had to take a propane torch to the Delta ring so we could burn off as much of the Rocksett as possible.
We had to do this very slowly, and honestly, it was something that really didn’t need to happen from the factory.
Whoever built this particular firearm went extremely heavy on the Rocksett, making it a bear to remove.
In the end, we had to attach a four-foot breaker bar to the Delta ring wrench just to break it free.
That’s not something you want to be doing because putting that much torque onto the barrel or anything else could cause a catastrophic failure if you’re not careful.
Thankfully, in this case, nothing was damaged.

Installing the Gas Tube and Low-Profile Gas Block

At this point, we started tackling the gas tube and the new low-profile gas block.
One thing that came in handy was having tweezers to hold the roll pin while pushing it into the gas block.
That made the process much easier.
I truly appreciate having some type of pliers(tweezers) that are non-marring and non-pinching for putting in roll pins throughout the build.

As you can see, we had pliers and hammers out while getting everything set up.
In the next photo, it looks like we had already set the gas tube, but that was really just to verify fitment before we added the correct spacers, handguard, and barrel nut.
There is one particular thing you do not want to do out of order if you’re building an AR-15.
If you forget, like some of us have, me in particular, to put your barrel nut on before you put your gas block on, you will have to take the gas block back off.
That can be a real pain.

So, while we still had the handguard off, I quickly added the new dust cover.
I think the dust cover is a very nice feature because it gives the gun another nice pop of color.
After that, it was a very simple and quick change of the plunger from black to the neon yellow version.
Then we could mount the handguard and gas block onto the gun.
The last thing we did wasn’t really an installation, but we added the bolt carrier group and charging handle.
Since those components come in and out and aren’t really a build portion of the process, they weren’t much of an issue.

Finishing the Neon Yellow AR-15 Build

One thing you will notice is that we have a three-vent muzzle device.
However, this gun will be getting an inexpensive suppressor in the very near future.
On top of the gun, we added a one-to-six-power SIG Sauer optic.
If you’re looking for some really nice optics, I do have a lot of companies, such as Sig Optics, Sightmark, and Riton Optics; all of them make optics I would highly recommend for your next firearm.

Taking the AR-15 to the Range

After all of this was built out, we laser-sighted the optic to 25 yards.
Then we took it out to the range, sighted it in, and started shooting it.
We have put a couple hundred rounds through this gun so far, and I will say that I really love the fit and finish of all the parts.

I love how the gun looks, and I love how it feels in my hands.
The one-to-six-power optic is perfect for the type of shooting we intend to do with this gun.
The rifle is chambered in 5.56 and not 300 Blackout, so we’re not worried about this becoming a hog gun.
For his hog guns, he already has a thermal optic on the gun, so there really isn’t a reason to turn this particular rifle into another hog gun.
This rifle was built to be something different.
It was built to be fun, customized, and unique.

GunTec USA AR-15 Furniture Final Thoughts

If you’re looking to upgrade your AR-15, I highly recommend checking out GunTec USA and all of the furniture and accent pieces you can get for your gun.
It could be as simple as upgrading your charging handle or even just throwing on a new handguard.
It really depends on what you want.
You don’t have to buy everything.
You can simply buy what you need when you need it.
That’s one of the nice things about these parts. You can make changes based on what you want instead of having to completely rebuild the firearm around a single kit.
At the same time, GunTec USA does sell these as whole kits, so you can purchase everything you need to upgrade your rifle in one go.

That saves time because you don’t have to pick out every individual part.
One thing I will say in the end is that this gun truly needs a nickel boron bolt carrier group.
I think that would make this gun shoot much smoother and much faster than it currently does.
We have no intention of putting a go-fast trigger or anything special into this gun.
We just want this to be a standard AR-15 that looks cool.
That’s really what this build comes down to.

Not every gun needs to be serious. Not every gun needs to be black, tan, or green. Sometimes you can simply build something because you like it.
That’s exactly what we did with this neon yellow AR-15.
If you’re looking for a way to make your AR-15 stand out, GunTec USA gives you the option to do exactly that, whether you want a complete furniture and accent kit or just a single piece to change the look of your rifle.
Let us know what color AR-15 parts you want for your next build.