u/WAYtoomuchtimeonhand

Hey y'all I'm new here.

 

This is only the upgrade parts list. I haven't decided yet if I'm just going to buy something like the PRO2A Patriot SBR or just build the whole thing.

 

So I'm relatively new to AR projects. I've previously built an AR-9 SD build (see profile for photos) and I'm not experienced with AR-10's and would like some feedback those with experience.

 

As you can tell from the title, I'm currently building out a 8.6  BLK AR-10 and the three descriptors next to the title are almost contradictive due to their nature. A compact quality build typically doesn't inside with budget. But I'm optimistic.

 

What I currently have for the build:

 

• PDW stock/recoil system — Dead Foot Arms AR-10 PCW Stock. It includes the stock, receiver extension, recoil/plunger springs, plunger, end cap and spring cap.

• Charging handle — Breek Arms Sledgehammer AR-10/LR308 Gas Blocking Charging Handle.

• Safety — Radian Talon 45°/90° Ambidextrous Safety, 2-lever kit, black.

 

 

Build Goal:

I go hiking in the mountains a lot and after coming across some aggressive wildlife I decided to upgrade from a pistol to a powerful compact SBR.

(I'm not against paying top dollar for high quality parts when it's warranted)

 

· 8" inch barrel

I know 12" is the optimal length for ballistics but the drop off isn't that bad and I'm not trying to reach out ridiculously far. If I do later I'll optimize for that then. For now I'm doing this.

 

Why 8" inch? That's the minimum length for a lot of suppressors and I want to keep my options open till then.

 

 

Parts I'm considering:

 

Trigger — Wilson Combat TTU-3G-F, flat 3-Gun/two-stage-style unit, 3.5–4 lb.

 

Muzzle device/HUB interface — JMac RRD-360HD-30S-X37, 5/8×24.

 

Optic — SELECTED: Primary Arms SLx 1X MicroPrism Gen II, red ACSS Cyclops, SKU PA-SLX-1XMP-CYCLOPS. + Optic ARD

 

 

Any advice with the build would greatly appreciated.

Everybody already knows the H9 had a rough launch. There were problems, DD revised things, then revised more things, and they're still trying to get people to trust the pistol again.

I'm not going to spend half this post going over every problem the H9 has ever had because that's been beaten to death already.

The bigger problem now is that Daniel Defense keeps trying to fix the H9 entirely by themselves.

LET THE MODDING COMMUNITY IN!!!

The H9 is already built around a chassis system. The basic architecture is sitting right there.

So take the next version and actually make that chassis modular.

Call it the H9-M1.

H9 because that's where it came from.

M for modular.

1 for the first generation.

Look at what Sig did with the P365 and P320. Once the actual serialized portion becomes the core of the pistol, people can start building around it. Different frames, different controls, different configurations, different triggers, whatever works for that shooter.

That's what the H9 desperately needs.

Right now if you buy an H9 and there's something you don't like about it... tough shit.

And the trigger is probably the easiest example.

A LOT of people don't like the H9 trigger shoe. I'm one of them. The weird bottom-hinged safety creates an angled trigger face and there's basically no aftermarket option to replace it.

But what's crazy is Daniel Defense has already done patent work on a different trigger-safety design. Look up U.S. Patent No. 12,111,126 B2.

Even the original Hudson H9 design had provisions for a thumb safety. Hell, the current H9 parts diagram still references a thumb safety plug.

So these aren't completely alien ideas that would require somebody to reinvent the pistol from scratch.

Give people options.

Want the regular H9 trigger? Fine.

Want a flat trigger with a redesigned trigger safety? Fine.

Want a solid flat trigger with a manual thumb safety? Fine.

Let the owner decide.

Then take it one step further and actually work with the aftermarket.

And here's the frustrating part. Daniel Defense already said this was coming.

Back in September 2024, Daniel Defense's own Law Enforcement Sales Manager responded to someone asking about H9 aftermarket support and said there would “definitely be more aftermarket options in the future,” both from Daniel Defense and other manufacturers.

That was almost two years ago.

Where is it?

Yeah, we have some grips, holsters and sights. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about an actual modification ecosystem. Triggers, controls, barrels, recoil systems, frame options, real performance parts.

If companies aren't jumping in on their own, go to them. Apex, Grayguns, Wilson Combat, Dawson, VZ, whoever. Give them access to what they need to develop parts for the H9 and give them a reason to support the platform.

Because at this point Daniel Defense doesn't just have an engineering problem with the H9.

They have a reputation problem.

And quietly changing another spring or another tolerance isn't going to make people suddenly excited about the H9.

You need people posting, "Check out my H9 build." or "What trigger are you running in your H9?"

That's how you change the conversation.

And Glock is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

For years the Glock modification community was doing trigger work, undercutting trigger guards, changing grip texture, changing grip geometry, adding better optics setups and basically modifying the hell out of their guns.

Now look at Glock Gen 6.

Flat-faced trigger. Undercut trigger guard. Different grip geometry. Better texture. Beavertail changes. Thumb rests. Updated optics system.

A whole bunch of stuff the community had already shown they wanted eventually ended up influencing what the next generation of the gun looked like.

That's what Daniel Defense needs to learn from.

Stop treating people modifying the H9 like something you need to prevent.

Embrace it.

You already have the chassis architecture.

You already have other trigger concepts in your design history.

You already have a thumb safety concept buried in the original H9 design.

So use it.

Keep selling the regular H9 if you want to.

But make an H9-M1, open the platform up, give the aftermarket room to work and let the gun community turn the H9 into what they actually want it to be.

At this point I don't think Daniel Defense needs to convince everyone that the H9 was always perfect.

They just need to give people enough freedom to make it better.

So I've been rewatching the franchise lately and something keeps nagging at me.

I think the Ruska Roma crest in John Wick: Chapter 4 means more than people are giving it credit for.

The John Wick universe has always treated old-world symbols as enforceable law. The Continental is not just a hotel; it functions like sanctuary. Charon is named after the ferryman of the dead. Gold coins are not just money. Markers are blood oaths. Excommunication is treated like legal and religious banishment. The High Table uses titles like Marquis, Elder, Harbinger, Adjudicator, and it still recognizes formal duels.

This world runs on ritual, hierarchy, symbols, and consequence.

So when Chapter 4 puts emphasis on a family crest, I do not think that is random decoration.

John’s problem in Chapter 4 is not simply that he needs to be “part of a family.” A regular family member should not be able to drag an entire organization into a High Table-level duel. No serious power structure would risk its name, leadership, territory, and political position because an ordinary member wants revenge.

John needs more than membership.

He needs recognized standing.

That is why the sequence matters.

John needs to rejoin the Ruska Roma because he cannot challenge the Marquis as just John Wick.

Katia gives him a condition: kill Killa Harkan, the man responsible for her father’s death.

John kills Killa.

At that point, John has paid the price Katia demanded. His ticket is mended. He has been accepted back into the family.

But the movie does not stop there.

John is then given the crest.

That is the important part.

If the crest only meant “John is family again,” then it would be redundant. The ticket already covers that. The story would not need to put separate emphasis on the crest unless the crest was doing something different.

The ticket restores John’s membership.

The crest gives John authority.

Historically, crests and family arms were not just decoration. They were symbols of identity, authority, and representation. If someone acted on behalf of a house, lord, ruler, or family, the symbol told others whose authority that person carried.

That is what appears to be happening with John.

He is not merely John Wick anymore, and he is not just a regular Ruska Roma member either. He has been marked as someone with enough standing to carry Ruska Roma authority outward.

That is what allows the challenge to work.

The challenge is not just John walking up and demanding a duel. It becomes a formal action backed by a recognized family. The crest is the symbol that bridges John’s personal fight with Ruska Roma authority.

Katia receiving the mark too is the biggest clue.

If the crest were only about John being allowed to use the family name one time, Katia would not need to take the same mark. She is already the head of the family. She does not need proof that she belongs.

So why burn her own arm too?

Because the act binds both sides.

John is bound to the family.

The family is bound to John’s action.

That is why I do not think the crest is just a temporary pass. In this underworld, blood rituals have weight. The head of the Ruska Roma would not burn her own arm on a scalding-hot crest just so John could borrow the family name for one duel and then walk away clean.

The ticket makes him family again.

The crest makes him someone the family can send.

The blood ritual makes that obligation serious.

That changes what John is.

Before this, John was a legendary assassin. But the John Wick universe is full of assassins. Even elite assassins are still individual weapons.

After the crest, John may be something more formal: a marked Ruska Roma representative, a herald-like agent, and possibly the family’s hammer.

I use “herald-like” because I am not saying the movie gives him that official title. I am talking about the historical role. A herald was not just a casual messenger. A herald carried authority, represented the power behind him, and announced formal actions. That fits what the crest appears to do for John.

It gives him recognized authority to stand before the wider underworld in the name of the Ruska Roma.

That also connects cleanly to Ballerina.

Ballerina takes place before Chapter 4, so John does not have the Chapter 4 crest yet. But the story still shows that John is tied to Ruska Roma obligations. Eve becomes a rogue Ruska Roma-trained assassin, and John is pulled into that situation because the family has reason to intervene.

That is the old version of the relationship.

John can be called on because of debt, history, and old ties.

Chapter 4 may create the official version.

After the crest, the dynamic becomes harsher:

John is marked by the Ruska Roma.

John carries their authority.

John is bound to act on their behalf.

That gives John and Eve a real reason to collide later.

Eve is the renegade weapon trying to break away from the system.

John may now be the marked Ruska Roma authority sent to deal with the fallout.

That does not make their conflict random. It makes it structural.

It would also make the conflict a twisted reversal.

John used to be the renegade fighting the authority.

Now, because of the crest, he may be the authority sent to deal with the renegade.

Eve would be standing in the position John once occupied: a trained weapon trying to break away from the system that made her.

John would be standing in the position he spent years fighting against: the marked instrument of that system, sent to enforce its will.

That makes the setup stronger than a simple crossover. It turns John and Eve into two versions of the same problem colliding from opposite sides.

Eve is what John was.

John is what Eve may fear becoming.

So my theory is this:

John did not just rejoin the Ruska Roma in Chapter 4.

He was elevated.

The ticket made him family again.

The crest may have made him their herald-like representative.

And if Eve creates a family-level problem, John is exactly the kind of marked authority the Ruska Roma would send

But I could be wrong, what do you think?