TopStop AR Upper Receiver Cover from RCS

[Big Frank]

I bought a 3 Pack of TopStop AR Upper Receiver Covers from Raven Concealment Systems. "The TopStop cover is designed to snap on most AR15 or M4 type upper receivers when they are detached from the lower receiver. The TopStop completely seals the upper receiver preventing fouling from getting in or out and it stops the bolt carrier group and charging handle from sliding out as the upper is moved around." They do have a small hole, 1/16" or so, that's big enough to pass a wire or string  through to hang an ID tag on, or a small Ziploc bag with a hinge pin adapter if you have a stupid Colt AR-15 with the large pivot pin. They're available in Black, High Visibility Yellow, Orange, Ranger Green, and Wolf Gray for $14.99 apiece. But they also have a Sterile High Visibility Yellow 3 Pack for just $9.99! You could buy 3 of the 3 packs for 29.97 or any 2 others for $29.98. A total of 9 of them is $.01 cheaper than 2 others because they're yellow. And they weren't joking when they said sterile. There is no part number, part name, manufacturers name, patent number or any other identifying marking anywhere that I see. That's fine with me. To sell this cheap they must be a contract overrun for some unnamed agency that canceled an order, or something of that nature. CIA, Mossad, private contractor? They aren't talking. I currently only need 2 TopStops but like having an extra. It's a good thing too because I'm not sure what I did with the the 3rd one. I can just barely wrap a cable lock twice around an AR upper inside the carry handle with a TopStop in place and lock it. That's better  than running the cable lock though the open ejection port and out the bottom of the lower, leaving it wide open to dust.

There are a pair of dimples inside the square hole the rear lug of the upper snaps into. That holds it onto the upper quite snugly. At first I was karate chopping them off until it shaved the very tip off the dimples. Now I can pull them off and it's not scraping the plastic off anymore. They self-adjusted and are still very tight. I didn't spend enough money to get free shipping, or buy anything else for that matter. But I can buy a lot of spray paint with the money I saved by not getting a color I really wanted. I don't know what kind of plastic it is or if it's compatible with regular spray paint. It looks like it could be some kind of styrene but I'm not curious enough to scrape and smell it, or burn a small bit to see what it smells like, or see if it dissolves in gasoline or various solvents. The only plastic paint I have on hand is gloss blue that's supposed to be navy blue, so I painted one of them with that. I also have a can of flat black spray paint in the basement that I painted over the gloss blue. It looks good except for a partial print in wet paint on the bottom of the handle. It's no longer sterile. Oh noes! I can be identified. I didn't have to go out and buy paint. The plastic paint is what I bought to paint the fenders and engine cover of my Evo Powerboard scooter that was stolen several years ago. I need to find the 3rd TopStop and paint it too. I have more than enough paint to do all 3 of them.

https://rcsgear.com/topstop-ar-upper-receiver-cover

[alfsauve]

Very cool.  Yet something else to spend money on.   Is there a bottom stop?

[Big Frank]

Very cool.  Yet something else to spend money on.   Is there a bottom stop?

Yes. It's called an upper. Put that on and it will keep everything sealed up, contained in the lower.

If you have any spare AR lowers you don't know what to do with I would be willing to take one off your hands.

I found my third TopStop this morning so now I have one to experiment on. I'm going to spray paint it with just regular flat black paint and no plastic paint. If it doesn't melt the plastic, and I don't think it will, it will save me time and effort, and half the amount of paint. But first I'm going to hit it with the bench grinder right between the ribs in the area I've indicated on this picture. That way it will be a lot easier to fasten the cable lock after I double wrap it around the upper and TopStop. I should have time to do it by the weekend since I'm not going up north to ride my ATV like I usually do on Memorial Day weekend. I lost track of time and didn't even realize it was this weekend until my friends asked if I was going. If I could get ready in time and wasn't already broke I wouldn't let the thought of my 6.2 liter beast burning through 5 bucks a gallon gas for a few hours stop me from having fun. But it's just not worth liquidating assets and trying to get my stuff together in a mad rush to get away for the weekend.

[alfsauve]

Yes. It's called an upper. Put that on and it will keep everything sealed up, contained in the lower.

   I was just thinking the reverse.  If you put a lower on your upper then you don't need the TopStop.

Actually, for when one is transporting the U & L separately, I'd think a BotStop would also be useful.    On the road I have a AR that's broken down and carried in a Yoga bag.  These "stops" do seem like a good idea.

[Big Frank]

   I was just thinking the reverse.  If you put a lower on your upper then you don't need the TopStop.

Actually, for when one is transporting the U & L separately, I'd think a BotStop would also be useful.    On the road I have a AR that's broken down and carried in a Yoga bag.  These "stops" do seem like a good idea.

I just need to buy some more lowers then, don't I, Alf? Maybe I have an uncle I don't know about who will leave me enough money in his will to buy a few.

[Sponsor]

[alfsauve]

Wake up, Frank.  Wake up.  You're dreaming. 

No extras here.  No extra lowers (that I'd part with) and no extra moola. 

Did I ever tell you both my parents were only children.  I have no Uncles or Aunts.  And specifically I DON'T HAVE ANY NIECES OR NEPHEWS.  Ain't nobody getting nothin' from Uncle Alfie.

[Big Frank]

Wake up, Frank.  Wake up.  You're dreaming. 

No extras here.  No extra lowers (that I'd part with) and no extra moola. 

Did I ever tell you both my parents were only children.  I have no Uncles or Aunts.  And specifically I DON'T HAVE ANY NIECES OR NEPHEWS.  Ain't nobody getting nothin' from Uncle Alfie.

Oh, darn!

[Big Frank]

I think it was one or two days after I posted in May about making a notch in one of the TopStops, to make it easier to wrap a cable lock around an upper with the TopStop on it, that I did. I didn't use my grinder like I was thinking about doing. A day or two before I posted, I dressed my grinder's wheels, and adjusted the tools rests, which were too far out to be safe. Then I adjusted the spark guards over the top of the wheels until they were almost touching. I even took off the plastic shields that I haven't used in several years because they were too dirty to see through, and cleaned them off. After all that I didn't want to fudge up my grinder with plastic, like I wouldn't normally hesitate to.

Instead, I stuck a piece of masking tape on each side of the TopStop, got out a pencil, measuring tape, and combination square, to draw my lay-out lines. I centered the notch as close to dead-center between these two ribs to compromise the strength as little as possible. The horizontal flange above the ribs extends lengthwise past three ribs, but beyond these two the furthest. I wanted to use a 1/4" drill bit to get a nice 1/8" radius on the corners, but only wanted the notch to be 3/16" deep, so I put a piece of 1x scrap next to it in the vise for the bit to overlap onto 1/16". But first I had to drill 1/8" pilot holes, and that's when everything went to &^%$. I had two 1/8" drill bits setting side by side on the bench, one that was brand new out of the package, and one that I tried unsuccessfully to resharpen after breaking the tip off. I had the new one there as an example so I could figure out how to sharpen the old one. I grabbed the new one and put it next to my other tools when I was laying things out, then forgot about it.

When it was time to start drilling, I went upstairs for a water break first, came back down to the basement, grabbed the old bit that wouldn't bite, and proceeded to tear one corner of the masking tape apart. Everything was as precise as I could get it with the tools I had up until that point. Then instead of sticking a new piece of tape on and re-marking that corner hole, I just said aw, screw it. I put the new drill bit in and drilled the hole somewhere around where it ought to have been, then drilled the other three holes. After that I used my coping saw to remove the big pieces from the bottom of the notch, and the four points the drill left on the corners. I'm sure glad I have a coping saw. I just couldn't cope without it. I wasn't coping well with anything at that moment, and after a few minutes of filing quit for the day. I haven't picked it up and finished it yet either, and one side of the notch is still longer than the other. Eventually, some day, I'll look at it and feel more ambitious than disgusted about it, and finish the job. I need to flatten out the bottom of the notch, get both sides the same width, round off the outside corners a bit, and hit it with some flat black paint. A chainsaw sharpening file should work well on the inside corners but I don't have one.